Cutting off noses to spite … everything

The Doomsday Clock has been around since 1953 when both the U.S. and Soviet Union tested hydrogen bombs. Since then every year atomic scientists use it to convey their opinion on how close we are to the end of the world. Last year they set it to 11:58 pm, two minutes to doom. This year’s clock setting will be revealed in about five days.

The actions of the nasty guy reminded Virginia Heffernan of the Los Angeles Times of previous online discussions about the clock. A guy wrote, “Better nuclear winter than more letters in LGBTQ.” Heffernan wrote:

His words laid bare the Death Logic that suffuses the philosophy of Trump and his supporters. The idea is that even the annihilation of humankind is worth it if it owns the libs.

This thinking is now regularly satirized in memes that illustrate how Republicans are cutting off their noses to spite … everything. Throw the nation into massive debt to own the libs. Align with fascism to own the libs. Crash the government to own the libs.
…
This is the logic of suicide (or a school shooter or mass murderer), willing to kill and be killed over something so petty that pettiness is almost the whole point.

To translate to terms I frequently use, the guy’s need (and the nasty guy’s need, and the need of every member of the GOP) to be at the top of the social hierarchy is so strong he wishes (or attempts to bring about) death and destruction on the whole world (and, likely, himself) rather than face a threat to his social standing. That guy may have been speaking in hyperbole. The nasty guy isn’t.