Thomas Zimmer
Historian at Georgetown - Democracy and Its Discontents - Newsletter: Democracy Americana thomaszimmer.substack.com - Podcast: Is This Democracy podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/is-this-de…
- The argument of the Trumpists (and the white Afrikaners) is: If a reactionary white person is asked to live in a society they don't get to dominate, if they are "forced" to accept a pluralizing public square and don't get to do as they please at all times, it's basically genocidal persecution.
- Within weeks of coming to power, the white nationalist regime flew in Afrikaners as refugees from what the regime's leader called an anti-white "genocide" - while at the same time shutting down asylum and escalating their purge of non-white people they declared "alien enemies." Not very subtle.
- Sounds really bad, when you put it that way* *list some basic facts about what the regime is doing. A consistent problem of the Trump era, amplified since January 20: A factual overview makes you sound “partisan” - which is why the mainstream discourse incentivizes us to constantly sanitize.
- The thing is: He didn’t just phrase this awkwardly - this guy’s view of the world is entirely shaped by eugenic ideas that he pairs with wild conspiracy theories. And then you have Oz talking about the “patriotic duty” to be healthy… Eugenics and aggressive nationalism - down that path lies evil.
- The regime is arresting judges and mayors, snatching people off the street, threatening to suspend habeas corpus. Is it getting worse quickly, as they escalate their assault? Or are they lashing out in frustration, as they keep losing in the courts and struggling to consolidate? The answer is: Yes.
- Escalate and intimidate. That is exactly the playbook. And it concerns me greatly: You know the Stephen Miller types in this administration are just itching for violence - searching, longing for something they can use as pretext for a drastic escalation so they can finally ditch all restraint.
- Weekend reading: I wrote about the MAGA government siding with the German Neo-Nazi party. They share the same enemy: liberal democracy. What a moment in U.S. history. This week’s piece:
- Shortly after coming to power, the regime orders a massive military parade in the nation’s capital, to be held on the regime leader’s birthday - symbolizing the regime’s claim that the leader embodies the nation. This should be anathema in a democratic republic. It’s insulting and dangerous.
- "a total Marxist" - a "woke pope" - "a globalist" - "a shitlib" - might be "a demon" MAGA is having a totally normal, not at all deranged reaction to today's big news. Not that more evidence was needed, but it's a reminder of how this movement sees the world and anyone they consider their enemy.
- A key through line from the modern conservative movement as it emerged in the 1950s to today’s “counter-revolutionary” Trumpist Right is the anti-leftism as the defining sentiment and project. No limiting principle, just “Whatever it takes to defeat the Left” - that’s the path to extremism.
