Imagine, if you will, Barack Obama threatening the Republicans with angry urban mobs if they denied Merrick Garland a vote on his nomination in 2016. The indignation would have reached 11. Obama is a fascist! Obama is a dictator! Obama has no respect for the rule of law! It would have gone on and on.
Obama, of course, did no such thing. But Trump has incorporated it into his playbook, and now Lindsey Graham is following his lead. The armed right-wing mob, it seems, has become an accepted part of American politics.
The encouraging news here is that the existing militias appear to have been demoralized by Trump’s betrayal and the prosecutions after January 6. There is no evidence yet that they are turning into the IRA to accompany the GOP’s Sinn Fein. If the right were to riot following a decision to prosecute Trump, then, the rioters would be ordinary, disorganized, clueless reactionaries instead of a ruthless counterrevolutionary vanguard with a clear plan to overthrow the government. They would not present much of a threat under those circumstances.
The same people, however, do present a serious threat following the 2024 election, because they will have a clear objective and a way to accomplish it at that point. The groundwork has already been laid for the next constitutional crisis, but it’s years away.