Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
@tzimmer_history
Aug 1, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
Anybody who knows anything about U.S. history should understand that „Americans experienced more freedom to express themselves and fewer political constraints in the mid-1950s than today“ is a take that automatically disqualifies you from being taken seriously. The mid-1950s!
There are lots of interesting ways to approach data like that: Who are these „Americans“? What are the contexts in which they were asked these questions? How did the actual meaning of the questions and the answers change over time, depending on the specific context?
Instead, Yascha Mounk gives us the most superficial, most misleading of all interpretations. His naive belief in the timeless objectivity of social/survey data and his ignorance towards the need to qualify and historicize such raw numbers are truly special.
Precisely this! https://t.co/x4Kdv64YfG
And this! https://t.co/e9JQ4P8oMi
And yes, this, very much this! https://t.co/fO5c8NIstR
Another great thread on how and why Mounk is being not just clueless, but utterly dishonest https://t.co/Shvo0RHLD2

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Thomas Zimmer

Thomas Zimmer Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @tzimmer_history

Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Nov 2
Weekend reading:

Combine the myth of American exceptionalism, (willful) historical ignorance, and a lack of political imagination and the result is a situation in which a lot of people refuse to take the Trumpist threat seriously.

This week’s piece:

thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/it-could-def…My latest “Democracy Americana” newsletter: “It Could Definitely Happen Here: Many Americans struggle to accept that democracy is young, fragile, and could actually collapse – a lack of imagination that dangerously blunts the response to the Trumpist Right.”
There is a pervasive idea that in a country like the United States, with a supposedly centuries-long tradition of stable, consolidated democracy, authoritarianism simply has no realistic chance to succeed, that “We” have never experienced authoritarianism.
But the political system that was stable for most of U.S. history was a white man’s democracy, or racial caste democracy. There is absolutely nothing old or consolidated about *multiracial, pluralistic democracy* in America. It only started less than 60 years ago.
Read 8 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Nov 1
It Could Definitely Happen Here
 
Many Americans struggle to accept that democracy is young, fragile, and could actually collapse – a lack of imagination that dangerously blunts the response to the Trumpist Right.

Some thoughts from my new piece (link in bio):

🧵1/ My latest “Democracy Americana” newsletter: “It Could Definitely Happen Here: Many Americans struggle to accept that democracy is young, fragile, and could actually collapse – a lack of imagination that dangerously blunts the response to the Trumpist Right.”
I wrote about the mix of a deep-seated mythology of American exceptionalism, progress gospel, lack of political understanding, and (willful) historical ignorance that has created a situation in which a lot of people simple refuse to take the Trumpist threat seriously. 2/
There is a lot of evidence that this election may be decided by a sizable group of people who strongly dislike Trump and his plans, but simply cannot imagine he would actually dare / manage to implement any of his promises and therefore aren’t mobilizing to vote. 3/
Read 14 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Oct 27
Eleven months ago, Robert Kagan published “A Trump Dictatorship Is Increasingly Inevitable” in the Washington Post.

He has now resigned from the Post because it refuses to endorse Trump’s opponent.

I dove deep into why Kagan was essentially correct:

thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/donald-trump… x.com/davidfolkenfli…Image
This warning was not coming from the Left. Although he rejects the label, Kagan is probably best described as a neocon. He’s an influential Never Trump Ex-Republican. And he believed that unless we changed course, America was on a trajectory towards a Trump dictatorship.
Nothing is ever inevitable. But what Kagan got right is that every political analysis needs to start from the recognition that there’s an eminently plausible and fairly straightforward path from where we are to autocratic rule. That’s even more obvious now than it was a year ago.
Read 7 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Oct 25
Crucial piece by @Mike_Podhorzer on how polls are obscuring the extremism of Trump’s plans.

A related thought: Since the mainstream discourse stipulates that extremism must be “fringe” in America, anything that has broad support is reflexively sanitized as *not* extremism.
This apologist sleight of hand is often deployed to provide cover for extreme forces within the GOP: If extremism is not defined by its ideological/political substance, but as “something fringe,” then the minute it becomes GOP mainstream, it ceases to be regarded as extremism.
Just like that, not only do extremist ideas and policies get automatically legitimized - by definition, the Republican Party, regardless of how substantively extreme, also gets treated as “normal” simply because it ain’t fringe, because it’s supported by almost half the country.
Read 8 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Oct 16
Donald Trump, American Fascist
 
Trumpism is what a specifically American, twenty-first century version of fascism looks like. And in November, fascism is on the ballot.
 
Some thoughts from my new piece (link in bio):
 
🧵1/ My latest “Democracy Americana” newsletter: “Donald Trump, American Fascist: Trumpism is what a specifically American, twenty-first century version of fascism looks like. And in November, fascism is on the ballot.”
Donald Trump’s closing pitch to the American people is rage, intimidation, and vengeful violence. He is threatening – or promising, if you ask his supporters – fascism. No more plausible deniability for anyone who refuses to see the threat. 2/
Mere weeks before the election, I revisit the Fascism Debate and discuss where we stand after Trump has, even by his own standards, gone on a rampage recently. If anyone thought more evidence was needed before we could call it fascist, the Trumpists have certainly provided it. 3/
Read 12 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Oct 8
The stakes in 2024: Democracy itself has become a partisan issue.

The fundamental reality of American politics right now: The conflict over whether or not the country should actually be a democracy maps onto the conflict between the two major parties. 1/
For all its - many, many - flaws, the Democratic Party is, as of right now, the country’s sole (small-d) democratic party, while the GOP is firmly in the hands of an ethno-nationalist movement that is determined to impose its vision by increasingly authoritarian measures.
This situation is so dangerous because it means that for the foreseeable future, the fate of democracy - not merely in a formalistic way, but with all the fundamental rights and respect for pluralism by which it should be defined - is on the ballot in every single election. 3/
Read 12 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(