Trump VP Hopeful Declares, ‘Under Joe Biden, We’re Actually Living Under a Dictatorship’

They do this literally all the time, not to normalize the idea, but to desensitize you to the accusation. That way, when they do something that is actually fascist, like calling up the Kansas National Guard under the Insurrection Act to go door-kicking in Chicago for illegal immigrants, your brain enters a thought-terminating state of "nothing-burger, both sides, etc."

Example, they liked to use the word "insurrection" a lot about anything Democrats did following J6.

No, that's what they're doing. If you've ever heard it said of conservatives, "every accusation is a confession," this is a pretty prime example. It's a lot easier to convince people to do some gnarly shit if you can pretend that the same gnarly shit is already being done to them.

Like, running a successful grift isn't about convincing your mark that your dubious proposition is above board. They can pretty much always tell something shady is going on. To con someone successfully you convince them that, yes, something shady is going on, but that shady thing is actually working in their favor. You have to convince them that shadiness is the trick that's going to let them get one over on everyone else.

Nobody wants to live under a dictatorship. Literally nobody. But if you can trick them into believing they're already living in one, well then installing your own suddenly gets a lot easier. "Look, you're already getting grifted. But if you put us in power and let us run our grift, our grift is going to benefit you this time. We promise."

It won't, though. It never does.

It might finally give conservatives clear permission to go out and hurt the people they don't like, though. And that might be enough for a lot of them.