On the face of it, there’s nothing too surprising about an assassination attempt at former president Donald Trump. That’s the sort of thing that passes for civic discourse these days among people who don’t express themselves well. It did seem remarkable to me that attendees at Trump’s rally were so quick to blame Democrats for the incident, when the only sign the gunman was a liberal was that he missed. You need to be practicing this stuff.

I mean, yes. I’m a Democrat and I think the nation—the whole world—would be a far, far better place with Trump not in it. I do believe his capacity for sheer ignorant wickedness may be unsurpassed, certainly in this generation. But even if I think the Republican ticket could use a deletion, there’s nothing I could do about it, since my only weapons are fancy verbiage and an ACLU mug, neither of which is a threat to anybody. The best-written insults don’t land on a target that doesn’t understand them, and I have no athletic skills at all. Trump, his entire worshipful cohort, and the toady team that calls itself his party have nothing to fear from me. All they have to fear is my vote, and that means nothing at all, in a country with an Electoral College.

I do hate Trump, but I will never be in favor of post-fetal execution. Really, the only person who could have gotten away with such a thing is President Biden, according to a recent Supreme Court decision. But he’d never do it. He’s pretty much a pussy that way. And he’s hopelessly old-fashioned. He still thinks the rule of law and the sanctity of the vote are things.

The first rally attendee I heard interviewed said “They can’t beat him, so they’ll try to kill him.” The “they” here refers to, I guess, me, but there’s no reason to get specific. In a carefully constructed “us vs them” world view, “they” can be anyone or no one at all. As long as the population’s grievances—legitimate or invented—are kindled and set aflame, they means any amorphous thing that is thought to be their source. Truth-telling is a sucker’s game. There’s some effort to steer suspicion away from the billionaire class that has been so amply rewarded under Republican administrations, and certainly Trump and his fellow grifters, but otherwise, fill in the blank: the Government. The liberals. The queers. President Biden, the “worst president ever,” who is responsible for COVID, world-wide inflation, Putin’s war, and the bunion epidemic he’s already got on order from Chiner. America, your groceries are expensive and you’re in pain, but at least you know who to blame. Them.

And once you’ve delineated your own personal borders, with them on the outside, well. There’s all the justification in the world to take them down, and a subset of your tribe will be happy to carry out the explicit terror campaign. No target is too small: even lowly election workers should expect to be doxxed and stalked and threatened with death, for the crime of assisting in the democratic process.

I’m less clear what the rationale is to blame the mainstream press for the climate of violence, except that some of them duly report on Trump’s transgressions. I do know that authoritarians have no use for either democracy or a free press, so maybe there’s some kind of connection there. Just as an abusive man works to separate his victim from her family, friends, and support, an authoritarian will persuade the citizenry that the institutions of democracy and justice are their enemies. He will invent as many enemies as he needs and invoke them as often as he can and then present himself as the one solution. Maybe, even, the final solution. Immigrants become animals and vermin. Peaceful men and women protesting racial injustice are thugs. Democrats, of all the ineffectual people, are assassins, funded by Jews. And so they must be put down.

It’s a frightening world, if you’re surrounded by liberals with public-radio tote bags. They look harmless, but what’s in those bags? Fentanyl, harvested ballots, and a small Mexican. Be afraid. Stay afraid. Daddy will keep you safe.