In response to the Waco Trump rally, TPM Reader MD, an Alabaman, wrote in to flag a note he’d sent in 18+ months ago. “I’m so glad to see your ed blog calling for more focus on the right-wing radicalism of the Trump campaign — not being desensitized to it. Last year I sent in the note below on the absolute shock I had — even for Trump — going into a tiny town with an outsized reputation for radical violence and intimidation. “

Here’s the email from August 3rd, 2021 …

From TPM Reader JO …

I appreciated your post yesterday about the increasingly close connection between the modern GOP and the growth of right wing radicalism and domestic terrorism over the decades since the Waco tragedies (and going back slightly earlier to the Ruby Ridge standoff — though I guess a campaign rally there would have been a bit too transparent even for Trump). The line from Waco to OKC to the Bundys to January 6 is clear and frightening — and your attention to it is why I’ve been following TPM from the start.

The Supreme Court, you’ll know from TPM, is currently considering a case in which Republican legislators from North Carolina argue that they, and no one else, have absolute authority over that state’s federal elections. The state courts don’t, the state governor doesn’t. Only the legislators do, they claim.

For this reason, the legislators argue, they can go ahead and gerrymander to their hearts’ content.