you are spot-on, @shayne. That's the best characterisation I've ever heard about these nutjobs. It's exactly what they are, and always have been: these losers have a history of burning the sofa of their idol-professor back in the Heidelberg student protests of 1968 -- hasn't changed much.
They appear to need this in order to vent...
Sadly-mixed-up, indeed!
Products of brainwashing.