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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

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More from @tzimmer_history

Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Mar 1
People who claim Zelensky was at fault yesterday and should have been more “diplomatic” or “respectful” are either deliberately propagating the Trumpist attack line – or they fundamentally misunderstand what the Trumpist project is and who is now in power in the United States.
There is this pervasive idea that Trump doesn’t really mean it, has no real position, and can therefore be steered and manipulated by tactical and diplomatic finesse; or maybe he’s just a businessman looking for a great deal. But that’s all irrelevant here.
Trump himself has been very consistent about his preference for foreign autocrats, especially Putin, and his (at best) disinterest and siding with Ukraine and (actually) explicit antagonism towards not only Zelensky, but Europe’s democracies more generally.
Read 10 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Feb 25
MAGA, the German Far Right, and the Transnational Assault on Democracy

A reflection on the German far right, Musk’s interference in the German election, and why the MAGA-AfD alliance isn’t nearly as irresistible as they want us to believe.

Some thoughts (and link below):

🧵 Image
The results of the German election are in. On the one hand: About three quarters of the voting public stuck with democratic parties. On the other: The AfD got 20.8 percent of the vote - by far the strongest result the far right has achieved in Germany since 1945.
After it was founded in 2013, the AfD quickly evolved from what was initially mainstream-rightwing-to-reactionary territory into a far-right party that fully rejects liberal democracy and is undoubtedly the political home of Germany’s rightwing extremists.
Read 15 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Feb 7
Last night, the Senate confirmed Russell Vought.

I wrote a long profile of him: He’s one of the architects of Project 2025, an avowed Christian nationalist, and a radical ideologue of the “post-constitutional” Right

Vought is at war with pluralistic democracy (link below):

🧵 Image
Vought will be singularly focused on bending the entire government machine to Trump’s will. He believes that any check on the power of Donald Trump, who Vought literally describes as a “gift of God,” is illegitimate. There is no line he doesn’t feel justified to cross.
Key to understanding Vought’s worldview is the idea that the constitutional order - and with it the “natural” order itself - has been destroyed: The revolution has already happened, “the Left” won. Therefore, conservatives err when they try to preserve what is no more.
Read 12 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Jan 29
Russell Vought will be a key figure in the regime, as competent as he is radical. He’s one of the architects of Project 2025, an avowed Christian nationalist, an ideologue of the “post-constitutional” Right.

He’s at war with pluralistic democracy.

Why is this guy so angry?

🧵
Key to Vought’s worldview is the idea that the constitutional order - and with it the “natural” order itself - has been destroyed: The revolution has already happened, “the Left” won. Therefore, conservatives categorically err when they try to preserve what is no more.
Power now lies with a “permanent ruling class” of leftist elites who control all major institutions of life and especially the “woke and weaponized” agencies of the state. In order to defeat them, conservatives must become “radical constitutionalists” - and take radical action.
Read 9 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Jan 28
Lots of talk about the OMB because of the utterly illegal funding freeze it issued.

A reminder that Russell Vought, the guy Trump wants to lead the agency, seeks to “traumatize” civil servants, use the military to suppress protests, and sees Trump as an agent of God’s will. 🧵 My Democracy Americana newsletter published on Nov 27: “Meet the Ideologue of the ‘Post-Constitutional’ Right: Russell Vought, one of the architects behind Project 2025, believes there is nothing left to conserve. He desires revolution – and to burn down the system.”
Vought will be singularly focused on bending the entire government machine to Trump’s will. He steadfastly believes that any check on the president’s power – on the power of Donald Trump, specifically, who Vought literally describes as a “gift of God” – is illegitimate.
Vought may look like a boring bureaucrat. But he is a committed ideologue, convinced to be fighting a noble war to defend his “real America” of white Christian patriarchal rule, where people like him get to dominate the public square and define who belongs.
Read 6 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Jan 19
Been asked so many times: “What do you think will happen?”

We will know a lot more soon. But I do think it’s helpful to clarify expectations. The baseline, for me: Being lawless does not make Trump omnipotent. Yet the situation is significantly more dangerous than in 2017.

🧵1/
We must resist the temptation to perpetuate Trump’s constant attempts to assert dominance by reflexively despairing over our supposedly hopeless situation. MAGA desires to project power and strength – something we should subvert rather than confirm. 2/
Being lawless does not make Trump omnipotent, and obscuring that distinction is an act of defeatism that only serves the regime. There is a vast gulf between Trump’s authoritarian aspirations on the one hand and the realities of a complex modern state and society on the other. 3/
Read 15 tweets

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