The Never Trump Call for Violence

The Never-Trumpers are going to get people killed. It is not hard to imagine that this is what they want. In the words of Robert Kagan in The Washington Post, “every conceivable measure” must be taken to stop what the Nevers say will inevitably be the “end of our democracy” and the establishment of a dictatorship of violence and vengeance.  

Consider an X post by once-respected historian Michael Beschloss. He put up a 1930s clip from the Associated Press that stated: “Washington is Not Alarmed as Hitler Rises to Power.” Get it? Get it? What are we supposed to take from that? Recall that it was Beschloss who said Trump wanted to “jail or kill” Beschloss’ children. What would you do to defend the lives of your children?

In his now famous piece, Kagan invoked the political squabbling during the Weimar period that benefited Hitler. Kagan said, “When a marauder is crashing through your house, you throw everything at him—pots, pans, candlesticks…” What about a gun? Why not a gun, Bob? But that is what he really means. In the words of Joe Biden, “Get a shotgun.” 

Kagan says a Trump administration will be filled with “Hitler’s gauleiters” who will know what to do even without explicit instructions from Trump. And we know what that means. Concentration camps. Kagan’s essay is a disgusting piece of political pornography. But he is hardly the only one. The political pornographers are everywhere in Never Trump Land.  Kagan says a Trump administration will be filled with “Hitler’s gauleiters” who will know what to do even without explicit instructions from Trump. And we know what that means.Tweet This

It is hard to imagine, but Tom Nichols once taught at the Naval War College. He now belongs in a lunatic asylum. He has a lengthy piece in The Atlantic where he says Trump “has fully embraced the language of fascism.” Worse than that, though, he says Trump’s followers are fascists. That’s you and me. He pats himself on the back for taking years to begin using the F-word about Trump and his followers, but Trump and his followers have tried his patience. 

In the same issue of The Atlantic, David Frum says a second Trump term “will plunge the country into a constitutional crisis more terrible than any since the Civil War.” He says Trump would necessarily “destroy the rule of law.” It is revealing that Frum says Trump hates the Constitution but then complains Trump didn’t win the popular vote but was elected through the Electoral College, which is in the Constitution. He says Trump will use the military against his opponents. 

Somebody put up an X supercut of supposedly mainstream Democrats, who are really hard leftists, saying over and over and over ad nauseum “end of democracy, end of democracy, end of democracy.” These people fancy themselves part of something they call the “pro-democracy” movement, like they are that student standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square. 

People tend to fantasize about what they would have done in this, that, or the other historical situation. They like to think, for instance, that they would have been campaigning abolitionists. Everyone is a hero in historical fantasy. 

They think they would have tried to undermine the Nazis like Sophie Scholl or kill Hitler like von Stauffenberg. But they wouldn’t. They would have gone along, just as they are now going along with and even cheering the national security state investigating moms and dads for opposing the trans agenda. 

Put aside the Sophie Scholls and the Claus von Stauffenbergs, and consider that there are nuts out there who listen to people like the Never Trumpers and believe this truly is the end of our democracy and the institution of a dictatorship by a man who “will never leave office.” What kind of license is given to those who believe Robert Kagan and the unhinged Mona Charen and Charlie Sykes at The Bulwark. Even someone as sensible as my friend Jonathan Last believes something like the dark night of fascism is about to descend. 

And this is what has me deeply worried. What may these people do with the encouragement of the Never Trumpers. Does anyone remember what happened to Washington D.C. on the day Trump was inaugurated. Do you remember the burning cars and the smashed windows? Does anyone remember the vicious crowds that surrounded Trump supporters exiting the White House after an event? My wife and daughter went down to a White House event in the months after the Summer of George Floyd and had to turn back because the streets were so dangerous and violent. 

Does anyone believe you would have anything to fear from sporting a Biden bumper sticker? Now consider whether anyone is now brave enough to wear a MAGA hat. MAGA hats got you pummeled the first time around. This time, a MAGA hat will get you killed. 

The call for deadly violence makes sense if you really believe Hitler and his followers are about to take power. And this is what has me worried. They really do believe this.