Paul Waldman: “We just heard Michael Caputo, who is in charge of communications at the Department of Health and Human Services, speak of leftist ‘hit squads being trained all over the country.’ He even encouraged conservatives to stock up on ammunition. In the terrified world of conservative conspiracy theorists, leftist violence is always right around the corner, which becomes a justification for rightist violence. Caputo’s deranged comments point to a key difference between the two parties in America right now: While there are radicals on the left, even some who toy with violent ideas, they get almost no support from high-ranking Democrats. When there’s violence at a protest, every major Democrat from Biden on down condemns it and implores people to remain peaceful.The same cannot be said of Republicans. They and their media supporters celebrate and justify violence, as long as it’s right-wing violence. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton advocates sending in the military to quash protests. Tucker Carlson defends vigilante killings. Conservatives thus hear a continuous validation of the idea that violence, so long as it’s committed by Us against Them, is a reasonable tool to achieve your ends.”

“So if and when Biden is president and begins exercising his authority — enacting liberal policies, signing liberal legislation, appointing liberals to positions of power — what will the people who have been imbibing all this rhetoric for four years decide to do about it? Will they begin voter registration drives? Or will they conclude that the system has failed them, and violence is an appropriate response? If they’re egged on by an ex-president Trump and told by Fox News and conservative talk radio that every day of a Biden administration brings us closer to the literal destruction of America, it will be a shock if they don’t turn to violence. It will make the tea party look like, well, a tea party. It would be nice if we could emerge from a Trump defeat as a nation cleansed and renewed, ready for a new era of unity and civility. But we will not leave him behind so easily. He has poisoned everything in our democracy, and we will endure the consequences for years to come.”