The Sick Video Played at a Pro-Trump Conference Is a Glimpse of the Dark Energy in American Politics

From Esquire

When you call someone or some group The Enemy of the People, the subtext is clear: they must be stopped at all costs. They are enemies of us all! They are obstructing the popular will! Of course, that's the popular will as determined by a fascist leader, who claims to represent the people's will in his every word and deed. People who oppose him, then, oppose the people—even if he himself has only ever enjoyed the support of a minority of the population.

In our unfortunate case, this is a manifestation of the larger philosophy of l'état, c'est Don. Our president believes he is the state, that criticism of him is criticism of the nation, and that negative coverage of his activities as president—and "negative" is the only criteria for something to be Fake News—can be repackaged as an assault on the United States of America. The hatred he has whipped up among his supporters for independent sources of information in the free press has led to a physical attack on a journalist at one of his rallies, to another supporter sending pipe bombs to his perceived enemies at CNN and in the Democratic Party, as well as a spike in threats against members of the media. Other plots, where would-be terrorists compiled lists of targets that just happened to line up with Trump's most common rhetorical targets, have thankfully been foiled.

On Sunday evening, though, the world was introduced to this dark energy percolating in American politics in a new way. Reporters like Ben Collins who study online radicalization will tell you that violent rhetoric and content is everywhere in far right digital spaces, drenched in a layer of irony and detachment until it isn't. But it's a little more unusual for a product of this vile energy to be shown at an event organized to boost the President of the United States—one which featured some of his most prominent surrogates, including Donald Trump, Jr. and Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

At a conference organized by pro-Trump group American Priority held at Trump's Doral Miami resort, The New York Times reports a gruesome video depicting a fake President Trump murdering members of the media was played on the big screen. If you want to watch it, you can find it here. (It is disturbing.) Otherwise, here's the Times' description.

White House Communications Director Stephanie Grisham issued a statement in response:

It seems strange to comment that the president hasn't seen the video, but he will see the video, but we're going to comment now rather than wait for him to see the video. It is not that long, and this makes the condemnation a bit less direct. Still, it's good they condemned it. Unfortunately, it's hard to have faith that this position will last through the president's next ChopperTalk. That's particularly true because Trump has, over and over again, embraced political violence from the rally podium. He offered to pay the legal fees of supporters who assaulted protesters—Enemies of the Movement—during the campaign. He praised a political ally who assaulted a member of the free press.

Oh, and he's also tweeted this before.

The reality is that the president is leading an authoritarian movement, and such movements only communicate in the language of force. Governing in a democratic republic is supposed to be about persuasion, where you convince enough people to support your position—quality ideas that you communicate well—to build a consensus in favor of them. Trump's movement is not really about convincing a majority of Americans to support, say, The Wall. That's why his supporters don't care whether it would actually work, or about the actual consequences of anything he does. The Wall is itself an ideological mechanism for lashing out at the various Enemies, about bludgeoning The Other on behalf of Real America.

The movement is also about imposing a cost on people who dare voice dissent, and the end-stage of this relentless escalation is the threat of violent force. While the vast majority of Trump's supporters would never resort to violence, it only takes one. We are venturing into the abyss now, and the journey is inexorable as long as Trump remains the most powerful man in America. His supporters have sacrificed too much of themselves to stay with him this far. The sunk cost is insurmountable. There is no going back. Even when he's gone, it's hard to believe the threat of political violence will go with him. The conspiratorial thinking runs rampant on the far-right now, and no explanation for the president's removal—say, that he has repeatedly and blatantly broke the law and violated his oath of office—will be sufficient.

After all, the same conference that ran this video also played host to followers of Qanon, the conspiracy theorists who believe, among other things, that Democratic leaders are running a pedophile ring. It's not enough to disagree with your opponents. This kind of fantastical thinking allows the movement to so demonize the Enemies that anything is acceptable to stop them. The complete disregard for objective reality—facts are whatever you can get enough people to believe—works in twisted tandem with the language of force to continually escalate the stakes and the acceptable action in response. The danger is all around us now.

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