It is not even a rhetorical strategy. It is an excuse for exclusionary political violence, used before, during and after the fact.
I am clearly not the only one who can easily envision many of todays crop of young, indoctrinated psychopaths administering Khmer Rouge style torture chambers, and mass executions. They are literally INCAPABLE of seeing dissenters from their tribe–I don’t and can’t say ideology, because their ideas and goals change in demand to what their leaders want and need from moment to moment–as human, much less people with whom they could discuss, debate, and negotiate.
In my own self I have found very deep illness can hide behind a functional facade, but in the case of many of these people, even the facade is fucked up. They wear their crazy as a badge of honor.