Politics is supposed to be a battle of ideas. Democracy is supposed to be a contest of evidence, persuasion, and proof. Yet increasingly, one side of America’s political spectrum has abandoned facts altogether in favor of something far less stable — feelings.

Whatever Republicans feel in the moment becomes the guiding star of their politics. Angry about immigration? Then immigration is the country’s biggest threat, regardless of statistics showing immigrants commit fewer crimes. Fearful of change? Then change must be resisted, even if it means clinging to broken systems that fail millions. Nostalgic for a version of America that never truly existed? Then policies are bent, history is rewritten, and the rest of us are told to accept the myth.

Feelings have replaced facts. Rage has replaced reason. And nowhere is that more dangerous than when it comes to the Constitution itself.

The Constitution Is Not a Mood

The Constitution is designed to be the backbone of the republic, a legal framework that transcends personal emotions. It is meant to protect rights even when they’re unpopular, to guarantee due process even when we don’t “feel” like granting it.

But Republicans increasingly treat it like a mood ring. If they feel a right applies to someone they like, it’s sacrosanct. If they don’t, it suddenly evaporates.

Take due process. When one of their own faces criminal charges — a former president, an ally caught breaking campaign finance laws, or an insider under investigation — suddenly due process is sacred. Every indictment is portrayed as persecution. Every ruling is framed as biased. The judicial system, they argue, must be meticulously respected when it comes to “their people.”

Yet when immigrants seek asylum, when marginalized groups demand equal protection, or when protesters exercise free speech, due process magically disappears. Families are separated at borders without trial. Protesters are arrested and silenced. Refugees are deported before cases are heard. Due process doesn’t apply, apparently, if you aren’t in their favored circle.

The Constitution is not a menu. You don’t get to pick the rights you like and ignore the rest. But for the party of feelings over facts, that’s exactly how it works.

Law and Order… Selectively Applied

Republicans love to brand themselves as the party of “law and order.” But watch closely, and you’ll see what that phrase really means: laws for some, excuses for others.

When white supremacists march through Charlottesville with torches, when January 6th rioters storm the Capitol, when armed extremists threaten communities, their violence is downplayed, rebranded, or even defended. Leaders rush to say “both sides” are to blame, or that the offenders were simply “angry Americans” expressing themselves.

But when immigrants cross a border in desperation, when marginalized communities protest peacefully against injustice, or when people demand accountability for police violence, suddenly “law and order” is invoked with fury. Troops are deployed. Punishments are harsh. Rights are stripped away in the name of protecting the nation.

This isn’t law and order. It’s selective enforcement. It’s the weaponization of justice. And it exposes the truth: for Republicans, “law and order” isn’t about laws at all. It’s about control.

The Rise of Emotional Politics

How did we get here? How did one of America’s major parties abandon evidence in favor of emotion?

Part of the answer lies in media ecosystems designed to amplify outrage. Cable news segments stoke fear about immigrants, about crime, about culture wars. Social media algorithms prioritize anger over nuance, outrage over evidence. Politicians don’t have to prove their points anymore; they just have to make their base feel something. Fear. Anger. Resentment. Nostalgia.

And so, policy is no longer grounded in fact. It is grounded in whatever emotion trends that day. If the base feels that immigrants are the problem, then immigration policy hardens. If the base feels elections are stolen, then voting rights are gutted. If the base feels democracy itself is under siege, then even violence — like January 6th — can be excused as “patriotism.”

This is not governance. This is emotional manipulation masquerading as politics.

Why This Is Dangerous

A democracy cannot survive if its foundation is built on feelings rather than facts. Feelings are fleeting. They change with the wind. Facts, however, anchor us. The Constitution anchors us. The judicial process anchors us.

When Republicans prioritize emotion over evidence, they create a political culture where truth doesn’t matter. In such a culture, conspiracy theories thrive. Lies spread faster than corrections. People no longer agree on basic reality, and when there’s no shared truth, democracy becomes impossible.

Worse, this emotional politics creates a dangerous double standard. It elevates some groups as worthy of rights and protections, while stripping those same protections from others. That’s not equality. That’s hierarchy. And it’s everything the Constitution was designed to prevent.

A System at Risk

Consider this: if due process only applies to political allies, then due process doesn’t exist. If law and order only apply to immigrants and protesters, then law and order don’t exist. If constitutional rights can be granted or denied based on how politicians “feel,” then the Constitution itself no longer exists in practice.

This is where emotional politics leads us: not to stronger democracy, but to fragile institutions that can collapse at the whim of those in power. And make no mistake — history is full of examples of nations that let emotions, not laws, govern. None of them ended well.

The Path Forward

The challenge now is whether Americans — all Americans — are willing to reject emotional politics in favor of factual governance. It requires demanding evidence-based policy, not fearmongering. It requires insisting on due process for everyone, not just for allies. It requires defending the Constitution even when it’s inconvenient, even when emotions run high.

Democracy does not ask us to feel. It asks us to think. It asks us to deliberate, to weigh evidence, to hold leaders accountable to standards larger than themselves. It asks us to resist the temptation of raw emotion and to cling to the anchor of fact.

The Constitution is not optional. Due process is not a mood. Justice is not supposed to depend on how someone “feels.”

And if one party continues to confuse feelings with truth, then it falls to the rest of us to defend the principles that hold this country together — not with rage, not with fear, but with fact.