Peter Wehner: “Trump’s rhetoric is a permission slip for his supporters to dehumanize others just as he does. He portrays others as existential threats, determined to destroy everything MAGA world loves about America. Trump is doing two things at once: pushing the narrative that his enemies must be defeated while dissolving the natural inhibitions most human beings have against hating and harming others.”
“It signals to his supporters that any means to vanquish the other side is legitimate; the normal constraints that govern human interactions no longer apply.”