Thread by @tzimmer_history

I went on CNN on the weekend to talk about Trump’s “Big Lie,” and what history can tell us about why it’s captured the Republican Party. In the very short segment, I didn’t get to talk about why I’m actually somewhat skeptical of the focus on the #BigLie idea. Let me explain: 1/

The term “Big Lie,” as it is defined today, refers to a specific kind of political propaganda: A lie that is told for political purposes and that is so outrageous, so bizarre, that it’s hard for people to resist. 2/ merriam-webster.com/dictionary/big…

As the theory goes, people believe the Big Lie precisely BECAUSE it is so shocking, because it is difficult to imagine anyone would lie in this shameless fashion about important political matters. 3/

Whether or not you support the Big Lie then also becomes a litmus test of political loyalty for a movement or a party. Trump’s outrageous claim that he is the victim of a massive conspiracy that stole the presidency from him certainly qualifies under this definition. 4/

The origin story: The term itself was actually coined by none other than Adolf Hitler in the 1920s – he criticized the German Jews for deploying what he called the “Big Lie” that Germany’s military was defeated in World War I. 5/

Of course, the German military definitely was defeated in the war - but that’s not what the German Far Right wanted to believe, instead clinging to the myth that the German army had been stabbed in the back by internal enemies. 6/ encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/stab-i…

The term is often associated with chief Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, but there’s little evidence he ever used it in an affirmative way to describe his own tactics. Certainly fair to say though that Nazi propaganda did tell a bunch of big lies. 7/

In our current context, the term Big Lie was brought up occasionally during the Trump presidency to warn of the dangers of authoritarian propaganda. But it really only became a prominent part of our political debates AFTER the 2020 election… 8/

…and in particular after the insurrection of January 6. It’s since been used to oppose Trump’s outrageous claims. 9/

But interestingly, and that is the latest turn in this story, Trump himself has started adopting the term – he is now attacking all those who insist on the facts as propagating a Big Lie. 10/
cnn.com/2021/05/19/pol…

So we’re now in a weird situation in which the term is everywhere, and it is used for wildly differing political purposes, to either defend the democratic process – or to completely undermine it. 11/

Trump and his supporters are all in on various conspiracy theories that together form the Big Lie nexus. But the real problem, as so often, is not just Trump, but the fact that Republicans have decided to support his lies and to enact policies based on Trump’s lies. 12/

That’s primarily happening on the state level, where Republicans have introduced hundreds of bills designed to restrict and suppress the vote, always citing “concerns” over “election integrity.” 13/ motherjones.com/politics/2021/…

And in some places, they’re simply 100 percent “We’re looking for traces of bamboo because we want to find the Chinese fake ballots” committed to the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. 14/

So, the crucial question we must face is: Why are Republicans so willing to support Trump’s outrageous claims? And not just Republican elected officials, but somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of Republican voters as well! 15/ theguardian.com/us-news/2021/m…

This, I believe, is where the term “Big Lie” isn’t very helpful and can easily obscure the real problem when it is taken to suggest that Republicans were wholeheartedly embracing democracy until they were seduced and overwhelmed by Trump’s brilliant propaganda. 16/

That is absolutely not what is happening. As a general rule, Big Lies are effective when they are deployed in an environment in which people are primed to believe them – when they channel and crystallize certain ideological core claims and beliefs. 17/

In our current situation, one reason Trump’s lies can flourish and have such a massive effect is because they can build on longstanding anti-democratic tendencies and impulses on the American Right and among conservatives. 18/

This great episode of the @KnowYrEnemyPod with @Joshua_A_Tait, for instance, does a great job of dissecting the ideas of some of the intellectual founding fathers of the modern conservative movement and their preference for minoritarian elite rule. 19/

Or listen to how William F. Buckley, the godfather of the modern conservative movement, explicitly defends disenfranchising black people and tells a stunned audience that he believes many (poor) white people shouldn’t be allowed to vote either. 20/

(And really, if you haven’t seen the famous 1965 debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, please watch it soon. It is an unbelievably impressive document.) 21/

Furthermore, this episode of the @SceneOnRadio podcast focuses on the anti-democratic attitudes among some of the most important libertarian thinkers of the twentieth century, like Friedrich Hayek. 22/ sceneonradio.org/s4-e8-the-seco…

Another reason for the Big Lie’s success: It can latch onto the decades-long attempts by Republicans to present themselves as the only legitimate representatives of “real” America, and to denounce Democrats as an “Un-American” threat. 23/

In this interpretation, Democrats are not just political opponents, but a radical, Socialist, Un-American political force, pursuing a fundamentally illegitimate political project of turning what is supposed to be a white Christian nation into a land of multiracial pluralism. 24/

This strand of anti-democratic demonization culminated in the birtherism conspiracy, depicting Barack Obama as a socialist, Un-American “Other,” elected by an illegitimate coalition – and still, today, about 50 percent of Republicans are birthers. 25/ fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-b…

Even the practice of alleging voter fraud after Democratic election victories has been part of the Republican playbook since the late 1980s, as @HC_Richardson lays out here: 26/ heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-21-…

It was also around that same time that the Heritage Foundation began its crusade for “election integrity” and against “voter fraud” that has never been based on any kind of substantive empirical evidence. 27/ brennancenter.org/our-work/analy…

Never forget that Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, was very explicit about his disdain for democracy: 28/

Take all this together, and it is no longer that big of a leap to buy into the idea that these radical, Un-American forces have conspired against “real America” to steal an election, and that anything is justified to ensure Republican rule going forward. 29/

Where does all this leave us? There’s this idea out there that, rather sooner than later, the GOP will necessarily moderate because in its current radical form it can no longer compete in democratic elections. But that is clearly not what’s happening. 30/

Faced with the choice of either changing course to retain their chances within a democratic system or turning their backs on democracy and turning the system into something that can no longer be called a democracy, Republicans have chosen the latter. 31/

That’s not going to change any time soon. This is not just a phase, not just a temper tantrum, not just a party that has temporarily lost its mind but will soon see the light again. 32/

And as @ThePlumLineGS has argued, Republicans aren’t simply relitigating the 2020 election because they’re a bunch of sore losers who aren’t quite ready to let this one go. To them, this is about what comes next and how to undermine the democratic system going forward. 33/

None of this is new, none of it started with Trump. The Republican Party has been on this anti-democratic trajectory for a very long time. 34/

The GOP is focusing ever more narrowly on the interests and anxieties of white conservatives; at the same time, the electorate has become ever more multiracial and pluralistic, due to cultural and demographic changes. 35/

In this situation, these longstanding anti-democratic tendencies have become more pronounced, especially since the 1990s, and they will only become even more pronounced going forward. 36/

Trump, Trumpism, what we’re seeing right now: It’s a radicalization of existing trends, yes, but not an aberration. 37/

Which means that the fundamental reality of American politics going forward is that one of the major parties is committed to the idea of multiracial democracy – and the other is determined to do whatever it takes to prevent exactly that from ever becoming a reality. 38/

Democracy itself has become not just a contested issue, which it has always been since the founding, but a partisan issue, one that divides the country along party lines. It is imperative that we acknowledge this reality and grapple with it in earnest. /end

Addendum: Highly recommended this article by @ThePlumLineGS on the GOP’s attitude towards democracy. Very glad it highlights an excellent piece by @lionel_trolling - who you should definitely follow and read because few people provide such incisive analysis of the American Right.

Since I wrote this thread last week, a few excellent pieces and podcasts have come out that really delve deep into the anti-democratic traditions on the Right - which Trump’s #BigLie can build on. I’d like to highlight a few:

This, by @Joshua_A_Tait, is excellent - a must read on the topic of longstanding anti-democratic ideas and tendencies among conservatives.

Here’s a great discussion between @HeerJeet and @willwilkinson on what they aptly call the “Deep Roots of GOP Extremism”

Finally, I have already linked to an episode of the always excellent @KnowYrEnemyPod in the initial thread. The podcast often explores the anti-democratic impulses on the Right - and does so again in the latest (bonus) episode, which is great.