GOP candidates increasingly ramping up threats of riots and civil war as election looms: report

According to a report from the Washington Post's Dave Weigel, extremist GOP candidates campaigning to be on the November 2022 midterm election ballot are larding their stump speeches with warnings that riots and civil war are imminent if Democratic officeholders are not defeated.

Noting the growth are far-right rabble-rousers who have been emboldened to run for public office because of the success of Donald Trump who went from real estate developer to president of the United States, the report documents an alarming rise in violent rhetoric coming from the political neophytes.

According to the report, fringe GOP candidates are going far beyond complaining about their Democratic opponent's policy disagreements and saying Democrats believe conservative voters are the "enemy."

"The rhetoric is bracing, if not entirely new. Liberal commentators made liberal use of the word 'fascism' to describe Trump’s presidency. The baseless theory that President Barack Obama was undermining American power as a foreign agent was popular with some Republicans, including Trump, who succeeded Obama in the White House," Weigel wrote before adding, "Many Democrats saw the backlash to Obama as specific to his race, and saw Biden as unlikely to inspire mass opposition to Trump in the presidential election. But many Republicans also portray Biden as a malevolent figure — a vessel for a hateful leftist campaign to weaken America."

Writing, "...candidates described a country that was not merely in trouble, but being destroyed by leaders who despise most Americans— effectively part of a civil war. In both swing states and safe seats, many Republicans say that liberals hate them personally and may turn rioters or a police state on people who disobey them," Weigel continued, "[The] argument has been dramatized in ads that, for instance, show one armed candidate appearing to charge into the home of a political enemy, and another warning of 'the mob' that threatens ordinary Americans. In many cases the candidates are brandishing firearms while threatening harm to liberals or other enemies."

"The arrests of hundreds of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has frequently been cited by Republican candidates as proof of a government war on its people," the report adds.

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