It’s this style of self-justifying and self-exonerating madman’s logic — along with its cacophony of clashing murderous metaphors (by the end of the essay’s second short paragraph, the image of terrorist hijacking has already been supplanted by talk of “Russian Roulette played with a semi-auto”) — that inspired Rush Limbaugh to read close to the entirety of the essay on his radio program when it first appeared. Here was an argument that portrayed right-wing American voters as brave soldiers taking a noble risk for the good of the nation by … casting a vote in favor of a reality-show conman. How much did those voters have to hate America’s political establishment, the administrative state, and what the essay sneeringly described as “Conservatism, Inc.,” in order for that to sound like a reasonable proposition?

They had to hate all of it enough to risk putting Donald Trump in charge of the federal government when they had no idea how well or poorly he might handle a crisis. I mean a real national crisis, not the mostly imaginary crises drummed up by ideological entertainers like Limbaugh, who make millions pumping political toxins into the minds of their listeners week after week, month after month, year after year. I mean a crisis like a serious war with a major power — or a deadly pandemic arriving on American shores.

It’s all well and good to have some political fun playacting The Imminent End of the Republic with Hillary Clinton cast in the role of a female Snidely Whiplash. But really, what exactly did Anton think Clinton would do to destroy the country if she won? “A Hillary presidency will be pedal-to-the-metal on the entire Progressive-left agenda, plus items few of us have yet imagined in our darkest moments.” So in other words … mostly more of the same old, same old. She’d be a Democrat — a member of one of America’s two parties pursuing its standard list of policy priorities.