Advocates of right-wing authoritarianism are busy sketching out plans for a “Red Caesar” in the White House.

In an article for Claremont Institute's "American Mind" publication, Kevin Slack, a political scientist at Hillsdale College, wrote about the New Right's desire for a "Red Caesar," a leader "whose post-constitutional rule will restore the strength of his people." The article is an excerpt from his book, War on the American Republic.

How would such a leader gain power in our democratic republic? Through violence, Slack says. Conservatives "must be willing to engage in violence," he wrote, and an "armed citizenry with a stake in society, angry about its managed decline, and insistent upon its rights" should oppose our government. He also encouraged "conservative intellectuals" to "openly ally with the AR-15 crowd." Slack expects "this new terrible war would be city against country, neighbor against neighbor, in the aisles of grocery stores, restaurants, and churches."

Is this just a fringe view? Possibly? Hopefully. But ever since Donald Trump's takeover of the Republican Party we've seen ideas that were once considered extreme become acceptable, and then these now acceptable ideas become "you're a traitor if you disagree." Until recently, neither Hillsdale College nor Claremont Institute were considered fringe, yet now they're both tied to violent revolution and autocracy.

In another example, former high-ranking Republican staffer Mike Davis spoke about his plans for a second Trump administration, which includes "fire a lot of people," indict all the Bidens, deport 10 million people, and pardon the J6 rioters. "We’re gonna put kids in cages. It’s gonna be glorious," he said. "We’re gonna detain a lot of people in the D.C. Gulag and Gitmo."

Again, is this just fringe? In an article for The xxxxxx, Tim Miller pointed out that Mike Davis is the type of person who would get a high-ranking position in a new Trump administration.

Here are a few other examples that concern me:

• I wrote previously about a national sheriff's group that argues they have the right to ignore federal law.

• The Heritage Foundation has a plan, "Project 2025," to return the federal bureaucracy to a patronage system.

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis created an election police unit being used for voter intimidation.

• Similarly, North Carolina Republicans are looking at creating their own secret police force.

• Trump talks openly about using state power against people who have criticized him, and even suggested former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley should be executed.

• And last week I wrote about the threats and intimidation of election workers.

Together, these examples point to the growing authoritarianism and a potential for more violence on the right wing of American politics.

How should we respond?

Some who oppose political extremism warn against bringing attention to the extremists lest we unwittingly raise their profile. They are often attention-seekers and we give them what they want the more we talk about them.

On the other hand, I suspect there are many conservative Americans who are completely unaware of the close ties between those advocating violent Caesarism and the political figures they support. So, in some of our conversations, it may be helpful to point to Slack's article, which clearly lays out the goals of at least some on the New Right.

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