1. Fascinating deep-dive by @intelwire into the motley coalition that comprises the dangerous right edge of Trump's base. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
2. It got me thinking about a question I've been interested in for a long time and about which I have produced many an annoying thread (like this one):
3. To say that the @gop has a right fringe is not to say much of interest. All political parties are coalitional. Parties develop semi-coherent identities over time, but they are never monolithic.
5. Trump's grudging or non-existent renunciations of the past week's acts of right-wing political violence (by my count there have been 4: Kentucky Kroger, Pittsburgh synagogue, Sayoc's assassination attempts, & incel Florida shooter) also tells us a lot about the @gop.
6. As the Atlantic article shows, Trump's persona and the narratives he pushes are the gravitational force that holds this diverse coalition of fractious far-right groups together. These are the communities from which these political killers (i.e., terrorists) came. 
7. The defining feature of today's Trumpist @gop is its utter unwillingness to police its right flank. More than that, its defining feature is the pleasure it takes in INFLAMING its right flank, and pushing the more moderate folk in its coalition ever further rightward.
8. Trump lacks the sociological, political, or historical imagination to comprehend the broader implications of his words and actions. All he knows is, "these people love me, thus they must be good people, thus I will give them the red meat they desire so that I can win."
9. But the career politicians in the @gop (and the corporate types who have signed on to the Trump train thinking they could just take the tax cuts & deregulation a la carte) must know that they might soon be consumed by the alt-right bonfire Trump has been building.
10. In two short years, Trump has almost completely dissolved the boundary between the mainstream @gop and its far right fringes. What was once the edge is now the center (as embodied by the beloved figure of President Trump). Fox news ca. 2018 is basically Breitbart ca. 2016.
12. The most sobering take-away from the @TheAtlantic article, however, is that it might already be too late for the @gop and the nation. Trump has assembled a movement of people ready to engage in extra-legal political violence to preserve Trumpism's hold on power.
13. That said, there are also reasons to think this might not happen. Sayoc & W*hl are indicative of how hapless many of the most fervent MAGA supporters are. It's hard to make an effective, disciplined movement out of lone wolf actors, tho the damage they cause is very real.
14. There are also important differences amongst the folks in Trump's rt-wing coalition, & they're not the sort of ppl to brook compromise. The alliance between nationalists, incels, evangelicals, anti-semites, 2nd amendment types, etc. could quickly fracture in Trump's absence.
15. But the danger is real, and the fact that the @gop has pressured the FBI and Justice Department to stop monitoring the emerging threat on the far right makes it harder for law enforcement to prevent future acts of right wing violence. nytimes.com/2018/11/03/mag…
16. This is, in part, why Tuesday's election is so consequential. The far right will not be defeated if Dems take back the house, but there's a chance that the @gop might start the process of reining in Trump and policing the party's right edge.
17. Unless voters send a clear signal that this is what the @gop must do, it will keep moving rightward, keep making kissy-face with groups who build their identity around rejecting the egalitarian tenets which have (imperfectly) animated American politics for centuries.
18. What follows are links to a few older threads where I tried to think through the historical relationship between the @gop mainstream and its far right edge.
19. On the @gop's increasingly fervent embrace of right wing conspiracy theories.
20. On the rise of far right, street-fighting militias, and the @gop's tacit approval of them.
