@tzimmer_history Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: there must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. ~Frank Wilhoit
Convicting a member of the "in-group" runs directly against that, so it is no wonder they act like a kicked ant pile.
I survey the reactions from Republican elected officials, reactionary intellectuals, and rightwing activists: They demand retaliation – against the system, the Democrats, the Libs, the Left… against the array of “Un-American” forces they define as the enemy within. 2/
One reaction that stood out to me was a short opinion piece by Josh Hammer in Newsweek, titled “Post-Trump Verdict, Will the American Right Finally Wake Up?” – the perfect distillation of how the Right sees the world and what animates their politics. 3/
In a little over 750 words, the piece offers an impressive display of the siege mentality that defines the Right, the permission structure that governs conservative politics, and the logic that compels them to close ranks behind Donald Trump. 4/
Hammer’s description of the past eight years as one big conspiracy, orchestrated by the evil Democrats and the nefarious Deep State, against Donald Trump is entirely untethered from empirical reality. An alternate reality that isn’t intended to convince anyone – just to enrage. 5/
Hammer’s tale of decline also captures the sense of being under siege that defines the Right – the Trump verdict, in this narrative, is indicative of the “fallen state of the nation,” and “American patriots of all political stripes” need to fight back to save “this once-great nation.” 6/
Appealing to “patriots of all political stripes,” in a piece that is so aggressively and militantly partisan, is revealing. The Right believes they are engaged not in a competition against a legitimate political opponent, but in a noble war to defend “real America.” 7/
Rightwingers have decided that they are the country. The choice, therefore, isn’t partisanship or loyalty to the country. To them, the partisan divide maps perfectly onto the struggle between patriots and “Un-American” radicals for the survival of the nation. 8/
In another remarkable inversion, Hammer portrays the Right as the guardians of a liberal vision of equality before the law and a neutral justice system. But it was all a lie, Hammer declares, a lie perpetrated by a ruthless Left that used it to steamroll its opponent. 9/
If “We” leave noble principles behind and embrace a violent struggle for supremacy, Hammer maintains, then it’s because the Left made “Us” do it. The “forces of civilizational sanity” on the Right are merely fighting back against the aggressive “forces of civilizational arson.” 10/
This is precisely the permission structure that has governed conservative politics for quite some time: “Real Americans” are constantly being victimized, made to suffer under the yoke of crazy leftist politics, besieged by “Un-American” forces of leftism. Time to fight back! 11/
Building up this violent threat from a “Left” that supposedly values nothing but victory over the enemy allows the Right to justify their actions within the established framework of conservative self-victimization. It allowed them to support Donald Trump in the first place. 12/
This has always been the Right’s argument for Trump. If “real America” is under siege, and its defenders have their backs against the wall in an all-out struggle for the survival of the nation that defines and consumes all politics, then Trump is precisely the right leader. 13/
Trump doesn’t just sympathize with the (mostly white, mostly male) grievance and anger that defines the rightwing base, the desire for revenge – but shares it, revels in it, is consumed by it himself. It forms the core promise of Trumpism as a form of radical politics. 14/
The extremists, those who perceive the world entirely through the lens of a politics of revenge, are thoroughly in control of defining the problem, the agenda, the style of politics, and the political identity on the Right. And they long to get bloody.
@tzimmer_history
Of course, the rightwing extremists long to "get bloody". Blood on the right supports their victim narrative (eg Ashli Babbitt). Blood on the left is due to lone wolves but will be used to attack the right (eg Heather Heyer).
And of course, Trump, Bannon, Jones, Miller, etc will be far from the violence just exercising their freeze peach.