Extremists reject current authorities they see as betraying higher ones

Evidence

But note the modifier “perceived.” Some extremists may reject normal authorities who (it seems to them) have betrayed the real, fundamental established authority: for example (their perception of) God’s will, or the Constitution. They often believe the government has been taken over by Jews, homosexuals, feminists, Communists, and so on. Such extremists are right-wing authoritarian in this context—“superpatriots”? who see themselves as upholding traditional values, but whose fear and self-righteousness hammer with such intensity that they rehearse for violence and may cross the line to violence itself. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 134

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that ‘established authorities’ is filtered through perception, which is what lets authoritarians reject one set of authorities in the name of a higher one.
• SEED: The ‘perceived’ qualifier explains how authoritarians can simultaneously defer to authority and brand the legitimate government illegitimate — an angle on how authoritarian movements justify insurrection.
• XREF: connects to: Perceived official lies radicalized residents into distrusting their government. — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 482; Some revolutionaries spoilt ballots to reject both the military council and the Brotherhood — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 305