Thomas Zimmer

Historian at Georgetown - Democracy and Its Discontents - Contributing Opinion Writer Guardian US - Podcast: Is This Democracy https://anchor.fm/is-this-democracy - Newsletter: Democracy Americana https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/

Public Key

npub1vtl52wsz290r3qtq9mmvyd7mjugualyrxmky09z47ua6mdff94usyvljeu

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsx9l698gp9zh3cs9szaakzxldewywwljpndmz8j32lwwadk55j67gprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuumwdae8gtnnda3kjctvqyv8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehw6r9wfjjucm0d53knrtj

Publishing to

nos.lol

relay.damus.io

Author Public Key

npub1vtl52wsz290r3qtq9mmvyd7mjugualyrxmky09z47ua6mdff94usyvljeu

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-06-25 15:25:29

- reply

In his foreword to the "Project 2025" report, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts offers his “Promise to America”: It perfectly captures the escalating siege mentality, self-victimization, and grievance-driven lust for revenge that are fueling the Right's plans. 3/

2024-06-25 15:24:49

- reply

Part I focuses on the worldview of the people behind “Project 2025.”
They see themselves as noble defenders of “real America” against a totalitarian “woke,” “globalist” assault. “Project 2025” is their declaration of war on multiracial pluralism: 2/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/project-2025-promises-revenge-oppression

2024-06-19 15:17:28

Why the Right Has a Problem with Juneteenth
This, from last year, certainly holds up: Today’s Republican Party is dominated by reactionaries who stand in the political, ideological, and spiritual tradition of the (neo-) Confederacy.
Some thoughts - with an added voiceover option:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/why-the-right-has-a-problem-with

2024-06-16 15:09:56

Sunday Reading: The Right’s Politics of Revenge
The responses to the Trump verdict offer an instructive - and alarming - reminder of what defines the American Right today: They are out for bloody retaliation, all dressed up as patriotism.
Thoughts from my new piece:
1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-rights-politics-of-revenge

2024-06-16 14:02:35

The Right’s Politics of Revenge
The responses to the Trump verdict offer an instructive – and alarming – reminder of what defines the American Right today: They are out for bloody retaliation, all dressed up as patriotism.
New piece:
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-rights-politics-of-revenge

2024-06-08 15:08:50

- reply

In a functioning system, citizens should be able to trust the institutions that are nominally tasked with upholding democracy. In America, the rightwing supermajority on the Supreme Court acts as the spearhead of a reactionary mobilization against multiracial pluralism. 2/

2024-06-08 15:07:56

Weekend reading: As the Right is using the Supreme Court to re-impose a reactionary order on the country, I exchanged letters with Madiba Dennie about the dangers of judicial supremacy – and how to get out of the Originalism Trap.
This week’s piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-originalist-supreme-court-vs

2024-06-04 15:18:57

- reply

2024-06-04 15:17:42

- reply

Over the weekend, Madiba and I talked about her book, the past and present of the Supreme Court, the role of the Reconstruction Amendments in American history, the rise of “originalism” since the 1950s, and the struggle to establish egalitarian democracy. 2/

2024-06-04 15:15:27

The “Originalist” Supreme Court vs Democracy
As the Right is using “originalism” to re-impose a reactionary order on the country, I exchange letters with Madiba Dennie about the dangers of judicial supremacy – and how to get out of this trap
Some thoughts from my new piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-originalist-supreme-court-vs
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/558/533/750/357/536/original/c39317f556bdf46b.jpeg

2024-05-31 19:02:29

“I proudly know nothing about the matter, but I will nevertheless weigh in to scold both sides for being so extreme” not only gives you about all you need to know about Friedersdorf - it’s also the pure essence of vacuous, arrogant centrist punditry. A piece of art.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/536/777/202/836/315/original/48445aab9e6ca340.jpeg

2024-05-23 15:15:37

Fascism in America?
The fascism debate rages on: Here is why it matters, what the main contentions are, and why the arguments of the Skeptics are increasingly untethered from what is happening on the Right.
Some thoughts from my new piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/fascism-in-america
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/490/586/552/532/793/original/ca2119433a4f9291.jpeg

2024-05-11 14:13:46

Weekend reading: I wrote about how mainstream commentators constantly raise the specter of 1968 to denounce the student protests - willfully ignoring the long pattern of leftwing student movements acting as an indispensable corrective.
Some thoughts from this week’s piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-students-have-never-been-the
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/422/395/739/164/161/original/56368f409507f53f.jpeg

2024-05-10 15:01:45

The Students Have Never Been the Enemy
Student protest movements have historically functioned as an indispensable corrective for America and the West. That is the legacy of 1968 we should be talking about.
A thread, based on my new piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-students-have-never-been-the
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/416/922/079/342/982/original/16c8ae0518429f06.jpeg

2024-05-10 01:57:22

The Students Have Never Been the Enemy
Student protest movements have historically functioned as an indispensable corrective for America and the West. That is the legacy of 1968 we should be talking about.
New piece:
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-students-have-never-been-the
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/413/837/780/385/739/original/a7dbadffb1b4ee13.jpeg

2024-05-06 19:53:30

What really stands out about this interview with New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn is this pervasive sense among centrist elites that by the summer of 2020, “woke” radicalism had been allowed to advance too far - and people like Kahn see it as their mission to stem the tide. 1/
https://www.semafor.com/article/05/05/2024/joe-kahn-the-newsroom-is-not-a-safe-space
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/395/420/093/381/802/original/666c64823370a557.jpeg

2024-05-04 02:24:04

- reply

I wrote about George Packer’s grand accusation of a direct line of leftwing indoctrination from 1968 to today. His argument doesn’t hold up to the least bit of scrutiny - but it provides a window into the elite anxieties that are driving so much of mainstream politics in America.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/379/968/911/560/367/original/90c3e8ca62ac9265.png

2024-05-04 02:06:50

America’s Elites Fear the Ghost of 1968
Mainstream elites are adopting a reactionary tale about the “leftist” indoctrination of America’s youth that verges on the conspiratorial and is destined to give the Right a major boost.
New piece:
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/americas-elites-fear-the-ghost-of
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/379/901/165/253/396/original/3a930777c0eb5454.jpeg

2024-04-28 18:47:56

This is the type of comment I’ve been getting a lot for my latest piece: Always from self-regarding liberals who never want to grapple with the fact that the civil rights protests of the 1950s and 60s – the legacy of which they surely want to claim – clearly violated those principles.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/349/863/775/104/045/original/3dfbd03563906c57.jpeg

2024-04-27 14:03:25

Weekend reading: Student Revolt and the Curtailing of Critical Speech
The violent crackdown on campus protests reveals an alliance between the Right and mainstream elites who are driven by reactionary impulses and status anxieties.
A thread, based on this week’s piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/student-revolt-and-the-curtailing
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/343/082/729/854/802/original/1f9a8ff3210ad56b.jpeg

2024-04-23 19:52:15

- reply

In the United States, Republicans are undoubtedly more supportive of the state of Israel than the Left, certainly than the Democratic base. Crucially, however, that does not necessarily entail affirmation and support for American Jews. In fact, it often means the opposite. 8/

2024-04-23 19:51:29

- reply

If you think Elise Stefanik - or any other major figure in today’s Republican Party - is leading an honest fight against antisemitism, if you actually think that’s the Right’s political project, I must assume you are either incredibly uninformed and naive or simply full of shit. 7/

2024-04-23 19:50:37

- reply

Mainstream institutions helping Far-Right politicians who have been instrumental in laundering the most extreme, violent antisemitic conspiracy theories launch a full-on new McCarthyism under the umbrella of “fighting antisemitism” - we are far down the road to a very dark place. 6/

2024-04-23 19:49:29

- reply

Elise Stefanik is obviously not interested in an effort to fight antisemitism. She is engaged in a cynical attempt to use Jews to suppress speech reactionaries don’t like, advance the antiliberal “counterrevolution,” and punish those the Right sees as the enemy within. 5/

2024-04-23 19:48:42

- reply

Her “friend” Donald Trump subscribes to all the usual antisemitic stereotypes and has long been pushing antisemitic tropes about Jews only liking money, only being loyal to Israel. He has no discernible conception of American Jews as Americans, only as “them” rather than “us.” 4/

2024-04-23 19:47:31

- reply

After pretending to be really upset about campus antisemitism during the congressional hearings in December, Stefanik ran off to meet “her friend,” the leader of a fascistic movement, the guy who is raging against immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country.” 3/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/321/786/480/772/448/original/766d879e8409ac03.jpeg

2024-04-23 19:45:50

- reply

We have reached a truly bizarre place in our political discourse when supposedly serious people want us to believe that the party of Trump, QAnon, and “Great Replacement” is the bulwark against antisemitism in America. 2/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/321/779/918/305/887/original/46724307e5ee6632.jpeg

2024-04-23 19:44:35

What an absolute disaster that Republicans are still successfully playing their disgustingly cynical game of exploiting fears over antisemitism in order to advance their reactionary crusade – and mainstream institutions keep willfully playing along.
I wrote about this a while ago here:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/we-are-falling-apart
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/321/774/997/022/574/original/ac6d34dea1dc5df9.jpeg

2024-04-13 14:03:23

Weekend reading: I wrote about the disingenuous and dangerous folly of anti-anti-Trump conservatism.
How “respectable” conservatives normalize Trump, rage against a caricature of “the Left,” and accommodate rightwing extremism.
A thread, based on this week’s piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/anti-anti-trump-conservatives-are
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/263/810/232/171/846/original/945e8137d4754a3c.jpeg

2024-04-07 18:54:25

- reply

It is important to investigate the cult of personality around Trump. But all too often, the political discourse mythologizes it and perpetuates the idea that Trump is not only able to tap into the soul of the nation – but manifests it as an embodiment of “authentic” America. 12/

2024-04-07 18:53:35

- reply

By extension, Trump, their leader, is treated as if he, who speaks for them, has a special connection to the heart and soul of America. This assumption has shaped the coverage of Trump and the way America’s political and civic institutions have approached him. 11/

2024-04-07 18:52:48

- reply

Since Trump’s base aggressively displays all the racial, ideological, cultural, and geographical markers that are coded as “authentic” within the ideological construct of “real Americanism,” it is assumed to be representing the essence of the nation. 10/

2024-04-07 18:51:55

- reply

The - often specifically intended - effect of using the term “working class” in this way is to legitimize the actions of reactionary white people and insulate them from critique: They are just “regular folks,” their gripes and grievances must be justified. 9/

2024-04-07 18:50:50

- reply

Or think of the way “working class” is often just shorthand for “white people with certain reactionary cultural sensibilities” – as in: “The working class rebelled against the establishment and voted for Trump” – often entirely detached from the actual socio-economic status. 8/

2024-04-07 18:49:57

- reply

Think of the way angry white reactionaries who storm school board meetings are described as “concerned parents” – but Black parents are special interest groups and progressive educators are “activists.” 7/

2024-04-07 18:49:08

- reply

“Parents,” “working class,” “Christians” – whenever such categories are used without any qualifier, they basically come with a silent “white.” Because “white” is still widely seen as normal, as the norm: as what really counts and defines the nation. 6/

2024-04-07 18:48:19

- reply

The ideology of “real Americanism” is apparent in the way that white Christian conservatives are coded as “regular folks,” in the pervasive assumption of a white conservative “normal” that still governs the American political and cultural discourse. 5/

2024-04-07 18:47:26

- reply

The claim that Trump voters represent “authentic America” manifests, for instance, in the pervasive “heartland” idea, which isn’t a place as much as it is a heavily ideological concept implying real Americanism for some people in certain regions, but not for others. 4/

2024-04-07 18:46:15

- reply

The idea that Trump and his base deserve special deference from mainstream political and media institutions is based on the assumption that Trump embodies and gives voice to a populist uprising of “regular folks” who had supposedly been unfairly ignored by arrogant elites in 2016. 3/

2024-04-07 18:44:44

- reply

Grappling with this ideology of “real Americanism” is crucial, as it provides the foundation for the Right’s anti-democratic radicalization, forms the basis of its normalization in the mainstream political discourse, and helps explain why the response to the authoritarian threat has been lacking. 2/

2024-04-07 18:42:31

There is also an element of Volkish ideology here - the assumption that rural white people with certain reactionary sensibilities do, in fact, represent “real America” and therefore command deference - while the groups that make up most of the pluralistic Democratic coalition constitute a deviation.
1/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/230/933/969/337/736/original/1576922a7c31b638.jpeg

2024-03-30 13:04:24

ICYMI: What the Right Plans to Do With Power
All three parts of my series about “Project 2025” are out.
Almost 15,000 words on what these radical plans would do to America and how to explain the Right’s open embrace of state authoritarianism:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-makes-project-2025-so-dangerous
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/184/541/873/609/514/original/47887f4573023148.jpeg

2024-03-29 13:02:25

I got to talk to Molly Jong-Fast on the Fast Politics podcast about “Project 2025,” the Right’s radical plans to use government as an authoritarian tool to impose a reactionary vision on the country - and why a second Trump presidency would be so much worse than the first.
https://omny.fm/shows/fast-politics-with-molly-jong-fast/neera-tanden-john-heilemann-thomas-zimmer
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/178/871/738/830/705/original/1debe96013abd16a.jpeg

2024-03-23 13:03:24

Weekend reading: I wrote about how “Project 2025” fits in the history of modern conservatism, how it captures the Right’s radicalization – and why it is so dangerous.
The third and final part of my deep dive into “Project 2025.”
A thread, based on this week’s piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-makes-project-2025-so-dangerous
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/144/901/753/201/067/original/8e401c6652173729.jpeg

2024-03-22 23:55:14

- reply

The Right was not ready in 2017. They didn’t have any plans or strategies, Trump world didn’t have a clue how government worked, the extremists didn’t have the personnel to bend the state to their will and harness its powers. This will not hinder them the next time. 2/

2024-03-22 23:54:27

“Project 2025” is a reminder that a second Trump presidency would be much worse.
A better prepared rightwing regime, operating with the help of a fully Trumpified GOP, a supermajority on the Supreme Court, and the omnipresent threat of violence.
New piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-makes-project-2025-so-dangerous
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/141/799/474/199/876/original/94d74a89f8e75682.jpeg

2024-03-22 14:08:01

What Makes “Project 2025” So Dangerous
Will the Right be able to implement these radical plans? Is Trump on board? What happened to traditional conservatism? Let’s tackle some of the key questions surrounding “Project 2025”
A thread, based on my new piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-makes-project-2025-so-dangerous
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/139/493/534/916/290/original/c6f41935be489f7d.jpeg

2024-03-16 21:36:18

- reply

In the United States, that party is re-nominating the guy who tried to end constitutional government via an auto-coup, the criminal leader of a fascistic, violent, conspiratorial movement of followers, for the presidency - and basically has a 50:50 shot at getting back to power.

2024-03-16 21:29:48

In a country with a functioning democratic system and a somewhat healthy political culture, anyone uttering such dangerous nonsense would be shunned and ostracized, a party elevating them would not be considered a viable option by anyone but an extremist fringe.
America, however, evidently has neither.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/107/256/832/419/972/original/a9d678b0de5733d4.jpeg

2024-03-14 18:46:33

What life at the start of the Covid pandemic was like:
I posted this on Ex-Twitter on March 12, 2020 - my most, ahem, viral tweet ever…
The next day, in the afternoon, I started feeling sick.
By the morning of March 14, I had a high fever, brutal cough, could not stand on my feet… Covid!
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/095/290/310/885/609/original/208f8869e50c356b.jpeg

2024-03-13 14:07:11

What Does “Defend Democracy” Actually Mean?
Biden’s State of the Union hinted at a key shift in the liberal imagination: From a merely restorative to a potentially more transformative vision for America.
A thread, based on my new piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-does-defend-democracy-actually
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/088/529/482/117/376/original/b90f8eaff0dbf0af.jpeg

2024-03-09 14:10:45

- reply

What the political system has offered so far in response to the Trumpian threat is, at best, a whole lot of handwringing – and, more often, a whole lot of complicity. Hard to expect people to accept the stakes if that’s what they get from the institutions we ask them to trust. 9/

2024-03-09 14:09:56

- reply

The result is that almost no one ever brings the hammer down on Trump. Since January 6, the discussion has disproportionally focused on the risk of doing something while often neglecting the considerable dangers of doing nothing. 8/

2024-03-09 14:08:58

- reply

There is an element of volkish ideology underneath the way the institutions treat him, which assumes that Trump channels “real America,” the Volk, and therefore is to be given wide latitude, as the will of the true people must not be impeded. 7/

2024-03-09 14:08:13

- reply

Trump’s secret power has always been that somehow, a lot of people steadfastly refuse to take his most radical, most aggressive announcements seriously, while at the same time insisting that Trump is a kind of political superweapon that must not be openly challenged. 6/

2024-03-09 14:07:31

- reply

How can enough people be convinced that democracy itself – not merely in an abstract, formalistic way, but with all the fundamental rights as well as the demands to guarantee equality and respect pluralism by which it should be defined – is on the ballot in November? 5/

2024-03-09 14:06:38

- reply

One of the key challenges since the start of the Trump era has been to communicate effectively to the American public that something other than “politics as usual” is going on, that the threat of authoritarianism – that is embodied, but not caused by Trump – is real. 4/

2024-03-09 14:05:46

- reply

Most people will regard the Supreme Court’s decision in Anderson v. Trump as yet more evidence that whatever Trump’s transgressions, they don’t amount to something that merits a mobilization of the system and a properly robust response.
That’s a disaster.
3/

2024-03-09 14:04:43

- reply

The Supreme Court has made sure that Trump is basically guaranteed to escape serious legal consequences before the election; few people are even aware of what the Right is planning to do if they return to power, or of Trump’s most aggressive authoritarian threats. 2/

2024-03-09 14:03:40

Weekend reading: I wrote about the system-wide failure to hold Trump accountable and mount an effective defense against the onslaught of authoritarian minority rule.
The Much Vaunted Guardrails Are Failing
A thread, based on this week’s piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-much-vaunted-guardrails-are-failing
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/065/866/381/973/571/original/7829ad45ee160a3d.jpeg

2024-03-08 00:51:36

What “Project 2025” Would Do to America
Re-posting this in light of tonight’s State of the Union, in which Biden is apparently going to draw attention to “Project 2025.” Good! Because in a very real sense, this is what’s on the ballot in November:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-project-2025-would-do-to-america
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/057/089/599/026/118/original/8e7c8d96cec7b83e.jpeg

2024-03-07 17:53:54

System-wide failure
Sparked by the recent Supreme Court decisions that basically guarantee Trump will escape serious legal consequences before the election, I reflect on the institutional failure and/or unwillingness to mount an effective defense.
A thread, based on my new piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-much-vaunted-guardrails-are-failing
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/055/447/092/129/527/original/5a3b6bb1debf8fc8.jpeg

2024-03-06 15:18:11

One more thought on the broader context of this: Many of the loudest pundits who oppose the idea of disqualifying Trump fundamentally reject the entire framework of describing Trump and his enablers in the Republican Party as a threat to democracy.
They are dangerously wrong. 1/
https://mastodon.social/@tzimmer_history/112045460931936016
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/049/172/504/351/261/original/5151558cce452673.jpeg

2024-03-05 23:34:13

Exactly! All this “let the people decide” talk is remarkably backwards. The people decided in November 2020: Trump lost, and attempted an auto-coup in response. That is the sole reason why the insurrection clause came into play at all: January 6 was the anti-democratic part. 1/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/045/460/669/270/842/original/3dd48c0c8455287d.jpeg

2024-03-04 20:04:58

The key question about Trump and January 6 - one most pundits celebrating the Court’s decision are arrogantly dismissing - concerns the demands and limits of democratic self-defense in the face of extremism.
Re-posting this, in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/militant-democracy-vs-donald-trump
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/038/975/531/366/917/original/a00d38c95cf9c182.jpeg

2024-03-04 15:21:25

- reply

We are certainly past the point where I would still consider it a reasonable, good-faith position to reject the use of the fascism concept outright and to deride anyone who does, who emphasizes fascistic tendencies on the Right, as ridiculous and “alarmist.” It’s not serious. /end

2024-03-04 15:19:58

- reply

At some point during the Trump presidency, most good-faith observers crossed the line from “Not sure, maybe go easy on the fascism claims” to “Trumpism clearly qualifies as a specifically American, specifically 21st-century version of fascism.”
It’s gotten way worse since. 13/

2024-03-04 15:18:30

- reply

The latest research on the history of modern U.S. conservatism and the American Right very much emphasizes those importance of domestic far-right extremist and fascistic traditions, and most serious historians agree that Trumpism needs to be situated in that context. 12/

2024-03-04 15:17:18

- reply

Applying the fascism concept is not the same as using facile historical analogies to Hitler. Rather than just referencing the rise of the Nazis and fascism in Europe’s interwar period all the time, we should investigate domestic traditions of fascism and rightwing extremism. 11/

2024-03-04 15:15:42

- reply

It’s also important to debate the place of Trumpian fascism in relation to other factions on the American Right, its specific role in the context of the broader rightwing counter-mobilization against egalitarian, multiracial, pluralistic democracy. 10/

2024-03-04 15:14:56

- reply

It’s certainly worth reflecting on the exact nature of Trumpian fascism in comparison to both the phenomena that arose in Europe’s interwar period as well as previous iterations of the more specifically American fascistic tradition. 9/

2024-03-04 15:14:09

- reply

But it does not follow that whoever speaks of fascism in America must be ignorant of fascism’s history. All too often, those who vehemently oppose the use of the term in a U.S. context betray an inadequate understanding of the actual state of conservative / rightwing politics. 8/

2024-03-04 15:13:20

- reply

Yes, it’s important to emphasize the specific historical circumstances that led to the rise of fascism in Europe’s interwar period, and it’s crucial to keep those in mind when using the term in any political context. 7/

2024-03-04 15:12:38

- reply

The fake-indignation over people applying the term “fascism” to factions on the Right is just silly – as is denying the fact that making common cause with extremism has fully moved to the center of conservative politics, which constitutes an acute threat to American democracy. 6/

2024-03-04 15:11:51

- reply

Significant portions of the Right are clamoring for a revolutionary leader who promises that he alone can return the nation to glory by violently purging it from globalist, leftist enemies and restore the rule of the *real* people.
Fascism is an adequate term for all of that. 5/

2024-03-04 15:10:57

- reply

All strands of the Right – GOP officials, the media machine, reactionary intellectuals, the conservative base – are openly and aggressively embracing rightwing vigilante violence against “the Left”… 4/

2024-03-04 15:10:07

- reply

It goes far beyond just Trump, of course: “Thought leaders” on the Right keep calling for a radical counterrevolution of the rightfully aggrieved against the sinister forces of leftism that are supposedly threatening the nation’s survival… 3/

2024-03-04 15:09:29

- reply

Meanwhile, the people who have proudly taken on the mantle of “Guardians Against Liberal Alarmism and Hysteria” have offered a lot of sneering condescension - while being wrong about Trumpism and what’s happening on the American Right almost every step of the way. 2/

2024-03-04 15:08:32

The best argument for applying “American fascism” as an analytical framework to Trump / Trumpism is the fact that it emphasized - rather than dismissed or sanitized - these fascistic elements from the start and rightfully diagnosed an acute threat to constitutional self-government.
🧵1/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/037/809/891/318/905/original/ca91e840116957dd.jpeg

2024-03-02 14:12:59

Weekend reading: I wrote about what “Project 2025” wants to do to America.
“Project 2025” is designed as a grand battle plan for the Right’s open war against multiracial pluralism – and it will be on the ballot in November.
A thread, based on this week’s piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-project-2025-would-do-to-america
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/026/266/880/932/376/original/55898b3615b3525d.jpeg

2024-03-02 00:51:41

Part II of my deep dive into “Project 2025”:
Visceral disdain for any kind of pluralism and diversity channeled into a program aiming to extinguish it. That’s “Project 2025.”
A short thread, based on my new piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-project-2025-would-do-to-america
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/023/116/032/549/135/original/792b79c2d95c8fa7.jpeg

2024-03-01 18:11:38

“Project 2025” promises to restore former national glory by purging enemies and deviants from the nation.
Visceral disdain for any kind of pluralism and diversity channeled into a policy agenda aiming to extinguish it. That’s “Project 2025.”
A thread, based on my new piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-project-2025-would-do-to-america
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/021/542/978/326/854/original/6e312078bb4c1c5c.jpeg

2024-03-01 01:06:06

What “Project 2025” Would Do to America
The Right has developed concrete plans to make America into a much nastier place for anyone who dares to deviate from the white Christian patriarchal order. That’s what is on the ballot in November.
New piece:
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-project-2025-would-do-to-america
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/017/510/328/956/639/original/0224627e517dc21a.jpeg

2024-02-27 00:52:12

The perfect manifestation of the permission structure that governs rightwing politics: Nikki Haley and Bill Barr both giving us versions of “Trump is totally unhinged, but I’m voting for him anyway, because Joe Biden is a radically Un-American woke leftist extremist.
Remarkable.
🧵1/
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/22/1232961899/nikki-haley-south-carolina-primary-super-tuesday-biden-trump
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/000/468/824/116/339/original/0ca7dc65a085a011.jpeg

2024-02-24 14:26:19

- reply

This is Part I of my deep dive into “Project 2025”; next week’s Part II will dissect the concrete plans and strategies by which the Right hopes to realize what they call their “Promise to America.”
More here – please consider subscribing:
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/project-2025-promises-revenge-oppression
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/986/683/125/707/425/original/7043af58d064b6b8.jpeg

2024-02-24 14:23:59

- reply

Unfortunately, this is not just the abstract manifesto of a feverish mind. It comes with concrete plans and a detailed strategy of how to take over and transform government into an autocratic revenge machine that can impose a reactionary vision against the will of the majority. 11/

2024-02-24 14:22:15

- reply

Much of this sounds like Marjorie Taylor Greene might have said it to rile up the base. “This is Heritage, you know, not some fringe group on the right,” Roberts said in a New York Times interview. He is correct: This is what defines the center of conservative politics today. 10/

2024-02-24 14:21:25

- reply

It is difficult to convey to people who don’t pay much attention to politics how much establishment conservatism been taken over by anti-democratic extremism. Meanwhile, rightwing leaders are maximally clear about the reactionary vision they want to impose on the country. 9/

2024-02-24 14:20:40

- reply

Analytically, this is complete nonsense. But such an understanding of the enemy is pervasive on the Right. It provides the basis on which Republican Party, conservative establishment, and reactionary intellectual sphere have all given themselves permission to radicalize. 8/

2024-02-24 14:19:57

- reply

There is, in Kevin Roberts’ view of the world, really only one enemy, one devil, that seeks to destroy America, this once great nation of freedom and virtue: Communism, fascism, progressivism, “wokeism,” it is all just the same, all just different disguises of socialism. 7/

2024-02-24 14:19:10

- reply

According to Roberts, the domestic “woke” agenda is connected to America’s foreign enemies. He sees only two underlying dangers that are constantly colluding and conspiring: Totalitarian China abroad and totalitarian “woke” elites at home, working together. 6/

2024-02-24 14:18:21

- reply

There is, in this view of the world, no room for compromise, no justification for restraint: “Time is running short. If we fail, the fight for the very idea of America may be lost.” 2024, according to Roberts, is the “last opportunity to save our republic.” And destroy the “woke” Left. 5/

2024-02-24 14:17:28

- reply

The Right’s plans for a return to power are driven by a desperate sense that nothing short of a reactionary counter-revolution will suffice to save the nation from the onslaught of anti-American “woke,” “globalist” forces - and that there is very little time left to pull it off. 4/

2024-02-24 14:15:56

- reply

“Project 2025” isn’t just about power in Washington. The Reactionary Right’s goal is to re-establish political, societal, and cultural dominance in all spheres of life and turn the clock back to before what Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts calls “the Great Awokening.” 3/

2024-02-24 14:14:48

- reply

I took a deep dive into the “Promise to America” Heritage president Kevin Roberts has offered in his foreword to the "Project 2025" report: It perfectly captures the siege mentality, self-victimization, and grievance-driven lust for revenge that are fueling the Right's plans. 2/

2024-02-24 14:13:16

Weekend reading: I wrote about the worldview of the people behind “Project 2025”
They see themselves as noble defenders of “real America” against a totalitarian “woke,” “globalist” assault. “Project 2025” is their declaration of war on multiracial pluralism.
A thread, based on this week’s piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/project-2025-promises-revenge-oppression
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/986/631/780/985/606/original/89f3a4b708d51e2e.jpeg

2024-02-23 00:56:14

What is the worldview behind “Project 2025”?
I wrote about the Heritage president’s “Promise to America,” the foreword to the “Project 2025” report, which precisely captures the radicalizing siege mentality on the Right.
New piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/project-2025-promises-revenge-oppression
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/977/835/389/401/985/original/430b425d430bfe6f.jpeg

2024-02-22 15:09:27

“Project 2025” Promises Revenge, Oppression, and Autocratic Rule
The Right’s plans for a return to power are driven by a radicalizing siege mentality and a desperate desire to restore dominance.
A thread, based on my new piece:
🧵1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/project-2025-promises-revenge-oppression
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/975/528/093/092/267/original/96811b9cc31c1a5c.jpeg

2024-02-22 13:44:59

Conservatives say “Project 2025” is their “Promise to America.” But from the perspective of multiracial, pluralistic democracy, it is more aptly described as an aggressive threat.
New piece:
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/project-2025-promises-revenge-oppression
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/975/195/993/979/409/original/18986346b8b094a5.jpeg

2024-02-22 02:45:13

“Project 2025” Promises Revenge, Oppression, and Autocratic Rule
The Right’s plans for a return to power are driven by a radicalizing siege mentality and a desperate desire to restore dominance.
New piece:
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/project-2025-promises-revenge-oppression
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/972/601/609/743/997/original/b1c0904b7b1a7f44.jpeg