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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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.

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Thomas Zimmer

Finally, I discuss the recent wave of 90s nostalgia that often has a reactionary political valence – and doesn’t hold up to the kind of precise, sincere assessment of the period’s historical significance John Ganz offers. Please consider subscribing: thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-origin...

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...

ICYMI – I got to discuss “Project 2025” with @chrislhayes.bsky.social: The radical Right wasn’t ready for Trump’s first presidency. In 2025, they will be. What should people know about these radical plans for an authoritarian takeover of government? 🧵1/ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

What I hope people take away from my conversation with @chrislhayes.bsky.social about “Project 2025”: The problem is not just Trump – the mainstream Right is all in on this authoritarian vision. And a second Trump presidency would not simply be more of the same – it would be significantly worse.

I got to talk to @chrislhayes.bsky.social about “Project 2025” on “Why Is This Happening?” For more, I wrote a three-part series on the Right’s plans to use government as an authoritarian tool to impose a reactionary vision on America. Some thoughts: 🧵1/ thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-makes...

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”

My conversation with @chrislhayes.bsky.social about “Project 2025” is out. We dive into the Right’s plans to use government as an authoritarian tool to impose a reactionary vision on America. The radical Right wasn’t ready in 2017. Next time, they will be. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

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Thomas Zimmer

Ganz’s book offers, first and foremost, a careful and detailed dissection of the American condition in that precise, peculiar moment, and the despair and anger and grievance this particular constellation produced. More here: thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-origin...

The “end of history” as the end of “real America”? Some thoughts on the historical significance of the early 1990s and the Right’s reaction to the end of the Cold War – based on John Ganz’s brilliantly challenging “When the Clock Broke.” 🧵1/ thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-origin...

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Thomas Zimmer

Today, “Conservatism is not enough” - the lust for militant radicalism - has become the defining characteristic of even the rightwing mainstream. More here – please consider subscribing to Democracy Americana: thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-origin...

Some thoughts on conservatism and radicalism, based on John Ganz’s masterful new book: In the early 90s, the “counterrevolutionaries” still existed mostly on the margins of the mainstream. Today, they define the Right’s identity. New piece: 🧵1/ thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-origin...

Reply to

Thomas Zimmer

Finally, I discuss the wave of 90s nostalgia that often has a reactionary political valence and doesn’t hold up to the kind of precise, sincere assessment of the period’s historical significance John Ganz offers in his book. Please consider subscribing: thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-origin...

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

Reply to

Thomas Zimmer

Finally, I discuss the recent wave of 90s nostalgia that often has a reactionary political valence – and doesn’t hold up to the kind of precise, sincere assessment of the period’s historical significance John Ganz offers in his book. thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-origin...

The Origins of Trumpism and the Birth of the Present Reflections on the pre-history of Trump’s rise, the peculiar nature of Trumpism, and the radical politics of white despair – based on John Ganz’s masterful “When the Clock Broke” New piece: thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-origin...

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Thomas Zimmer

In fact, according to the 2023 American Valyes Survey, about as many Americans believe Biden winning reelection would “threaten American democracy and way of life” as there are people thinking Trump coming back to power would endanger democratic self-government. 3/

“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.

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Thomas Zimmer

Just utterly deranged, unhinged, mendacious lying. And yet, go through the likes he’s gotten for this (on ex-Twitter): You’ll find some prominent leftwing intellectuals along them who evidently have absolutely no problem with mendacious lying.

Oh look, more unhinged hate-raging from a self-regarding lefty! Zero substance, zero engagement with anything I actually wrote - just straight-up mendacious lying, as I am obviously not accusing those I criticize in the piece of being Nazis.

Friends, this is what you’ll get from these people, in response to a piece that dissects Bessner’s arguments in great detail. Pure derision and arrogant dismissal. Nothing else.

The Anti-Liberal Left Has a Fascism Problem Prominent leftwing intellectuals are allowing their singular, disdain-driven focus on (neo-) liberalism to completely distort their perspective on the Right. New piece:

The Anti-Liberal Left Has a Fascism Problemthomaszimmer.substack.com Prominent leftwing intellectuals are allowing their singular, disdain-driven focus on (neo-) liberalism to completely distort their perspective on the Right

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. New piece: thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/fascism-in...

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Thomas Zimmer

Lamenting “polarization” was also the preferred strategy in conservative circles to attack Joe Biden’s “soul of the nation” speech in Philadelphia on September 1, 2022. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, for instance, declared that Biden “has become his foe’s polarizing image.” 8/

Bret Stephens made a very similar accusation in his NYT column. Instead of engaging with the actual diagnosis, conservatives warned of “polarization”: Forget the question of whether or not an urgent plea from the President was actually warranted and overdue – we demand unity! 9/

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Thomas Zimmer

After Republicans had blocked voting rights legislation in the Senate in early 2022, for instance, Senator Rob Portman explained how the actual problem was that “Democrats forced the Senate to vote on controversial … legislation,” which “will only increase the division and polarization.” 6/

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Thomas Zimmer

Let’s look at what some of the most prominent writers at The Atlantic have been up to lately - speaking of “hysterics”: Here’s George Packer propagating the exact same story about ubiquitous “woke” indoctrination that James Lindsay and Christopher Rufo have been pushing. 4/

Here is Thomas Chatterton Williams telling us the Columbia students are basically like the “Jan 6 rioters” - because if you operate at an extremely misleading level of abstraction and ignore all context, then students and insurrectionists were both engaging in “laying siege to property.” 5/

Here is Caitlin Flanagan calling the occupation of a university building “Kristallnacht on the Hudson,” an utterly ridiculous instrumentalization and mendacious trivialization of the Holocaust. 6/

And here is David Frum bringing up the specter of Weimar because… the student protesters are the equivalent of militant communists in early 1930s Germany who were the equivalent of the Nazis and you really have to enforce order or these students will get us Hitler? 7/

This week, Thomas Chatterton Williams insinuated that the Columbia protesters were just like the “Jan 6 rioters,” because if you operate at an extremely misleading level of abstraction and ignore all context, then students and insurrectionists were both engaging in “laying siege to property.”

Finally the Atlantic gives us what we needed most: A Vaseline-lensed profile of a deranged Facebook boomer. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

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Thomas Zimmer

Had Packer cared to engage with their arguments at all, he might have found that the student rebels of the 1960s had developed a much more plausible understanding of how universities functioned within society – and why progressive change might originate from here. 6/

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Thomas Zimmer

Packer claims the postwar “liberal” university was devoted to the “disinterested pursuit of truth” before it was “trashed” by leftwing radicals who turned it into an indoctrination chamber brainwashing kids into a bunch of restless extremists. What brutally ahistorical nonsense! 4/