In the days since the killing and attempted killing in Pennsylvania, the rifts in American society are getting wider.

An example of this is the absolutely astonishing commentary published in Slate yesterday. The headline does not accurately describe the actual text: “Attack on Trump exploited: “An opportunity to shame dissenters from the MAGA movement into silence”.” It is a series of brief scribblings by various regressive, Woke, and self-proclaimed lovers of democracy trashing conservatives, republicans, and of course The Donald. It is an incredible list of twisted history, mad claims, and doomsday predictions. It is an attack on libertarians (minarchists) and we anarchists, as well, though we are not called out by name.

We wish we had the time and word space to address the hundred-plus claims and attacks made by an author, professor, journalist, cartoonist and activist. And point out the nonsense and warping of reality. All of which makes us question what universe they exist in, versus what we here at TPOL and most of the people we know live in.

But just an example from the author/compiler of the hit piece, writing about the SCOTUS presidential immunity decision: “…that granted Trump (and his Republican-fascist successors) the power of a king by making them essentially above the law. In a cruel irony, the Supreme Court made Trump a de facto king the same week as the July 4th Independence Day holiday. A holiday meant to be a celebration of American freedom and the American democratic project instead felt like a funeral.”

For those of us who love liberty, one of the several bad things about the SCOTUS ruling was that it would apply to Uncle Joe and his Democrat-fascist successors! And American presidents for nearly a century have had more power than most kings, and time after time demonstrated that they are above the law. Especially Uncle Joe, who joins such personable people of FDR, LBJ, and RMN.

Now, we understand that political rhetoric, by definition, is overblown and hyperbolic. Or to put it bluntly, full of lies. We get it. Still, this worldview has as much a lack of connection with reality as someone who believes that The Donald walks on water and can single-handedly defeat the Deep State the way Teddy Roosevelt won at San Juan Hill.

Interesting, though: attempts by us to find examples of similar Republican or conservative and even extreme right-wing (to use their words) pundits or scholars making similar claims about another Biden administration. (Or Harris or Newsom or Pelosi regime.) We are not saying that such madness cannot be found online (especially on social media) or in little photocopied bulletins. But nothing comparable to Salon that we could find. (Readers, let us know – we genuinely are curious.) The closest we’ve found is a generally sympathetic (to Biden) AP News article. Let us try to summarize it: more taxes, more spending, more fedgov social services and health care, fewer guns (at least in private hands), more abortion and other “civil rights” including unregulated (or greatly reduced regulation of) voting and immigration, and more regulations using climate change as an excuse. And, of course, more war: Ukraine and Israel. A much lesser impact on the American people than many expect, based on the progression under Clinton, Obama, and Biden to date. But (as the article states) Biden would continue to push “a cornucopia of proposals that would have dramatically changed the role of the federal government in Americans’ lives.” We would expect no less from any other Democrat likely to replace Biden now or in four years.

Still, conservatives, evangelical activists, and their ilk still see a far different world than the Woke – or even most libertarians: they seek Biden’s actions as destroying democratic institutions in a constitutional, federal republic. They see spending, more spending, regulations, and more regulations as destroying the American (and world) economy. They see the results of Democratic and regressive control in States and urban areas as accelerating the damage to the economy and society. They scream about the Deep State and hidden agendas and Communist-style perversions of our nations.

But we don’t find claims of death camps, genocide, or joining into a worldwide alliance of tyrants or radical progressives. (One of the Salon writers stated flat out that Trump would ally himself with Russia, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Israel “and others” as a pact of tyrants. That his agenda for a second term was fascist, and the Nine Nazgul “ruling enables him to complete his authoritarian takeover without accountability or restraint.”)

Two worlds? Two worldviews? Two examples of madness threatening life, peace, prosperity, and liberty? Certainly. We need to be aware and need to teach people to recognize and understand the madness. And the bitterness and irrational fears that drive such mad rhetoric.

Post-script: The New York Times on Monday published a scathing guest essay on former President Trump just two days after the incident in Pennsylvania: “This is not an election with a wrongheaded but well-meaning Republican. It’s an all-out war with an illiberal megalomaniac who will happily destroy American democracy if it buys him one more ounce of power and keeps him out of prison,…”

One more weird thing about that: the Fox News story talking about the NYT used this suggestive language: “…an attempted assassination of the Republican nominee.” AN? Does the media know more than they are telling us about what is to come? My, is that not as paranoid as the Woke cries about The EVIL Donald?