And what IS outside funding--tuition from out-of-state students?

The repugs are anti-education in general because they believe the universities are filled with communists.
They beleve in "homerule" except when they can stick it to the cities.

...the underlying racist, nativist, misogynist core that was always there.

It is very easy to be "nice" to people who share your skin color, general faith (if not specific denomination), etc. It's easy to preach the values of inclusion, togetherness, community well-being, etc., when only small groups of minorities or immigrants are among you and you can showcase your niceness with those "exceptions".

It's easy to invest in high-quality public education for all the children when all the children are a lot like YOUR children. It's easy to buy in to social programs, housing, public infrastructure, safety nets, health care, etc., when the people benefiting are people like you.

Because you know people like you deserve all those things. They'd do the same thing in your place. They share all those cultural values about hard work and marriage and how to raise children and education and saving for the future and so on.

Extending that to a few "different" people among you initially seems like an extension of the (Lutheran/Presbyterian/Catholic/Episcopal/etc.)-based doctrine of looking after those less fortunate.

Then at some point the balance tips and there are just too many "different" people and you come to realize they don't necessarily make all the same kind of choices or value the same cultural norms you do, and worst of all, they want a seat at the table and a say in dividing up the pie, and suddenly YOUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE IS AT RISK.

And the naked racist asshole within subsumes the nice Midwesterner and you're electing scum like Michele Bachman and Steve King.

sadly,
Bright

And may I add, the politics of white grievance.

My parents are life long Democratic Iowans living in a very red area. For over 6 decades they served their small community. A community that is 70% red. Last year, for the first, they felt unwanted. Their 3x5 foot hand-painted Biden/Harris sign in their front yard was broken in half. While they made a new one, I ordered 8 yard signs for them and a few other Dems in town. Within a week , 6 of the 8 were stolen. I can't call it home anymore.

On the flip side, one of our neighbors is a trumper. He didn't take his sign in until Jan 21. I guess he just couldn't let go. So sad.

There were a bunch of trump signs still up in town even though the city ordinance says they are supposed to be removed a week after the election.

She's in Utah now. She says she doesn't recognize her home state anymore. This is going to take years (decades?) to undo.