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Jeet Heer Profile picture
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7 Dec, 8 tweets, 3 min read
1. A significant chunk of partisans always refuse to accept election results (as with Dems in 2004 & 2012 & GOP in 2008 & 2012) but 2020 is different in scale: a majority of GOP elected officials & voters are in complete denial. Obviously Trump is a big factor but not only one
2. This @DouthatNYT column is a very thoughtful attempt to do an ethnography of new conspiracy theorists, dividing them into normies following elite partisan signalling, reflexive contrarians & the newly radicalized by Covid: nytimes.com/2020/12/05/opi…
3. It's the newly radicalized that is most interesting. Douthat is right to note that Covid has been hugely disruptive & has opened people up to extremist politics. You see that also with QAnon surge.
4. Where @douthat's analysis could be pushed further is noting that it's not just Covid radicalizing people but the particular political failure of USA Covid response which radicalized normie conservatives & opened them to far-right theories.
5. The particular failure in USA has been uncertain economic relief (the UI top up was great but limited, policy tended to favor big business) and mixed messaging (no masks, masks but also, crucially, Trump's incoherence).
6. This is exactly the point I'm trying to make: Trump's epic failure led GOP partisans (who were unwilling to blame him) to start scapegoating other groups (Soros, BLM).
7. The existing GOP culture prepared partisans to leap conspiracy theories just as it had earlier prepared them to accept Trump: the distrust of experts, the dual scapegoating of elite & minorities, the narrative that white petty bourgeous are true victims.
8. More thoughts on the social context for the current explosion of conspiracy culture: thenation.com/article/politi…

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More from @HeerJeet

Jeet Heer Profile picture
9 Dec
1. So lots of nomination fights are gearing up (Tanden, Austin) and also DC swamp is taking the hardline position that questioning appointment of corporate insiders is unfair smear (as in this Wash Post editorial). Image
2. In a familiar cynical move the Biden people are using identity politics to defend filling an administration with corporate bigwigs and their allies -- CEOs are a minority that deserve representation!
3. Some of these nomination fights are complicated. Lot be said against Tanden & Austin, but it's also the case that likely alternatives are worse (more likely to do austerity or more hawkish).
Read 4 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
5 Dec
In terms of actual criminal justice reform & police reform measures, what counts is local elections. That's where power is. And reformers have been winning big -- in fact much better at winning local elections than mainstream Dems have of late.
On reason I get annoyed at people lecturing criminal justice reform & police reform movements on electoral politics is that these movements have been playing the electoral politics game very well where it counts: in local elections.
The other area where criminal justice reform people have been very good at politics is actually getting buy-in from some Republicans. Crucial in a polarized democracy. Again, the movement people are better it this than the so-called pragmatists.
Read 4 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
4 Dec
1. Do you want to commit a perfect crime? Here's one tactic: you take a natural catastrophe like the pandemic & use it as a cover for a destructive act: i.e. the media giants are currently using Covid as an excuse to kill theatrical moving going.
2. Media giants like Disney, Warner & Netflix clearly want streaming to become the dominant mode of experiencing movies, with theater-going reduced to being one subsidiary "platform" among many. There's also the hope of replacing movie chains with new studio run chains.
3. The war on movie theaters is being conducted on many fronts. There's also Disney making life hard for rep theaters by not allowing them access to its vast catalogue (which now includes Fox). The goal is to squeeze out alternative venues.
Read 6 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
24 Nov
1. This letter of recommendation to Harvard in 1936 seems strange to our eyes but it follows a common form of that time used for Jewish students -- assuring the school that the applicant is the right type of Jew ("one of the outstanding products of that Race.")
2. Peter Novick, in his truly magisterial history of American historical profession "That Noble Dream," quotes many such letters. The subtext is usually: "yes, he's a Jew but one of the good ones."
3. In a fine footnote (always read his footnotes!) Novick rightly notes the moral ambiguity of these letters. The writers wanted to help the Jewish applicants get into programs so had to address anti-Semitic concerns, but in do so replicated anti-Semitism.
Read 6 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
23 Nov
This bad cold I have isn't being helped by me constantly screaming about how badly the House of Windsor treated Princess Diana. I'm going to have to rethink things.
In 1980, the House of Windsor tricked a naive, star-struck 19 year old into a fraudulent marriage. She thought her husband would love her. He (and the family) knew the marriage was for show & his heart would remain with his mistress. They destroyed that woman's life.
The House of Windsor pushed for a marriage based on 1) lies (his heart was with Camilla) 2) patriarchy & sexual double standard (they needed a virgin) 3) eugenics (she had the right "blood-lines). Truly monstrous people.
Read 5 tweets
Jeet Heer Profile picture
23 Nov
1. One thing we haven't seen in election post-mortems is an acknowledgement that saying and doing the right thing can cost you votes, but is still the right thing to do. I think that's particularly true of Biden's handling of climate and covid.
2. In the second debate Biden said, as president he would "transition from the old industry." Trump jumped on that & said "Will you remember that Texas? Will you remember that Pennsylvania, Oklahoma?" I'm sure Biden's words cost him. But they were the right thing to say.
3. On Covid, Biden's bleak message ("a dark winter") likely cost him votes. But it was also honest and better leadership than Trump's everything is going to be great soon.
Read 5 tweets

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