I have immediate family who are very partisan Democrats.

This has become a religious moment in this country. None of the family members I'm thinking of are particularly religious in a traditional sense. I'm using the term in a more descriptive sense for the part of their psyche that has become dominant over the past 8 years.

They see an item like this, and their reaction is a sensation of penetrating all-consuming moral superiority. People like Tucker Carlson (Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, etc) are literally evil. In my conversations with these family members, it makes zero difference what Carlson says. Zero. The fact that it is Carlson saying it is sufficient for them to know that this is heresy. "These people" cannot be allowed to have a voice. They are by definition dangerous, no matter what they actually say, or what happens.

This is where the censorship comes from. It's not politics (the art of compromise among different interest groups); it's doctrine. The moral map they have drawn is absolute, and it must be maintained.

I do not hate my family members. I have told them explicitly that when they are talking about the roughly 50% Trump population, they should include me in that group (though I don't support Trump, their reaction to him forces me to side against them). They don't hate me. But they are radically intolerant of the culture represented by Trump and his allies. It is that radical intolerance combined with the sensation of innate moral superiority I find incredibly dangerous. It is manifesting as a mob who wants to destroy the lives of the unvaccinated. That desire has nothing to do with public health. It's othering in its purest form, and it is this profound lack of compassion for their political opponents that has alienated me completely from the established power structure.

The basic point that Carlson is making here is accurate. Partisan Democrats cannot allow anyone who disagrees with their fundamentalist liberal doctrine to have any power. They are convinced that to do so would mean the end of the world.

I suppose the opposing side will say that the precise opposite is true - it is the conservatives who are radically intolerant. The difference is "who has the power?" The liberal side currently controls all the levers (education, dominant propaganda, government, corporate). This makes them infinitely more dangerous in our current environment, as they are actively using those levers to physically crush their opposition. This is what the Jan 6 prosecutions are.

A power structure with such a radical lack of respect and compassion for those of dissenting opinions (especially when those dissenting represent literally roughly half the country, and more every day) must be resisted. If the conservative side gains and abuses similar power, I will gladly oppose them as well, but in the current context, conservatives are most definitely the David in this David v Goliath struggle.