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Ok, we've seen what the institutional left in the US trying to target the right looks like before. It was... the Biden admin. Not Biden personally, he was sundowning for most of it. But figures like Ron Klain and Merrick Garland are pretty core to the DNC apparatus- if 'democrats take the gloves off' has a face, it's one we've seen. Their attempt at internal repression was largely a fizzle. They lost a domestic hard power confrontation before they were even halfway through!
One thing to remember about democrats vs republicans is that- not for every case of right vs left, but for this one- their failure modes are different. It's optimate vs populare, in the original meaning of the term- how they derive their sense of internal legitimacy, of deserving to win. The democrats are representing the class that should be in charge, simple as. The republicans are representing the thoughts we all have but which the experts won't entertain, simple as. Republicans thus have an internal telotic pressure to move and then take the gloves all the way off. Democrats have an internal telotic pressure to focus group and study the issue until they can issue new regulations.
Now, the process of stasis is well advanced in the American republic, but it's important to remember that optimate choleric lashout to enshrine the mos maiorum virtually never works, and the next attempt at Sulla won't work either. Progressive elites talking out loud are quite open about their views that the mos maiorum of democracy is progressive institutionalism, damn the voters. It's been published all over The Atlantic. The unwritten constitution, in their view, is a set of values. A set I'm sure we've all seen before, which puts self expression- especially over gender and sexuality- above ancient rights. They'll lash out, impotently, it will fizzle, and the backlash will enthrone the caudillo. All this has happened before, and it will happen again. As a matter of fact I wouldn't rule out that Trump is that caudillo and Biden was the Sulla. Stasis can't be stopped at this juncture.
That's a wild take. Biden and Garland were pretty explicit about not targeting the right and slow-walking any legal action and a pretty common sentiment on the left (or maybe just the far-left? certainly not the NYT-wing of the "left" mainstream media) is to be upset at them for that.
Taking them at their word is pretty wild considering we literally have FBI memos noting that there are no non-ideological reasons for targeting the people they've been sicked on. That's what the 'FBI targeting traditional Catholics' memos were about- the agents mostly wondering why they were supposed to be doing this, considering they're infiltrating people who are not white supremacists, dislike white supremacists, and have no affinity for terrorism. Or considering the novel theories like the Doug Mackey prosecution.
Let's flip this- the right wing twitterati is frustrated with Trump for being too moderate with his priorities, slow walking immigration enforcement, etc. Is that, uh, objectively correct?
It's not quite the same, but, yes, I'd consider the claim that Trump was taking immigration enforcement seriously to be only slightly less absurd. The Trump administration is very interested in the theater of immigration enforcement, but has repeatedly avoided or backed down from doing anything actually effective. It's clear they don't actually believe in the goal (likely because it would be bad for the profits of their funders) and merely want theater for their base. That said, this is one, among many, areas where the theater of the Trump administration is itself at least somewhat advancing the long-term goal of destroying the cultural concept of the US being welcoming to immigrants.
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He's certainly being not right wing enough on gun control.
How so? Trump's Big Beautiful Bill was going to give the gun lobby the biggest win in a generation, before that provision sank in congress. Trump has done virtually nothing else about the question.
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Definitely not just the far left. Highly engaged people across the range of the left were increasingly steamed over the fact that Garland was slow-rolling prosecution trying to maintain propriety (failing to grasp that there was literally nothing he could do to convince Trumpists of his bona fides).
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