See my #15.
They are quite in touch with reality. Reality is mobs sacking gated communities and putting women and children to the sword.
The Dana Perinos of the world don't want that, are unwilling to fight the upcoming civil war to win (or to prevent it by repression before it's too late), and so they see what they're doing as their only choice.
They're not entirely wrong. We're headed for a bloody, bloody mess, and wishing it wasn't so seems quite typical of our species.
They're wrong enough.