I wrote about a run-in with an elderly lady who quickly went from pleasant small talk to launching a conspiratorial tirade about Joe Biden’s war on upstanding patriots and how Trump alone could save the Republic. It tells us something about political culture in America today.

The ubiquity of militant iconography and extremist slogans is not a manifestation of robust free speech, but a sign of a democratic crisis and a deeply pathological political culture that has been widely normalized. It constitutes an acute threat to democracy.

A country in which it is regarded as socially acceptable behavior to wear a t-shirt to the airport with which you pledge to either kill or banish a good portion of your fellow airplane passengers is not a nation in which democracy will be sustainable.

If a democracy that deserves the label is to emerge out of this current mess, America will need to establish societal boundaries against the public display of violence, the open embrace of militancy, the casual spouting of extremist ideology and conspiratorial nonsense.

Rightwingers have aggressively taken to the streets, the town halls, and the beaches. They are trying to dominate the public square, and we mustn’t let them. They understand that pluralistic democracy depends on all citizens feeling safe in the public square.

@tzimmer_history a good read, the t shirts are definitely a form of harassment. I live in a deeply purple part of NY. We mostly all "don't talk about it" here, most of the MAGAs have the good sense to not wear t shirts about it and I think they are less insulated than your beach lady, who I think would probably not get into it as fast if she had to see liberal neighbors at the dog run every day. I still send a bday card to my extremely MAGA aunt in Florida and she thanks me for it.