Thread by @tzimmer_history

Absolutely crucial point by @ThePlumLineGS: L. Boebert and M. Taylor Greene are not fringe figures. It’s impossible to adequately understand American politics without grappling in earnest with why their radicalism is widely seen as justified on the Right.

Some thoughts:

https://twitter.com/theplumlinegs/status/1466806009289187331

Their actions are well in line with the Republican Party’s central political project. And conservatives see their radicalism as justified because they believe themselves to be in a noble war to defend “real” (read: white Christian patriarchal) America against an insidious “Left.”

This siege mentality characterizes all strands of the American Right: Republican officials, conservative intellectuals, rightwing militias – they are radicalizing because they are convinced to be confronted with overwhelming forces of liberalism, leftism, wokeism.

I just wrote a long thread on why and how the Right is radicalizing against democracy, and how we see this most clearly in what pro-Trumpian intellectuals have been saying since the election: They are more determined than ever to entrench white Christian male domination.

https://twitter.com/tzimmer_history/status/1466772113960878086

Crucially, the Right has cultivated an image of “the Left” as this radically Un-American threat for a long time and can now build on decades of demonization of “the Left” as a fundamentally illegitimate force that is out to destroy “real” America.

https://twitter.com/tzimmer_history/status/1397191817985146881

In this view, Democrats - all of them - are not just political opponents, but a radically “Un-American” political force, pursuing a fundamentally illegitimate political project of turning what is supposed to be a white Christian nation into a land of multiracial pluralism.

The idea that only Republicans represent the will of "real" (read: white Christian patriarchal) America, while Democrats are representing a coalition of people who don’t deserve their place in the body politic, is not fringe – it has become dogma on the Right.

https://twitter.com/tzimmer_history/status/1466775016624865285

The extent to which this type of white nationalism has become the mainstream position within the Republican Party – and the extent to which the GOP has become the party of white grievance – is best illustrated by the way it handles the “extremists” in its midst.

Instead of pretending Boebert and MTG are fringe figures in a big tent party, we should focus on the fact that the GOP is happy to accommodate such people, or the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the election – or, of course, the insurrectionist-in-chief Donald Trump.

I’m sure the exact language Marjorie Taylor Greene uses might be slightly crasser than what some conservatives are comfortable with, and some Republicans might disagree with some aspects of the public image Lauren Boebert projects. But these differences don’t matter to the Right.

https://twitter.com/tzimmer_history/status/1439595869783867399

Who cares about the specifics of Boebert’s radicalism, MTG’s extremism? They are perceived to be fighting on the right side in an existential struggle for the survival of “real” America – they are useful shock troops in a war against the radically “Un-American” leftist threat.

Remember that a similar logic animated much of the Right to unite behind Trump: A shameless bruiser, an unscrupulous brawler, and therefore exactly what was needed in the fight against the “Left” – an idea most clearly articulated in Michael Anton’s infamous “Flight 93” essay:

https://twitter.com/tzimmer_history/status/1409506080057696261

The Right isn’t getting distracted by debates over whether M. Taylor Greene’s militant extremism or Mitch McConnell’s extreme cynicism are the right approach to preventing multiracial pluralistic democracy. They are united in the quest to entrench white reactionary rule.

The reactionary counter-mobilization from the Right is not coming from a place of strength – conservatives are radicalizing because they feel their backs against the wall. That makes the current political situation not less, but a lot more acutely dangerous.