Thomas Zimmer

@thomaszimmer.bsky.social

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Historian at Georgetown - Democracy and Its Discontents - Newsletter: Democracy Americana https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/ - Podcast: Is This Democracy https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/is-this-democracy

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A lot of talk right now about Heritage President Kevin Roberts - who lusts for a radical rightwing revolution that would punish those he deems enemies of his “real America” so bad that he must talk about it all the time. I dove deep into the extremist worldview of that guy a while ago:

Kevin Roberts believes he’s a noble defender of “real America” against a totalitarian “woke,” “globalist” assault from without and within. “Project 2025” is his declaration of war on multiracial pluralism. I wrote about his extremist worldview here: 1/ thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/project-20...

“Project 2025” Promises Revenge, Oppression, and Autocratic Rulethomaszimmer.substack.com The Right’s plans for a return to power are driven by a radicalizing siege mentality and a desperate desire to restore dominance

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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. /end

A deep dive into the extremist worldview of Heritage president Kevin Roberts, as it manifests in his foreword to the “Project 2025” policy report: His grievance-driven lust for revenge and desire to dominate his “Un-American” enemies doesn’t allow for restraint or compromise.

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Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be" www.mediamatters.org/project-2025...

Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court immunity decision: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution"www.mediamatters.org

I’ve had this discussion many times with students who are active military: They were, across the board, horrified and disgusted by Trump’s desire to use troops against protesters - but also, and rightfully, quick to add that democracy is in great peril if it has to rely on soldiers defying orders.

Things are going very well when we've reached the "Don't worry, the military won't obey orders to kill civilians" stage of democratic backsliding. It's the sweet spot, where good things happen. Right where we want to be.

What an utterly bizarre, acutely dangerous, and downright terrifying place this country is in. Because six unelected rightwing operatives said so. And because the Republican Party is united behind the worst person in America to hold this kind of power.

If Trump were to personally shoot someone on Fifth Avenue: Not immune. (Probably. Maybe.) If he were to order the army to massacre thousands on Fifth Avenue: Immune. (Very clearly, under the decision.) But from a constitutional perspective, the latter is the grave danger to guard against.

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That’s, ultimately, what worries me most about all of this - what I’ve been trying to emphasize in my writing about “Project 2025”: Too many people think a second Trump term would “just” be more of the same. They haven’t been paying attention. It would be something very different.

What Makes “Project 2025” So Dangerousthomaszimmer.substack.com 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”

The Right was hampered by a few factors during Trump’s first term: Public protest, the courts, vestiges of opposition in the GOP, the “deep state” consisting of professional civil servants, experts, lawyers… All of those sources of resistance have been drastically weakened.

An argument I’ve been trying to make about “Project 2025”: A second Trump term would be worse not only because the radical Right would be better prepared, but also because they would be operating under much more favorable circumstances. With a much more extreme Supreme Court, for instance. 1/

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The Court is spearheading the attempts by a radicalizing minority to install ever more authoritarian forms of minoritarianism in order to secure their status against the will of the majority. And as of right now, these radicalizing reactionaries are succeeding.

The Rogue Court vs Modern Democracythomaszimmer.substack.com America can accept this Supreme Court as legitimate and its rulings as the final word - or it can have true democracy and a functioning state. But not both.

We need to see the Supreme Court’s disastrous rulings in the context of the Right’s larger project to uphold traditional hierarchies of race, wealth/class, gender, and religion - all part of the attempt to halt the drive towards egalitarian, multiracial, pluralistic democracy.

America can accept this Supreme Court as legitimate and its rulings as the final word - or it can have true democracy and a functioning state. But not both. Wrote this a year ago - and things have only gotten worse: The Rogue Court vs Modern Democracy 1/ thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-rogue-...

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There is no consistent logic or principle beyond ideologically-driven power politics. Yes, the constitution insulates the Court from direct democratic control – but that doesn’t mean we should allow it to simply turn against democracy itself.

Two immediate thoughts: - Presidents have been able to get away with *a lot*, so to some extent, this codifies the (very, very bad!) status quo - BUT ALSO: To officially codify presidential immunity in this way, with reference to this specific situation (an attempted coup!) is utterly terrifying

BREAKING: The Supreme Court holds, 6-3, that a former president is absolutely immune from prosecution for actions within their "conclusive and preclusive" authority and presumptively immune from prosecution for all official acts. More to come at Law Dork: www.lawdork.com

Law Dork | Chris Geidner | Substackwww.lawdork.com The Supreme Court, law, politics, and more. Click to read Law Dork, by Chris Geidner, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

From April. Spot on.

Legal pundits over time Dec 1, 2023: SCOTUS will reject Trump's appeal on an expedited basis Dec 22, 2023: They are letting the DC Circuit handle it to not even dignify it. Feb 28, 2024: The are taking the case on appeal but will completely reject the claim. June: SCOTUS says Trump is your God/King

There it is: A position completely untethered from empirical evidence, as ridiculous analytically as it is dangerous politically, propagated by anti-liberal leftwing intellectuals who are solely animated by their disdain for “the Libs” and have abandoned any regard for accuracy.

A reflection on the nature and appeal of Trumpism, the role of the rightwing intellectual sphere, the relationship between radicalism and conservatism, and reactionary 90s nostalgia - based on John Ganz’s brilliant “When the Clock Broke”

Weekend Reading: I wrote about the pre-history of Trump’s rise, the nature of Trumpism, and the radical politics of white despair – based on John Ganz’s masterful new book “When the Clock Broke” The Origins of Trumpism and the Birth of the Present. 🧵1/ thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-origin...

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This is VERY good!

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In the early 90s, the counter-revolutionaries still existed mostly on the margins of mainstream politics, and Buchanan did not win the Republican nomination. Today, the lust for militant radicalism is the Right’s defining characteristic.

For the rightwing protagonists of “When the Clock Broke,” democracy – any attempt to level what they insisted were natural hierarchies of race, gender, wealth – was the enemy. To the hard Right, liberal democracy wasn’t the “end of history,” it was the end “real America.”

Donald Trump, Ganz argues, represents the synthesis of the white nationalist, the billionaire populist, and the gangster patriarch – elements that were still scattered in the early 90s. This, to me, is the most compelling paradigm of the nature and appeal of Trumpism yet.

In case you are looking for a little respite from the debate panic and reactionary judicial supremacy, but still want to grapple with how we got to this miserable place: On the nature and appeal of Trumpism, the historical significance of the early 90s, and the history of now.

The reactionary assault on democratic multiracial pluralism and the modern state won’t stop because the people behind it have an epiphany they shouldn’t go *that* far. It will either *be stopped* or entrench white Christian patriarchal rule and unfettered domination by the wealthy and powerful.

the conservative movement's roots is an alliance of business interests livid about the new deal, southern racists livid about the civil rights movement, and church ladies livid about the sexual revolution. scotus will continue unabated until they've rolled all those back (or democrats stop them)

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I was hoping Biden would namedrop Project 2025 last night, but the work is going to have to be on us still

Don’t believe “alarmist” lefties like me? Fair enough! But you should believe these rightwing leaders when they tell us that they aggressively reject the idea of a pluralistic democratic society and will use government as an authoritarian tool against it. thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-proje...

What “Project 2025” Would Do to Americathomaszimmer.substack.com 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