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At the heart of post-WWII American Conservatism lay an existential hatred of Communism. But what most folks don't realize is that for many of those Conservatives, the "Communists" they were most concerned about were simply their fellow Americans who were to their left.
In other words, regarding one's domestic political opponents as "existential enemies of America" was a core idea, there at the beginning of post WWII American conservatism. Not all conservatives were such avid red baiters, but few really did much to tamp it down.
It was this constant sense of existential crisis, that it was always "five minutes to midnight" as @LarryGlickman has put it, that gave the conservative movement its emotional punch for those who became involved with it. This isn't just about tax policy, this is about FREEDOM!
While the "Flight 93 election" piece was a distinctively 2016 iteration of this dynamic--regarding Americans to your left as literal terrorists out to destroy the country--it's long been a feature of American conservative discourse.
So when Trump and the entire GOP start wailing about "antifa anarchists and socialist Dems like Joe Biden who hate America and want to destroy it," just remember...this is a standard issue American conservative playing the old hits.
It remains to be seen whether this oldie will still get the masses up and dancing, or if its groove is just too old and stale to move more than a tiny fraction of us.
