Debra Messing would be proud, eh? The effort to destroy the livelihoods of those who do not accept The Approved Groupthink has expanded outside of Hollywood all the way to Pittsburgh. Either oppose Donald Trump in 2020 or get run out of town on a rail, small business owners!

To quote Steely Dan, ironically — What a glorious time to be free:

Local social media is abuzz over efforts in Pittsburgh to identify and boycott businesses owned by supporters of President Donald Trump.

“I think it’s important because people have a right to know where their money is going,” Pittsburgh blogger Brian Broome told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Tuesday. …

“If there is a specific ideology that you don’t support, you are well within your rights not to hand that money to someone who supports that ideology,” says Broome. “Trump supporters have boycotted everything from Keurig to Nike, so I don’t know why, quote-unquote, the other side can’t decide not to give their money to businesses as well.”

Except that it’s not just a boycott, even by the terms of the now-suspended Facebook post. The boycotts that Broome cites are a withholding of personal custom, aimed at large corporations. This effort takes aim at small businesses, and it’s not to deprive the businesses of personal patronage. They want to chase these people out of business altogether:

The new website promises to include, “a database of Trump-supporter owned businesses in the Pittsburgh area, as well as tips for how to get those specific businesses closed down.”

That’s not a boycott. It’s a manifesto for street action against political opponents, no matter what the cost. Too bad about all the lost jobs, I suppose, but ya gotta crack a few eggs to make a socially acceptable omelette, people.

The local Republican Party chair has a word for this, or actually a few of them. Fascist, absurd, dangerous — take your pick, although Sam DeMarco probably should have stopped at those:

“They want to cost people their livelihoods just because you don’t agree with them politically?” asks Allegheny County councilman Sam DeMarco, who also chairs the county’s Republican Party.

“It’s not just absurd, but I believe it’s dangerous.” …

“Look at what they’re trying to do. People who they just don’t agree with, they want to take and punish. I absolutely believe this is a fascist behavior, and I totally reject it,” says the GOP chairman.

DeMarco’s parallel to the Nazis’ labeling of Jewish-owned businesses is over the top. That was a government-based effort, made even more clear with the Nuremberg Laws that followed shortly thereafter. However, it’s not anywhere near as benign as Broome would have it, either. This effort wants to destroy the livelihood of Americans over their political differences, rather than just having a debate over politics. That’s dangerous in its own way without tripping over Godwin’s Law to explain why.

Let’s give Hollywood conservative John O’Hurley the last word in explaining this phenomenon. O’Hurley is focused on Messing’s “lunacy” and its aim at purging Hollywood of conservative thought. “It underscores the fact that we aren’t receptive to a diversity of thought, which is the exact opposite of what you feel the liberal way would be,” O’Hurley says, “and I find that obscene.” It’s obscene in Pittsburgh, too.