For years, I advocated giving white Christian nationalists the carve-outs they demanded in order to buy time and stave off their more dangerous demands. It occurred to me last night, however, that after January 6, appeasement of some of the more militant members of the group is no longer a plausible course of action. A loud and growing segment of the Reactionary faction of the GOP is no longer satisfied with carve-outs. It wants a guarantee of permanent power, and it wants to use government to stifle the left, the First Amendment be damned.
There is no appeasing those folks; they have to be fought with their own weapons. That doesn’t mean it is a good idea to poke them or provoke them unnecessarily. Nor am I suggesting that the center-left is obligated to advocate for woke positions which don’t have the support of the majority of Americans; on culture war issues, finding the sweet spot in the center makes more sense. Direct assaults on liberal democratic norms, however, cannot be tolerated, and should be at the heart of the 2022 and 2024 elections, to the extent that any given GOP candidate supports them.