“I cannot stand these people that are destroying our country,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to a crowd of Donald Trump’s supporters at the Iowa State Fair this past weekend while the former president looked on approvingly. Gaetz then added: “Only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C.”
The second part of that statement made headlines, as it’s not every day that a member of Congress advocates “force” to achieve political goals. But the first part ought to be just as troubling, because the two parts operate together. The idea that our opponents are purposely attempting to lay waste to America is often the justification for all kinds of radical action — violence very much included.
Barely a day goes by without prominent Republicans repeating that claim. Trump regularly says his political opponents will “destroy the country,” or have already nearly destroyed it. It’s a staple of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s rhetoric. “If woke ideology takes over, it will destroy this country,” DeSantis says. If President Biden is reelected, the governor insists, “the left is gonna absolutely destroy this country.”
ADVERTISING
Even Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), who is widely seen as one of the nicest of the GOP presidential primary candidates, warns against “Joe Biden and the radical Left’s blueprint to ruin America.” And Republicans who are sometimes treated as more “reasonable” use this kind of rhetoric, as well. No one bats an eye when Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says about the Democratic Party, “If we don’t stop them, they will destroy the country.”
Yes, liberals have made dire warnings about a second Trump presidency. But that’s unique to Trump, who actually tried to overturn a lawful election and retain power, and last year called for the “termination” of the Constitution. So the assertion that if he became president it could mean the end of democracy is at least not too far-fetched.
Press Enter to skip to end of carousel
The talk of the United States ending its run some time in the next few years because Democrats passed some modest expansion of health coverage or kept pushing for a transition to green energy, on the other hand, is bonkers. Yet, unlike other kinds of rhetorical calls to extremism, we don’t police it at all.
Journalists tend to be very attuned to hints of political violence. When a candidate says he wants to start “slitting throats” in the federal government, as DeSantis recently did, we condemn it and explore its troubling implications. We press Republican contenders to admit that Biden fairly won the 2020 election and to repudiate the violent insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.
In contrast, we treat partisan apocalyptic rhetoric as mere hyperbole. But it’s the premise that turns anger into action. If you actually believed your opponents were literally trying to destroy your country, what wouldn’t be justified? Threatening election officials? Storming the Capitol? Assassinations?
You might protest that Republican politicians don’t really believe this talk. But clearly, many of their supporters do. Which is no surprise given how often they’re told that it’s true.
Rhetorical excess is nothing new, and can be found in both parties, if not always in the same form. But the hardening of the idea on the right that if a Democrat reached the White House he must be carrying out a scheme to bring about America’s end happened with the election of Barack Obama. Republicans might have loathed Bill Clinton with a burning fire, but even if they thought he was so corrupt that he would murder his enemies, they didn’t think he had a secret plan to destroy the country in such a way it would literally cease to exist.
Press Enter to skip to end of carousel
That was, however, precisely what they said about Obama. Most of the rank-and-file believed he was a foreigner, and even many who accepted that he was born in Hawaii claimed he was carrying out a nefarious plan to bring the country to its knees. Even at the end of his presidency, when it was undeniably clear that he was an ordinary center-left Democrat, Rubio could insist during a 2016 primary debate that “all this damage that he’s done to America is deliberate.”
Republicans transitioned seamlessly into making the same charge about Biden. While by any reasonable measure he, too, is a regular Democrat, and one who wants the United States to be prosperous and safe even if his ideas about how to achieve those goals differ from those of Republicans, conservative media outlets are filled with headlines such as “Biden’s Destroying the Economy. Is It Intentional?” and “If Biden Were Trying To Destroy America On Purpose, He’d Do Nothing Differently.”
Try to imagine a Republican presidential candidate today saying about the president, “He’s a decent family man … that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what the campaign’s all about.” That’s what John McCain said about Obama in 2008. But today, it would be heresy.
Any rational Republican knows the truth about the next election: If Biden wins, it will mean nothing more than four years of policies they don’t like. That will be deeply unpleasant for them. But it won’t mean the end of America, and they shouldn’t be allowed to say so without challenge.
We ought to treat apocalyptic rhetoric just like we treat violent rhetoric: Take note of it, condemn it, challenge candidates to defend it, and explain the threat it poses. Why? Because many of the voters who are listening think the Republicans spinning out wild tales of America’s imminent destruction mean what they say.
The second part of that statement made headlines, as it’s not every day that a member of Congress advocates “force” to achieve political goals. But the first part ought to be just as troubling, because the two parts operate together. The idea that our opponents are purposely attempting to lay waste to America is often the justification for all kinds of radical action — violence very much included.
Barely a day goes by without prominent Republicans repeating that claim. Trump regularly says his political opponents will “destroy the country,” or have already nearly destroyed it. It’s a staple of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s rhetoric. “If woke ideology takes over, it will destroy this country,” DeSantis says. If President Biden is reelected, the governor insists, “the left is gonna absolutely destroy this country.”
ADVERTISING
Even Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), who is widely seen as one of the nicest of the GOP presidential primary candidates, warns against “Joe Biden and the radical Left’s blueprint to ruin America.” And Republicans who are sometimes treated as more “reasonable” use this kind of rhetoric, as well. No one bats an eye when Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says about the Democratic Party, “If we don’t stop them, they will destroy the country.”
Yes, liberals have made dire warnings about a second Trump presidency. But that’s unique to Trump, who actually tried to overturn a lawful election and retain power, and last year called for the “termination” of the Constitution. So the assertion that if he became president it could mean the end of democracy is at least not too far-fetched.
Press Enter to skip to end of carousel
The talk of the United States ending its run some time in the next few years because Democrats passed some modest expansion of health coverage or kept pushing for a transition to green energy, on the other hand, is bonkers. Yet, unlike other kinds of rhetorical calls to extremism, we don’t police it at all.
Journalists tend to be very attuned to hints of political violence. When a candidate says he wants to start “slitting throats” in the federal government, as DeSantis recently did, we condemn it and explore its troubling implications. We press Republican contenders to admit that Biden fairly won the 2020 election and to repudiate the violent insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.
In contrast, we treat partisan apocalyptic rhetoric as mere hyperbole. But it’s the premise that turns anger into action. If you actually believed your opponents were literally trying to destroy your country, what wouldn’t be justified? Threatening election officials? Storming the Capitol? Assassinations?
You might protest that Republican politicians don’t really believe this talk. But clearly, many of their supporters do. Which is no surprise given how often they’re told that it’s true.
Rhetorical excess is nothing new, and can be found in both parties, if not always in the same form. But the hardening of the idea on the right that if a Democrat reached the White House he must be carrying out a scheme to bring about America’s end happened with the election of Barack Obama. Republicans might have loathed Bill Clinton with a burning fire, but even if they thought he was so corrupt that he would murder his enemies, they didn’t think he had a secret plan to destroy the country in such a way it would literally cease to exist.
Press Enter to skip to end of carousel
That was, however, precisely what they said about Obama. Most of the rank-and-file believed he was a foreigner, and even many who accepted that he was born in Hawaii claimed he was carrying out a nefarious plan to bring the country to its knees. Even at the end of his presidency, when it was undeniably clear that he was an ordinary center-left Democrat, Rubio could insist during a 2016 primary debate that “all this damage that he’s done to America is deliberate.”
Republicans transitioned seamlessly into making the same charge about Biden. While by any reasonable measure he, too, is a regular Democrat, and one who wants the United States to be prosperous and safe even if his ideas about how to achieve those goals differ from those of Republicans, conservative media outlets are filled with headlines such as “Biden’s Destroying the Economy. Is It Intentional?” and “If Biden Were Trying To Destroy America On Purpose, He’d Do Nothing Differently.”
Try to imagine a Republican presidential candidate today saying about the president, “He’s a decent family man … that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what the campaign’s all about.” That’s what John McCain said about Obama in 2008. But today, it would be heresy.
Any rational Republican knows the truth about the next election: If Biden wins, it will mean nothing more than four years of policies they don’t like. That will be deeply unpleasant for them. But it won’t mean the end of America, and they shouldn’t be allowed to say so without challenge.
We ought to treat apocalyptic rhetoric just like we treat violent rhetoric: Take note of it, condemn it, challenge candidates to defend it, and explain the threat it poses. Why? Because many of the voters who are listening think the Republicans spinning out wild tales of America’s imminent destruction mean what they say.
