The Orwellian loss of conceptual meaning is palpable here. The right to protest is now “Terrorism”. I’ve never seen people who “love America” so desperately try to justify murdering their own countrymen.

The rhetoric is being dialed up because the deeply unpopular policies of this administration are weighing down its power grab. Usually fascist movements seize power when they are popular, which is no longer the case. Ironically, I think this bizarre rhetoric will weigh them down further: Trump is mush. Steven Miller is a whiny high school bully. Russell Vought is a Christian nationalist who wants to ban porn. Conspiracy theorists and Fox News hosts all. They are forcing the national guard into as many cities as possible to provoke an excuse invoke the insurrection act because that is the only way they can stay in power as more and more lawmakers, politicians, and influencers become exhausted and unable to operate within the conflicting and constructed reality they dictate.

Paradoxically, I fear that as the administration’s positions become more ridiculous, the potential for violence increases as they run out of options for maintaining their hold on power - like a dying star starved of light elements to fuse, or a circus in which the clowns are all given Tommy guns.