Is the "conservative movement" even in on the coup? A "conservative movement" would comprise 10-20mio people or so. I don't think this many are participating. Also don't think this many were informed beforehand what was planned for the first weeks.

***
Sadists are the White Supremacists in the motley crew that is actively participating in the coup.
ultra-"Christians" can easily also be White Supremacists, ie sadists, but not necessarily.

White Supremacy is only a vehicle to an end: causing pain. But the sadists need a cover-up story, something like an ideology, as an alibi for their abnormality – bc their socialisation tells them that causing pain is wrong.
So they invent a far-right thought concept that justifies causing pain.

During the European witch hunts, it was the narrative of devil and soul-saving that lent an alibi to the torturers in the Catholic Church. The various torture stages were even meticulously codified and continuously perfected. This codification also served as both, an alibi as well as a sadist porn magazine.
In Hitler Germany, the lust for cruelty received a detailed legitimisation in the Arian "ideology" and laws, too.

***
Sadism isn't merely a tool in the absence of empathy. Sadism is a personality trait. Like the "absence of empathy" is a personality trait.
Sadism is one possible expression of a personality that lusts for power over ...entities/humans.

Not all people with lust for power are sadists.
But all sadists lust for power over their victims.

Some actions in the coup so far please the group of oligarchs in the motley crew,
while some actions please the sadists.
EM is in both groups, oligarchs and sadists/ White Supremacists.

Reposting this here because it was my reply to a comment on this thread which got since deleted by the user.
https://climatejustice.social/@anlomedad/113938132997881305

In the first 10 minutes of this podcast, #Snyder elaborates on his "Fascism is about pain."
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5FM4UOSeAwywpQowDrS84R?si=r86INuCgQce8n_kpCGTejA

Rather pleased that I got it right in my un-learned worldview and interpretation of what fascism really is: a cover-up story for sadism,
not an intellectual achievement in the musing how a society should be perfected. Just that: inflicting pain on others.

The podcast is from November 2024. And he does elaborate for some minutes on his "Fascism is about pain."
So why did his later substack "The Logic Of Destruction " not refer to the sadism part at all? https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-of-destruction

Did his opinion evolve since then, away from fascism= sadism?