I wonder if the author would be in favor of the Bill Ayers’ idea of eliminating 10% of the population who stand in the way of the progressive “ideal?”
Well, I don't know about that, but those who support a one party state as the author does (or a GDR-style multiparty state with a "leading party" to which all others are subordinate) inevitably empower the killers.
This is especially true when the author conflates political opposition with demography: "old", "white", "Southern", "men" - these terms all classify as, and are intended to classify as, groups "standing in the way of progress", and just as bulldozers and dynamite are necessary to clear the path for a road, camps and machine guns sooner or later prove necessary to clear a path for progress.
John Dickerson (the author), as such, is not important. But his line of thinking is very important, and very, very dangerous.
In six months, we've moved from buying fried chicken sandwiches to buying AR-15s. People who think like the author have no idea what they are dealing with. They imagine the enemy is "Republicans". How little they understand that Boehner and McConnell are the best friends they have.