Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Dec 22, 2021 22 tweets 5 min read Read on X
As 2021 comes to an end, what is the state of American democracy?

The reactionary counter-mobilization against democracy has accelerated. It’s happening on so many fronts simultaneously that it’s easy to lose sight of how things are connected. Thoughts on the big picture: 1/
So many things are happening at the federal, state, and local levels all around the country that are directly tied to the broader struggle over whether or not America should finally realize the promise of multiracial, pluralistic democracy. That’s the defining conflict. 2/
In Washington, Republicans have adopted a position of total obstruction (what else is new?), very much including the obstruction of any attempt to investigate a violent attack on the Capitol. But it’s the state level where the reactionary project has accelerated most. 3/
States passing extreme gerrymanders; or anti-“CRT” laws; and functionally banning abortion; school board meetings becoming battlefields; Kyle Rittenhouse is celebrated as a conservative hero; elected officials talking about burning books… these are not disparate events. 4/
The overriding concern for the Republican Party, which is solely focused on the sensibilities, anxieties, and interests of (wealthy) white conservatives, is to maintain traditional political, social, cultural, and economic hierarchies. 5/
Republicans don’t call it “maintaining traditional hierarchies,” of course - they call it preserving “real” America, by which they mean a predominantly white, Christian, patriarchal nation. America, to them, is supposed to be a place where white Christian men are at the top. 6/
Due to political, cultural, and most importantly demographic changes, Republicans do not have majority support for their political project anymore – certainly not on the federal level, and even in “red” states, their position is becoming increasingly tenuous. 7/
No one understands this better than Republicans themselves: They feel their backs against the wall, therefore they are determined to do whatever it takes, regardless of how radical, to protect their hold on power and preserve existing hierarchies and the traditional order. 8/
Republicans see Democrats not as a political opponent, but as an Un-American enemy that must not be allowed to govern and destroy “real” America. Everything else follows from that understanding of the political conflict. (Small-d) democrats they are not. 9/
Republicans understand that in a functioning democratic system, they would have to either widen their focus beyond the interests and sensibilities of white conservatives, which they are not willing to do; or relinquish power, which they reject. They chose a different path: 10/
It all starts with not letting too many of the “wrong” people vote. This year alone, Republican lawmakers have introduced hundreds of bills intended to make voting more difficult – and have enacted such laws almost everywhere they are in charge. 11/brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
All of these voter suppression laws are ostensibly race-neutral and non-partisan, as they have always been in American history. But what is actually going on – who is targeted by these laws, and who is supposed to benefit – isn’t exactly hard to figure out. It’s not subtle. 12/
If too many of the “wrong” people are still voting, you make their electoral choices count less: through gerrymandering. Wisconsin has long been the poster child for these gerrymandering efforts – but they are happening everywhere, and they are accelerating and radicalizing. 13/
If that is still not enough to keep the “wrong” side from winning, as happened in November 2020, you have to be in a position to nullify their win: We’re seeing election subversion efforts up and down the country – an all-out assault on state election systems. 14/
Election commissions are being purged, local officials are being harassed, people who are a threat to Republican rule because they have demonstrated even a shred of allegiance to democracy and the rule of law are replaced by Trumpist loyalists. 15/
What if such blatant undermining of democracy leads to protests? Well, you criminalize those protests, by defining them as “riots,” and you declare “rioters” outlaws who do not deserve the protection of the law, not even when they’re physically attacked and killed. 16/
And you make it clear how you think these pro-democracy “rioters” should be dealt with by encouraging white militants to use whatever force they please to suppress these protests, and by celebrating and glorifying those who have engaged in such violent fascistic fantasies. 17/
Finally, Republicans are flanking all this by a broad-scale offensive against everything and everyone criticizing the legitimacy of white nationalist rule – past, present, and future. They clearly understand the importance of being in control of the national story. 18/
We need to pay attention to how these efforts are connected, and we have to acknowledge the underlying political project of entrenching white Christian patriarchal dominance by establishing one-party-rule systems. Can it really happen here? It is already happening. 19/
Republicans are not “delusional,” they haven’t temporarily “lost their mind.” Such pathologizing language obscures rather than illuminates the fact that Republicans are engaged in a deliberate, systematic, and highly successful project to abolish democracy. 20/
The American Right is fully committed to this anti-democratic project, and the Republican Party has a comprehensive strategy to put it into practice. Are enough people in positions of influence as committed to preserving democracy as Republicans are to abolishing it? 21/
2021 almost over, and so far, the pro-democracy camp – and the Democratic establishment, in particular – has failed to effectively counter this accelerating authoritarian onslaught. We are running out of time to save American democracy. Let’s act accordingly in 2022. /end

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More from @tzimmer_history

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
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
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
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
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
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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