Rhetorical Escalation

 No, I'm not talking about Ukraine. There is a current phenomenon on the Right, whereby attention trolls like Matt Gaetz, Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley escalate rhetoric against Democrats to a fever pitch and then meek, spineless dickweeds like Lindsay Graham hop aboard.

Some examples:

- Odious child molester and hair gel enthusiast Matt Gaetz goes after the Secretary of Defense for making the military "woke." Basically, attacking the legitimacy of the military within the context of bullshit culture war markers.

- They attack Judge Kentaji Brown Jacksons with QAnon inspired smears. 

- When that failed, they went with Nazis.

- When a few Republicans did the normal thing and supported a President's qualified Supreme Court pick, Traitor Greene called them pedophile enablers. 

- When Democrats have objected to a mean-spirited Florida bill to prevent any real discussion of sexual orientation, Republicans say that they are "grooming" children for pedophiles.

The pedophile thing is particularly appalling on two fronts.

First, there is the "every allegation is a confession" aspect of everything the GOP does. Matt Gaetz is under actual investigation for sex trafficking a minor. Donald Trump was good friends with Jeffrey Epstein. Then you've got things like this nausea inducing story. Or Tennessee Republicans getting rid of the age of consent for marriage.

Second, "pedophile" is about the lowest thing you can call someone. It's a crime so vile that even prison inmates consider it beyond the Pale. 

There's no coming back from "This guy is a pedophile." What's more, you're setting the stage for violence. We saw it already with the Pizzagate/Comet Pizza shooting. We have already seen how appeals to violence wedded with toxic conspiracy theories led to January 6th. 

Eliminationism is the idea that one's political opponents are not worthy of inclusion in the polity. I don't agree with how your Bog Standard Republican of 10 years ago wants to run the country, so I vote for Democrats. Trump mainlined this Eliminationist rhetoric into the heart of GOP politics. Trump was never the President of the United States, he was only the President of Trumpistan. And if you don't support Trumpistan, you are supporting pedophiles (projection) and Hunter Biden's corruption (projection) and the weakening of America (projection). Because you don't support a Rump America known in these parts as Trumpistan, you are not a Real Murican and are therefore a traitor.

If you want an example aside from Nazi Germany, look at how Putin and Russian media are talking about Ukrainians. The rhetoric used there is designed to justify the horrors of Bucha. If genocide is the act of destroying an entire group of people, you simply make it so that the group you are attacking aren't worthy of being considered people.

I am tentatively - so tentatively - hopeful that if Democrats hold on the Congress in November this twisted fever might break. Conservative, pro-business Republicans are not great. But this revanchist, patrimonial authoritarian version of the GOP will destroy America if allowed to gain power again.