I'm quoting BrickHorn from two threads because these are related and IMO, important. The first quote is from the dipshit Okie thread relating to their legislators and bills proposed and passed.
Certainly something that bears a resemblance. Y'all may disagree with the following, but I'm not going to call them Nazis because that specific designation distracts from the discussion per se. I don't particularly wish to go back and forth with defenders (of the GOP) on an item by item basis of the ticky tacky details of how they differ.
What they ARE becoming is
increasingly radicalized,
increasingly on the same page (gathering of disparate groups out of chaos to form one)
increasingly embracing small scale politics to expand power
and finally increasingly proposing and passing legislation that enables the judiciary to enforce their ideology.
It ties together from top to bottom and from the bottom to the top so I'd like to make a case without benefit of a legal degree that what they are doing should serve as a warning for the future. And the future is now. It should keep you up and night.
It begins with this:
the policies and appointments of the Trump administration with the judges that will rule on the various cases that will be placed before them. Those that say, "well, some Trump judges haven't necessarily done so!" True, very true, but with over 245 appointments, 234 who are/were Article III judges, some of this intricate planning takes awhile to come to fruition.
the posts and articles placed in front of us concerning groups waging war on a local level. From school boards to PACs to election commissions, to registration drives. It's small ball politics and it is gaining steam. The more steam it gains, the easier it is to suppress, disenfranchise, and stamp out hope for progress. Want to complain about a school policy that concerns your non Christian child, your transgender child, your minority child? Deaf ears will be the result. Want to obtain a permit for your protest? 'Oh so sorry, that's a no.' Or, if it is granted, and then declared a riot, well, see above in Oklahoma for what the outcome could feasibly be.
the meetings nationwide, with guest hosts and speakers (Michael Flynn, et al) are chosen with purpose. These are rallies to bring together groups with various agendas and place them in company with each other socially to form bonds of agreement and to solidify support. It better aligns the circles on the Venn to become one.
the groups then coalesce in their bubbles to inform those contained within on who the 'out' groups are and keep them 'out.'
Lastly, you have groups like Stephen Miller's legal group to harass and highlight issues of importance to the ideology to keep the energy maintained, wholly supported by entities such as Fox, OANN, and Newsmax who over and over and over again feature guests who trumpet lies as facts, reinforce the grievances and ideology, and are never or rarely, questioned regarding the validity of their statements.
This is what the majority of the GOP mainstream is. From the Senate to the House, from Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz to Marjorie Taylor Greene to Louis Gohmert, from Republican governors to legislatures with Republican majorities, any reasonableness has been subsumed or replaced with this ideology and mindset. Sure, it's all about power and money, and they don't want to lose either, but they have no qualms about it because they have been and continue to prepare to employ their short and long range plans to keep them both.
Greg Sargent wrote an op-ed about the phenomenon and this quote sums it up pretty well.
Yes, that is the whole point.
Bringing officer Chauvin into court and holding him accountable for his actions was a step counter to this, and now justice for brutality and death--justice which has gone missing for decades--is labeled as the 'mob' coming for 'us' and a rallying cry to fight back with a mob of their own.
It's going to get worse. On all levels. Midterms are coming.
Stay safe, stay vigilant.