There it is, your post and David's cited numbers in all its ugly glory with a phalanx of rabid bloodletters and grand guignol lovers cheering them on.  Amid the stew of moral and ethical bankruptcy, it also seems like we found something Trump actually cares about other than power and political survival.  You can feel his visceral hatred for outsiders dating way past the Central Park 5.  Sure, some of it is strategic pitting and divide and conquer but I don't think it's happenstance that he is truly invested in fulfilling only one of his campaign promises.

Peter's entry on epistemology and the growing trends of unusual beliefs reminded me to revisit the research on how cultural beliefs shift during times of perceived threat.  In addition to heightened jingoism, conspiracy theory, and quasi-religious magical thinking, the appeal to authoritarianism is definitely there.  But I also stumbled on a clarification for which I personally wasn't familiar. In The Authoritarian Dynamic, Stenner made the distinction between conservatism and authoritarianism.  The former is concerned with resisting change while the latter, eliminating diversity.  I might be late to the party in knowing that.  Nevertheless, I think we are truly seeing the tipping point in our culture today; most definitely in the GOP, where the goal has shifted from turning back the clock to a more "purified" solution.  

I also don't know what to say to the 2024 voters that migrated toward Trump.  Many probably thought - and were seduced by the idea - they were safely in the "us" column, spared from the carnage. I fear they will soon get caught up in the devastation from this hate-fueled wildfire.  And when history's arc moves to the last line of the "first they came for..." poem, they will look for help from this raging conflagration, only to find Darvo Don respond with as much cavalier disdain as he did the California flames.