When I wrote an article not long ago deploring the Rittenhouse verdict’s effective endorsement of armed political violence, somebody purporting to be a moderate replied to me that I had to understand the left is just as radical and should expect a strong reaction to outrageous ideas.

That comment epitomizes for me the sort of normalization you are writing about. I have participated in leftist demonstrations and street actions all my life, and I have never once seen or heard about someone on the left threatening to kill people or actually killing people with military assault weapons.

The new normal on the right appears to be, "let’s arm ourselves to the teeth."

We must recognize as a society that this is new and extraordinarily dangerous, to our lives and to our democracy.