From Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged:
I’ve had a moment to think over what happened January 6, and even though Trump had been conditioning the Tea Party types out there to prepare for civil war with his rhetoric for some time, and I think I have a pretty good grasp as how otherwise comfortable normies turn into soft-skulled crabs, I’m still pretty bowled over by the number of folks who participated in the melee who took extensive selfies and video of their activity.
I mean, I get it, Trump’s soldiers of convenience are folks like the Proud Boys (the alt-right fight club whose rule rule seems to be “Never stop talking about being in a fight club.”) But check out the toasty pumpkin spice Karen flashing a peace sign in front of broken glass at the capitol, whose battle cry included “Y’all know who to hire for your realtor. Jenna Ryan for your realtor.”
She thought this was great for her branding? Every single grinning picture (“Felt cute, might insurrect later”) is a damning picture of how comfortable people have been with what I’ve been thinking of as Nazi-adjacency–the phenomenon of seeing someone’s swastika tattoos or downstairs weapons stockpile or what have you and going, “Welp–not a deal-breaker.” The way Trump’s racism and Nazi-adjacency weren’t a deal-breaker for voters, being snuggled up to these cats doesn’t seem to be a deal-breaker in these folks’ lives. Seeing III%-er gear doesn’t bug them. And they scream like banshees if anyone suggests there is something “deplorable” about it.