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Jan 23 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
ICYMI over the weekend: We talked about America’s racial (counter-) reckoning - and what’s happened since the anti-racist mass protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020.

New episode of @USDemocracyPod: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/11-…
We discuss the reasons behind the unprecedented mobilization of 2020 – the longer context of anti-racist activism, the history of #BLM, how the protests offered a way for liberals to signal maximal distance to Trump.
We also get into the transnational dimension of the George Floyd moment that saw protests erupting on either side of the Atlantic. They always targeted structures of racism and white supremacy - and, in the Western European context, focused on legacies of colonial oppression.
Then we examine the factors that explain why there has been so little structural change since: There is the escalating reactionary counter-mobilization on the Right – which found its emblematic expression in the manufactured anti-“CRT” panic, taking off in the fall of 2020.
But there was also the longing among liberals and centrists for a return to pre-Trump “normalcy” (which is always in tension with the need for a reckoning) - and the rise of “popularist” arguments within Democratic circles, discouraging any serious focus on race and racism.
We also discuss how racial attitudes in have changed recently, specifically in the Obama and Trump eras: They have steadily moved to the “left,” become more progressive - which, ultimately, might be reason for a bit of optimism, although that doesn’t guarantee structural change.
I’ll link again to this crucial piece by @hakeemjefferson and @victorerikray from which we adopted the apt term “counter-reckoning.” It provides an excellent dissection of the post-George Floyd landscape and also comes with tons of data and references: fivethirtyeight.com/features/white…
Finally: Our (somewhat exasperated) take on the latest “scandal” involving classified documents, and what the news media coverage reveals about the fallacies of #BothSides journalism that mistakes “neutrality” for objectivity and values “balance” over accuracy.

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More from @tzimmer_history

Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Jan 24
Great dissection of how the rightwing machine manufactured the bizarre “Biden Crime Family” outrage – which doubles as the anatomy and genealogy of basically *any* pseudo-scandal and conspiracy theory the Right likes to fabricate to keep the based all riled up.
Two things stand out. First, the enormous, direct influence of the rightwing propaganda machine on Republican elected officials. There is an immediate connection between the reactionary Right’s media arm and its political arm; there is no equivalent to this on the “Left.”
Second thing that stands out, as @donmoyn points out, is the complete absence of evidentiary standards. This isn’t “normal” partisan politics, as in: You cherry-pick, present a somewhat warped version of events, spin a friendly narrative. It’s entirely detached from reality.
Read 10 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Jan 20
America’s Racial (Counter-) Reckoning
 
Also: Some reflections on the latest “scandal” involving classified documents.
 
New episode of @USDemocracyPod: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/11-…
Every year, MLK Day brings shallow proclamations of admiration for a man whose actual vision is often sanitized and sterilized to the point where even Republicans who are trying to undo the racial progress since the 1960s will happily “celebrate” the legacy of Martin Luther King.
But the racial reckoning King envisioned has never happened. It seemed possible, perhaps, in the summer of 2020, during the mass protests after the public murder of George Floyd. And then it never materialized.
Read 10 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Jan 19
The IRS, Fake Populism, and the Conspiratorial Right on the Beach
 
From a personal vacation encounter with MAGA America straight to the legislative priorities of the Republican Party.
 
New Democracy Americana: thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-irs-fake…
Last August, during our family vacation at an overly expensive sea resort on the New Jersey coast, I had a personal encounter with MAGA America – a heated conversation with an elderly lady terrified that Joe Biden was about to send out 87,000 heavily armed IRS agents.
87,000 IRS agents, out to destroy American lives and livelihoods. Aren’t we all glad that the first legislation Republicans passed in the House would repeal the necessary funding, provided by the Inflation Reduction Act from last August, for this encroaching government tyranny.
Read 30 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Jan 16
The Republican Party’s coalition consists of two groups: Those who don’t think that the GOP’s embrace of a politician who wants to execute her political opponents is a dealbreaker - and those who are voting Republican precisely because the party embraces her extremism.
The former group is bigger. But a significant portion of the base is in the latter, and the acute threat to democracy results from the fact that the people in the former camp can’t be bothered to break with a party in which the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene keep rising.
Let’s keep that in mind on #MLKDay, as Republican politicians will inevitably invoke the legacy of Martin Luther King to call for “civility” and “unity” - with the sole purpose of delegitimizing any critique of racist structures and practices, any demand for equality and respect.
Read 8 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Jan 13
Debating whether or not Republicans *really* want to erect a cruel regime of merciless white patriarchal dominance is futile. The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is the state level: Wherever they are in charge, they are embracing an authoritarian vision of society.
We discussed this on today’s episode of @USDemocracyPod: The idea that Republicans are just nihilists who want to burn the system down is not plausible because wherever and whenever they can, they pursue a specific vision to which they are fully committed. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10-…
Ban abortion, control women; criminalize LGBTQ people.
 
Install an authoritarian white nationalist education system, ban dissent.
 
Restrict voting rights, purge election commissions, criminalize protest.
 
These are not disparate actions - it’s one political project.
Read 15 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
Jan 13
New episode of Is This Democracy:
 
Republican Extremism, MAGA Nihilism, and the Rise of Ron DeSantis
 
Why it’s misleading to assume the Right is animated purely by nihilistic rage, and why DeSantism will not bring moderation or “normalcy.” podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10-…
In the end, the insurrectionists finally captured the House: Our takeaways from how the speaker drama played out and what has transpired since, what it all tells us about the Republican Party, and how the rightwing fringe has moved to the center of conservative politics.
Also: Nihilism. Chaos agents. Burning it all down. To many observers, the speaker spectacle confirmed that’s basically all there is to the MAGA Right. @LilyMasonPhD, @perrybaconjr, and I discuss why the “nihilism” interpretation fails to explain what’s happening on the Right.
Read 9 tweets

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