Thread by @tzimmer_history

All the Wrong Lessons from Trump’s Rise
 
The justifications for CNN’s Trump town hall reveal the deeper pathologies and fallacies that have characterized the Trump discourse since 2016.
 
New Democracy Americana:

Fallacy number 1: Normalizing Trump, naturalizing power
 
It's easy to criticize the news-as-entertainment business model. But the idea that Trump has to be put on the air extensively because he is popular with the base and the GOP frontrunner is shared widely. 2/

The morning of the town hall, the NYT, for instance, published an opinion piece written by a member of the paper’s editorial board explicitly calling for Trump to be treated “like a normal candidate” – anything else would be “a breach of duty by the news media”: 3/

Obviously, the media can’t simply ignore Trump. But the real question to which critics of the CNN town hall demand a better answer is not: Cover Trump or don’t cover Trump? The actual issue that requires a lot more critical thinking is: Cover him how? 4/

CNN was eager to present the facade of tough journalistic inquiry: Oh, once he sits down with us, he has nowhere to go! (As if Trump hadn’t proved a million time that he simply refuses to play by “can’t just lie, have to respect the boundaries of factual reality” rules) 5/

Oh, we’ll fact check him in real time (as if “facts” were an antidote to the propagandistic performance). This was not critical coverage – it was a spectacle staged in accordance with the demagogue’s preferences. 6/

A policy that regards anything and anyone emerging as the GOP position or candidate as deserving of business-as-usual treatment effectively gives the Republican base, an extremist faction that is openly hostile to democracy, a veto over what has to be accepted as “normal.” 7/

It reveals a perspective that is not based in any kind of substantive commitment to how we should define “normal”; such a hollow approach makes it easy for conservatives to constantly drag the discourse and the boundaries of what is accepted as “respectable” rightward. 8/

This way, what was widely regarded as “extreme” just a little while ago becomes “moderate” as soon as rightwingers move to an even more radical position. It’s a mechanism that constantly normalizes and legitimizes extremist figures, views, and policies at a remarkable speed. 9/

Just like that, not only do extremist ideas and policies get automatically legitimized – by definition, the Republican Party, regardless of how substantively extreme, also gets treated as “normal” simply because it has, in numerical terms, support from well beyond the fringe. 10/

The GOP is defined and dominated by extremist groups and ideas. This should spark a collective search for answers that are commensurate with the challenge this situation poses, responses that have to go well beyond what has always been regarded as “normal.” 11/

For anyone in the (small-d) democratic camp, the most pressing question should not be “Does Trump get enough air time” – but: Do the institutions tasked with upholding democracy possess the strength and/or will to mount an effective defense against an authoritarian movement? 12/

Fallacy number 2: The “echo chamber” myth and the “tribalism” narrative
 
Speaking of self-righteous claims to be acting in the public interest and scolding everyone for failing to be grateful: Let’s talk about Anderson Cooper’s defense of the Trump town hall. 13/

https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1656813612491501568

The cynical “You need to get out if your silo” spin is indicative of how pervasive narratives of liberal “echo chambers” and “tribalism” on #BothSides are. These are highly misleading dogmas that do not hold up to any empirical scrutiny: 14/

The echo chamber narrative evades the substance of the political conflict. It presents the problem mostly as a misunderstanding and prescribes an easy fix: If only people could communicate across the boundaries of their self-imposed information silos! 15/

What also makes this narrative so attractive is the fact that criticizing the “echo chamber” is an easy way to demonstrate how supposedly above the fray one is: “You people might get carried away by “tribal” passions and partisan blinders – but not me!” 16/

Fallacy number 3: The “silent majority” chimera and the reactionary ideology of “real Americanism”
 
Justifications for CNN’s Trump town hall often perpetuate the idea that MAGA represents “real America” – to which Trump supposedly has a special connection. 17/

In this view, the mainstream media has a duty to provide a prominent platform to Trump and his base because Trump embodies and gives voice to a populist uprising of “regular folks” who had supposedly been unfairly ignored by arrogant elites until 2016 and even beyond. 18/

These are purely ideological claims, based on an ideology of “real Americanism” that is centered around an essentialist view of who gets to represent the nation. This is very much in line with the idea that Trump personifies the real Volk (German term used on purpose). 19/

Mainstream media narratives are laundering and perpetuating certain ideas and ideologies that form the bedrock of the extremist ethno-religious movement that has galvanized behind Trump and is loyal to him. 20/

These is the exactly the wrong “lessons” from Trumpism’s rise, and yet they shape the political discourse and the broader public imaginary.
 
More here: thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/all-the-wron…