When Political Theater Hurts: Patriotic Masculinity and the Performance of Death Threats

• In Event: U.S. Extremism and Terrorism: Perceptions, Threats, and Reponses

Abstract

Political violence research often examines how masculinity is asserted through physical aggression, but less attention is given to how perpetrators use theatrical performances of violence to reinforce ideological authority. This study expands the concept of "patriotic masculinity" by analyzing how death threats function as performative spectacles of punishment. Using in-depth interviews with 15 officials who experienced death threats, we examine how perpetrators stage aggression through linguistic and symbolic choices, crafting threats as public rituals of dominance rather than private warnings of harm. Our findings reveal that perpetrators invoke execution-style language, revolutionary imagery, and punitive historical references (e.g., “gallows,” “treason,” “public hanging”) to dramatize their role as enforcers of an exclusionary national identity. By framing violence as necessary justice, these actors transform threats into ideological performances that not only intimidate but also attempt to reaffirm power hierarchies in civic spaces. This study contributes to research on masculinity, political violence, and performative aggression, demonstrating how threats operate as violent scripts designed to maintain social and ideological control.

Authors

• Rosalee Banks, Temple University

• Alma June Harrison, University of Arkansas

• Steven Windisch, University of Arkansas