The loudest sound on the American far right today is the angry whining emitted by sore losers who claim their candidate was defrauded but know for a fact that he was simply defeated. Their tune is grating, but their seditious words are troubling, with supporters of President Donald Trump repeatedly warning of “civil war” and even “secession.” Fans of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh hear those ominous words every day now.
Presumably, such divisive sentiment is why many “conservatives” are so enamored of Confederate flags and other such symbols of treason. If the democratic process doesn’t give them what they want, they threaten bloodshed and the destruction of the nation to which they once pretended to pledge allegiance.
For the most part, those menacing broadsides are just impotent bluster. America has a perennial surplus of bullies who brandish weapons to bolster their fragile masculinity and intimidate their adversaries. A small cohort of those goons are dangerous and even potentially deadly; the most consistent perpetrators of domestic terrorism in recent years have been white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists, not radical Islamic terrorists. Rolling up the violent political gangsters should be a top priority for President-elect Joe Biden’s Justice Department, which will follow four dark years when the Trump administration tolerated and even encouraged them. Continue reading.
