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10 May, 5 tweets, 1 min read
Agreed. One dimension of this divide is that there is a type of self-proclaimed Very Serious Person - quite prevalent in all political camps - to whom warnings of authoritarianism smack of Trump-induced “alarmism,” of an unsophisticated fixation on Trump. The VSPs are wrong.
It’s true, of course, that a fixation on Trump can easily result in a misleading tale that portrays him as an aberration, separating him from longer-term trends and tendencies on the American Right.
Instead of dismissing Trump, however, the answer should be to focus on how dangerous those broader tendencies are, on how the same energies and anxieties that have animated the conservative movement for a long time fueled Trump’s rise.
In any case, a jaded “You’re worried by Trump? How lame!” is not an appropriate reaction when faced with a rapid anti-democratic radicalization and turn towards open embrace of authoritarianism - trends that both manifested in and have undoubtedly been fueled by Trump.
Bottom line: If your political or ideological priors still lead you to a blasé attitude towards what is currently happening inside the Republican Party, it is time to re-think those priors. The authoritarian threat is real; there is absolutely cause for alarm.

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More from @tzimmer_history

Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
10 May
Republicans are not cowards, but true believers - and pretending otherwise “risks misleading the country about the true depths of GOP radicalization.”

@ThePlumLineGS is making a crucial point - and addresses a key question: What is animating the Republican assault on democracy?
As @ThePlumLineGS argues, the idea that Republicans are just scared of Trump is utterly unconvincing analytically, as it simply doesn’t explain their current actions - and, one might add, also ignores the longstanding anti-democratic impulses and tendencies on the Right.
The “cowardice” tale is useful, of course: It provides cover for Republicans (better a coward than a far-right extremist); and it allows the news media to cling to the conception of the GOP as a “normal” democratic party that is just dealing with an authoritarian insurrection.
Read 18 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
9 Apr
Great reflection on the debate over Trump as a “fascist” and, more generally, the uses and abuses of the #fascism concept in the current political discourse. I’d like to add a few thoughts and observations: 1/
In a vacuum, I think it’s fair to argue that the term “fascism” is sometimes used a little too indiscriminately, and that the indiscriminate use of the term can obscure more than it illuminates. 2/
There’s nothing unique about this tendency to overuse the term “fascism,” of course: The way the term “socialism” is used in the political debate, for instance, obviously bears little resemblance to what historians of the left would recognize. 3/
Read 24 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
25 Mar
From the perspective of a German who’s recently moved his family across the Atlantic, this is exactly what stands out about life in the United States, almost more than anything else.
I mean, I must have told my German mother at least twenty times how much we pay for childcare for our two boys - but every time we speak she asks again, because the number, while average for DC, is so beyond-the-pale crazy to German ears that it simply won’t register.
And healthcare... On New Year’s Eve 2019 our toddler fell, hurt his teeth, we had to go to the ER, in one of Germany’s best hospitals (University Hospital Freiburg), he was treated immediately - I received the bill four weeks later: 66 Euros. What would it have cost me over here?
Read 5 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
24 Mar
Think about how often gay marriage is described as a “polarizing” issue. Yes, the country was split in the middle on this question, about a decade ago; but this is not a story of #polarization - but one in which the majority of Americans is steadily coming around on major issues.
In many areas, the #polarization narrative obscures more than it illuminates. Take Americans’ changing views on LGBTQ rights, for example: Since the 1970s the percentage of people regarding homosexuality as an “acceptable lifestyle” has steadily increased.
The idea that gay Americans deserve civil rights protections at the work place reached near-consensus status long ago. So even in areas where substantive attitudes have shifted significantly, the public has not exactly been polarizing. #NotPolarization
Read 4 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
25 Nov 20
I reviewed @ezraklein‘s “Why We’re Polarized” for @hsozkult. A few thoughts, from a historical perspective, on an important book that still left me unconvinced that "polarization" is the right lens through which to analyze America’s recent past and present. 1/
Quick disclaimer: I’m not a political scientist and not necessarily interested in policy prescriptions. My perspective on “Why We’re Polarized” is that of a historian of 20th century U.S. politics who’s working on the history of the polarization idea/narrative. 2/
First of all, everyone should read "Why We’re Polarized." I learned an awful lot from this book, and the way @ezraklein summarizes and synthesizes the conflicts that shape U.S. politics and the forces that are shaping American society is truly impressive. 3/
Read 49 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
23 Nov 20
I was asked to provide a historical perspective on #Covid19 by @UniFreiburg's Studium generale and used the opportunity to reflect on what, if anything, we can learn from the global history of pandemics. Here’s a link to the recorded lecture (in German): videoportal.uni-freiburg.de/category/video…
Since the lecture is in German and basically the culmination of eight months of reflecting on, writing about, and debating #Covid19, I thought it might be useful to pull all my previous attempts at thinking about the pandemic historically together in one thread.
So here’s a thread of threads with links to lectures, articles, interviews, discussions. Please note: I put them in chronological order; my thinking about these issues has certainly evolved since the spring. #Covid19
Read 25 tweets

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