This past week has reaffirmed much about the basic dynamic of American politics that has prevailed since 2016.

Despite a near-perpetual onslaught from a rabidly right-wing Republican president, the leadership of the official opposition remains unable and unwilling to launch a full-throated counterattack — resorting instead to the same cliches about decorum and moderation that have become its bread and butter. As in 2016, however, this purgatory faces a challenge from both an energized left and a restless section of the Democratic base who longer wish to follow a tepid script set down by the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. And, then as now, party elites often exhibit more zeal and display greater coherence in opposing this challenge than they do in opposing the Republican Party.

To wit: the chain of events which last night culminated in a fascistic display from Donald Trump and his supporters in Greenville was initially set in motion when the Democratic leadership opted to publicly admonish several of the party’s own members. Despite demanding message discipline from her caucus, House Leader Pelosi patronizingly dismissed left-wing representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ilhan Omar in an interview with the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd. Their infraction? Exhibiting moral outrage towards the administration’s grotesque border policies and voting against a leadership-backed appropriations bill that included funding for them.