But you then went on to talk about the additional examples that pre-dated the Republicans' heavy involvement!

The right might exaggerate, fabricate aspects of it, raise the urgency dramatically...but it's not out of nothing.

You spent two more paragraphs talking about my examples! (And there are lots more.) If it was actually "nothing" there wouldn't be anything to talk about (or it at most would be weird obscure examples).

Making an issue out of nothing would be something like the virulent Republican opposition to the secret liberal Teacher's Anti-Meritocracy Engagement (TAME), where teachers intentionally give a string of bad grades to good students to make them understand hardship and injustice, and also to constrain their ego and realize their bonds to their community matters more than individual achievement.

Wait, you haven't heard of that?

That's because I just made it up. That's what out of nothing looks like.