Presidential scapegoating can make hate feel patriotic.

Evidence

The power of the president as commander in chief, as the one singularly responsible for identifying imminent existential threats to the nation, means that when the president scapegoats, it can seem patriotic to fear and hate and to act on these emotions. The president has the power to ratify scapegoating and normalize conspiracism—to render it a tool for politicians to use to attract support and sway opinion. Beyond that, presidential conspiracism becomes a rationale for degrading ordinary democratic institutions, creating what we will show is a “malignant normality.” — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 149

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The mechanism—commander-in-chief authority converting scapegoating into patriotism—is worth sitting with.
• XREF: connects to: Scapegoating conspiracism assigns hated groups responsibility for national troubles. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 139; Scapegoating conspiracism offers only the satisfaction of pulling others down. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 142; Flimsy hate propaganda shifts attitudes even when denounced by authorities (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Hate functions as a public assertion of enmity that constitutes a political community #expands (0.85) — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 1083
• Hate violence can be state-encouraged rather than merely irrational individual deviance #expands (0.85) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 101
• Declared hate publicly constitutes a political community by naming its enemy #expands (0.85)
• Flimsy hate propaganda shifts attitudes even when denounced by authorities #complicates (0.80)
• White anxiety drives demogogic scapegoating across US politics. #exemplifies (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1139
• Scapegoating is a group-coordinated ideological phenomenon. #expands (0.80)
• Patriotic sentiment remains conceptually or empirically separable from destructive nationalism in practice #complicates (0.75)
• Apparent cruelty can restore political order and loyalty #corroborates (0.75)