“They’re not expressing economic anxiety. They’re expressing a desire to dominate.”
The mythology that the force compelling Americans to support Donald Trump was their economic anxiety — a fragile myth already called into doubt repeatedly over the last four years — was irrevocably shattered by last week’s raid on the Capitol as Trump beckoned his followers to march.
Rioters chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.” They built nooses. They graffitied “Murder the media.” They repeatedly called Black officers the n-word. One held as his banner the Confederate flag. One man allegedly threatened to kill Nancy Pelosi. The less extreme said they were there as patriots who “bleed red, white, and blue,” fighting to take back what was stolen from them.
These are not the cries of people hungry for economic opportunity. These are furious cries of vengeance against phantom enemies imagined by the president. Continue reading.