The state level assault on LGBTQ rights in the United States right now is often artificially manufactured too, and for similar reasons. The Republican Party doesn't have much else to run on. When you don't have anything constructive to offer voters who are watching infrastructure crumble and inflation soar, rip into queer people, especially trans people.

In Florida, Gov Ron DeSantis and his press secretary Christina Pushaw literally manufactured the entire groomer thing that soon swept the public stage.

DeSantis wants to be president, but his governing history is pretty terrible. He has not made Florida a great place to live, kind of the opposite.

So he rallies his right-wing base with manufactured outrage. And they like it.

I guess that's the flip side of the from-above coin. People like to be angry at scapegoats. It's human psychology and part of the reason these politicians do it. It works more often than not.