I had an interchange the day before Scalise was shot with some west coast liberal who insisted that the reason Hitler came to power was because of an obsession with the rule of law in Weimar Republic. She was completely unaware of the existence of paramilitary groups in post-WWI Germany. She was arguing that progressives need to start using violence against fringe elements of the right in the US. The irony was incredible.

You said you recognize it because you've read so much European history (and obviously you have), but it doesn't take half of the education you've had to recognize what's going on here. This is really, really simple stuff. The Freikorps are not obscure.