At some point, though it’s hard to pinpoint precisely when, the language of supposedly civilised public discourse started to become imbued with a dark malevolence.

Given the long history of American influence on pretty much all things culturally Australian, it seems inevitable that Maga’s violent and abusive rhetoric would make its way into our politics. And it’s pretty fair to say the current US president has led the western populist way when it comes to saying out loud the ugly and violent things that might once have remained internal.

Yes, the frog of public expectation has boiled pretty quickly in recent years, to the point where the land of the free must now debate the hideous whys and wherefores of the Trump administration’s proposal to turn execution into livestreamed public entertainment.

Is it any wonder that the hard Australian populist right has picked up on the vibe that thinking your violent thoughts aloud – and aiming them at political opponents – has somehow become de rigueur?

There’s a couple of prime – if exceedingly ugly – examples to parse in almost as many days. Let’s begin on Monday this week and work backwards.

Monday – that was when a federal Liberal National MP from........

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