Share this page!

Don Moynihan Profile picture
Twitter logo
13 Apr, 5 tweets, 2 min read
"God forbid we do something" like violate the constitution and the sort of basic free speech principles that separate us from authoritarian political systems.
Pummeling David French is now a rite of passage for a certain class of the far right.
Why?
It is *because* French retained his conservative beliefs, rather than abandon them in the face of Trumpism, b/c he opposes an authoritarian state for cultural ends. newyorker.com/news/the-polit…
We should be very concerned with people running for election who use populist rhetoric to propose unconstitutional actions, and when told so, respond by doubling down.
This is what Vance was responding to which is both fair and accurate!
The claim of Vance and his fellow populists - that they need to use the power of the state to pursue their cultural grievances, and to silence contradictory voices from academia, media or private organizations - is no different from authoritarians like Orban in Hungary.
Recap of where we are:
GOP President loses free and fair election: Stolen!
GOP: No evidence but sure, let's make voting harder.
Companies: Seems bad.
GOP: We will punish anyone who says that!
Actual conservatives: Sounds unconstitutional.
GOP: Constitution schmonstitution!

• • •

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

Keep Current with Don Moynihan

Don Moynihan 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 @donmoyn

Don Moynihan Profile picture
13 Apr
Ron DeSantis wants to impose signature matches on absentee ballots. This will predictably result in lots of eligible voters losing their voting rights. The variance in DeSantis own signature over time illustrates why it is such a bad idea. tampabay.com/news/florida-p…
There is no evidence that signature matches reduce fraud, and plenty of evidence that they result in legitimate votes being tossed, esp. by younger, immigrant & minority voters more. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
Signatures are collected in really varying conditions. Your vote could be rejected if the signature you made w an electronic stylus at the DMV is different from one you did at home with a pen on paper.
Read 6 tweets
Don Moynihan Profile picture
13 Apr
Academia is the most prominent institution where (some) members won’t get fired for their words. This is the problem they are trying to fix, and their chatter about valuing free speech is worthless.
We are in this weird space where public educational institutions have first amendment protections but are also under ideological pressure to curb speech protections. See e.g. from Florida:
Private institutions with strong academic reputations are better able to weather populist demands to curb academic speech, but have weaker first amendment protections. And some private institutions are vulnerable to market pressures, and therefore worry abt outrage mobs.
Read 4 tweets
Don Moynihan Profile picture
10 Apr
My position:

Conservatives who are welcome in the mainstream look at their electoral calculus, and decide it's better to pander to populism.

See, for example, J.D. Vance deciding to throw his lot in with Tucker Carlson's white nationalism when he decides to run for election.
No conservative in America has been as showered by mainstream accolades as Vance. But he made a decision that his path to being a Senator is to run I the Trump/Carlson lane of the GOP *because that is the dominant lane.*
The most ambitious Republicans populists - Hawley, Cruz, Cotton - are the products of elite institutions like Stanford, Princeton, Harvard and Yale.
Not blaming those institutions, but the idea that our current moment is the result of *excluding* conservatives is bizarre.
Read 7 tweets
Don Moynihan Profile picture
10 Apr
This is the problem with giving control of higher education to political cronies who do not respect science or education: UW Regent who got COVID last year, and has not gotten vaccinated, says the university should not pressure students to get vaccine. wpr.org/uw-regent-camp…
The scientific method for managing a pandemic is to limit the spread of the pandemic. But UW Regent Bob Atwell thinks it should just be up to everyone to make their decision. The thing is: it's a fucking pandemic. Your decision affects my risk.
Colleges tend to be incubators of risk for their community and faculty and staff. Students travel and do not observe always lockdowns. This should be something a university regent should be able to understand. channel3000.com/the-data-tells…
Read 5 tweets
Don Moynihan Profile picture
9 Apr
This held up well
To be clear, Vance is choosing to jump into defend Carlson when Carlson is getting some heat for being a bit more explicit than usual in his support of white nationalism, endorsing the Great Replacement theory. This is the cause Vance wants to associate with as a GOP candidate.
Vance won't specifically endorse Replacement Theory. Instead, he uses Carlson's technique of saying that some shadowy elite* is silencing him - and you!

*elite does not include Ivy League educated lawyers and venture capitalists supported by billionaires.
Read 8 tweets
Don Moynihan Profile picture
9 Apr
The line of reasoning here is that its ok to study race, gender etc. but its been done poorly. To accept this you have to have just an incredibly blinkered knowledge of what social science actually produces. (Blinkered enough to be cheering on an authoritarian attacking campus).
If your taste is for rigorous causal research on discrimination, thats fine. There is plenty of it that shows the type of pattern of discrimination that the anti-CRT crowd are claiming is made up. But they never engage with this research. pnas.org/content/114/41…
If you are applauding how Victor Orban manages universities, you are cheering on one part of a broader strategy by an authoritarian to silence dissenting thought. He is doing the same thing for media & civic life. Don't pretend you support free inquiry.
Read 4 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

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

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @donmoyn has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @donmoyn!

Read all threads by @donmoyn