YOUR RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS.

Eight years ago, we called attention to National Review's Charles C. W. Cooke, noting how one Donald J. Trump's version of the Cult of the Presidency was reason for Democrat Keepers of the Cult to rethink the role of a strong central government.

There might be a general principle at work, and its emergence is encouraging.

Having watched the rise of Trumpism — and, now, having seen the beginning of violence in its name — who out there is having second thoughts as to the wisdom of imbuing our central state with massive power?

That’s a serious, not a rhetorical, question. I would genuinely love to know how many “liberals” have begun to suspect that there are some pretty meaningful downsides to the consolidation of state authority. I’d like to know how many of my ideological opponents saying with a smirk that “it couldn’t happen here” have begun to wonder if it could. I’d like to know how many fervent critics of the Second Amendment have caught themselves wondering whether the right to keep and bear arms isn’t a welcome safety valve after all.

There's more in that vein at the article. By all means, read and understand.

I cannot guarantee the reliability of links to National Review from eight years ago, it's hard enough to guarantee those week to week.

That "right to keep and bear arms" as a safety valve appears to have been discovered, recently, by people who until last week were probably all about banning assault weapons and all the rest.

Lmao the right reported me for... supporting the Second Amendment?

Learned my rhetoric from you, pookie! 😘 https://t.co/zUuIoElEmN pic.twitter.com/IovDU2q5ni

— Not a Good Jewish Girl✡️ (@estherzelda0514) January 12, 2026

The Federal Constitution guaranteeing the right of revolution asserted in the Declaration of Independence is something acknowledged, more in sorrow than in anger, by libertarians, and it's embraced by patriot militia types as a license to hunt politicians.  I have not, as of this afternoon, learned of any such militias organizing to draw down on the antifa types.

I did find another post in a similar vein.

It’s time for minutemen to make a come back, tyranny is here. It is our duty to uphold the constitution as Americans and properly use our second amendment. Our founding fathers gave us that right to defend our democracy, land, each other from the grips of a false government. pic.twitter.com/MwWJoG4GOk

— Commander Cody hates fascists (@CodyFandom_) January 11, 2026

Democrat officialdom still keeps its distance. "Pritzker dismisses ex-DC police officer's call for Americans to use Second Amendment to protect against ICE."  The protests in Chicago and the inner suburbs have been nasty, but so far without gunplay.

"Well, violence is inappropriate in all of these situations," Pritzker said. "And indeed, I've told the protesters — who are, in fact, the vast majority are peaceful protesters — keep the violence out of it. Make sure you‘re peacefully protesting, be loud for America, but make sure you’re not providing any excuse for the administration to try to send in National Guard."

He noted that Illinois has won legal cases so far to prevent National Guard troops from being sent to the state.

"We've won in our cases, but it’s in part because we haven't created any situations in which an insurrection or rebellion looks like it’s taking place," Pritzker continued. "Our protesters are doing the right thing, and we shouldn't have any talk of people bringing guns and matching force by civilians with law enforcement. What we need is for law enforcement at the federal level to back off, do their job, follow the protocols, do the right thing."

It's unlikely that law enforcement is going to back off to the levels the governor envisions, particularly in Chicago neighborhoods.  The protest communities of Chicago have not been as worked up as those in the Cities and Portland since the new year began.

That national politics has become a contest to grab as many levers as power as practicable as quickly as possible and hammer on perceived foes isn't helping.  In an earlier post we contemplated the patriot militia types squaring off with the social justice warriors.

That sort of talk has Reason's Steven Greenhut worried.  "The Democrats are dealing with a socialist-friendly Left that despises economic freedom, but Republicans are facing a resurgent nationalist Right that shares many of the same hostilities. There's a clear and present danger on both horizons." I'm quoting him a little bit out of context, as his column focuses more on an intramural spat among social conservatives that I've mostly not paid attention to: and yet, the voices of angry division seem to be riling up the true believers of all stripes.  Here's the problem, notes J. D. Tuccille, also in Reason.  "The government in the United States has increasingly become a powerful weapon that two warring tribes repeatedly seize control of and then use against each other. For those of us who are averse to being smashed, it's long past time to consider the machinery of the state as nothing more than a bludgeon in the hands of dangerous maniacs."  If not dangerous maniacs, at least the congenitally incompetent.

I have hopes of taking stock of that intramural spat among social conservatives, sometime this month.  That the congenitally incompetent among Team Biden did enough to hand those national levers of power back to the congenitally incompetent among Team Trump pretty well guarantees those hopes might be overtaken by events.