Jack of Harts

They can lower the volume whenever they want to. They can stop calling their political foes all the things they call them. They can stop egging their followers into resorting to violence. And when there is violence, they can change the words they use and seek to lower the volume.

When their followers attack politicians, they could step back from the rhetoric. When their followers attack cops and other law enforcement, they could change the words they use. When their followers attack reports and pod casters and journalists, they could stop calling for all of that. They can lower the volume whenever they want to, and their followers would listen to them. Even now. Even as crazy as they have been driven over the last decade, if their leaders stopped egging them on to attack their enemies, the attacks would fade away. There would still be some. Crazy doesn’t go away in a day.

But they could lower the volume if they wanted to. They could reduce the number of deaths if they wanted to. But the attacks are a feature, not a bug. The attacks are the point, and that is why they won’t reduce the volume. They are getting what they wan, and that is why they will continue to call for violence.