It's the level of outright lying they are happy to resort to. Traditionally Democrats and Republicans alike have played-down, exaggerated, obfuscated, ignored, massaged, or told half-truths. The level of flat faced lies, by both sides, was limited. Now it seems like the Republicans are happy to flat faced lie CONSTANTLY. The worst part is that these aren't even cleverly hidden lies, they are very easy to debunk, but they know their supporters won't do an ounce of due diligence and try to verify then; in fact, the "worse" that the lie makes the Democrats appear, the more likely it is to be believed.