Donald Trump’s approach to peaceful American protesters has long reflected a president uncomfortable with dissent. Indeed, the Republican has spent years trying to delegitimize dissenters, urging the public to see his detractors as “paid protesters,” as if his opponents are inherently inauthentic.......

But when it comes to GOP attitudes related to Americans and their right to public dissent, the problem isn’t limited to the man in the Oval Office. Politico reported late last week:

Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday slammed the No Kings protest march scheduled to take place at the National Mall [on Oct. 18], describing the planned protest as the ‘hate America rally’ that would draw ‘the pro-Hamas wing’ and ‘the antifa people.’ His characterizations, however, drew condemnation from some Democrats who defended the protest movement, whose first big demonstration was overwhelmingly peaceful.

Hours after the Louisiana Republican made those comments on Fox News, he doubled down on the rhetoric during comments to reporters on Capitol Hill, referring to No Kings gathering as a “hate-America rally.”

Johnson had plenty of company. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer on Friday also told reporters that the scheduled protest should be seen as a “hate-America rally,” adding that the gathering is being championed by “the terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party......

Last month, Trump designated antifa as a “major terrorist organization,” notwithstanding the fact there is no such organization, and we soon after discussed an unsettling dynamic: If the White House says that antifa members are terrorists, and the White House says it will decide on its own who and what qualifies as “antifa” affiliates, this can get very scary, very quickly.

Weeks later, GOP leaders started telling Americans that a peaceful demonstration by Americans will draw “the antifa people,” and that “the terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party is involved in the gathering.

There have already been too many recent instances in which those in positions of power have tried to stifle dissent. There’s no reason to believe, however, that things won’t get worse.