Writer. Political Scientist. Three pointers. Tattoos. Spicy food. FSU + Oberlin College. https://t.co/bFmPgMgoEN
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Oct 21, 2022 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
The western culture war was finished in 1945. By standing against and defeating Germany, the west set itself as its opposite: multiculturalist. Relinquishing their colonies under Soviet pressure only hastened the transition. Conservatives can only slow, not stop multiculturalism
Some people believe that this means the end of western civilization. What does that mean? Western civilization as a solely European-ethnic project? Perhaps.
Aug 11, 2022 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
To build on what I was talking about earlier…the US judicial system is extremely punitive. America has the most prisoners in the world, by % & in absolute terms. These are numbers higher than authoritarian regimes. Totalitarian regimes. More prisoners than every country on Earth
In state prisons, the prisoner population is something like 35-40% Black, despite Black people being like 12-13% of the US population. Whites make up a lower % of prisons than Black people despite being 60%+ of the US population. Massive disparities - clear result of targeting
Aug 10, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
One of the reasons why Trump supporters don’t care about evidence is because the legal system was designed not just to uphold the “law” but to maintain the social hierarchical order. The law is supposed to be something that empowers the ingroup and harms outgroups.
Trump represents America’s dominant ingroup, one that feels it is under existential threat of social and cultural change. They believe that if they don’t act now, they’ll (whites) become a permanent minority with no political power under multicultural socialism.
Jul 18, 2022 • 23 tweets • 4 min read
One of the things that is super overrated on social media is political messaging. Like the idea that if Dems just *say the right special words* they win over the maga voters. It doesn’t work like that, voters aren’t stupid, they know what both parties represent already.
Saying “its the corporations” or saying “we’ll fight for you” or whatever in an ad isn’t going to magically change people who hate Democrats’ minds. I don’t know why people even believe this. Messaging isn’t magic, people have already tried all of this stuff.
Apr 19, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
One of the dumbest things about the last few years is when people tell you to “stop being afraid of the virus” like it didn’t just kill a million Americans.
Our entire politics runs on fear. Conservatives buy guns because they’re afraid. Afraid of CRT. Afraid of immigrants. Afraid of people with different religions. Afraid of demographic change. The “stop being scared” thing is so dumb. You first!
Feb 16, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
So much doom and gloom. Idk why. Biden’s Presidency is the best the Dem coalition could have hoped for. Likely only 2020 class candidate who could defeat Trump. Economy booming. We collectively chose some inflation vs multi years recession. Great market for labor. No US wars.
People have to be more realistic about the big change that can be accomplished in our system. Its already designed to stifle change and we have the most polarization since the civil war. I think Biden’s been doing a fantastic job all things considered.
Dec 7, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Someone should do a story on why there were thousands of “Trump voters back him no matter what” stories when Trump’s approval was low. But there’s virtually no such stories about Biden voters. I think it says something about who our society views as “Real Americans.”
There’s a core of Biden voters who support him no matter what. But journalists and media decision makers are still disproportionately white and thus many can’t relate or see themselves or family members in the Biden-no-matter-what voters like they did in the Trump-no-matter-whats
Nov 9, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Everyone acts like the “Actually Democrats should throw Black people under the bus to win elections” analysis is new. People been saying this **** since the 1960s! Its the same repackaged mess. Biden defeated Trump by saying “white supremacy” more than any Dem nominee ever!
This “analysis” also fails to answer WHY democracy in the US is on the brink. Because minorities are gaining more political power and the dominant in-group is nervous and upset about it.
Nov 5, 2021 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
The funny thing is people think the CRT discourse is something new. No, this is the same cultural-political fight going back 200+ years. Over the level of political power Black people can have in society. Black people gain something politically, there’s a conservative backlash.
Abolitionist movement — secession.
Reconstruction — jim crow and state sanctioned vigilante violence. lost cause propaganda.
Civil rights/Voting/Immigration — southern strategy, modern gop realignment. tough on crime, conf monuments
Obama — Trump
BLM/Floyd Protests — anti CRT
Oct 31, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
My take on our politics is that demographic change is slowly breaking our society—America was never designed to accommodate non whites with large amounts of political-cultural-economic power. Happening across the west but especially here.
So you get extremely low trust in media and institutions (been falling since the Civil/Voting rights act in the 60s), rampant conspiracy theories (Birtherism, 5G-Covid, Election “fraud”) and political violence (1/6). Its all because of the same thing.
Oct 18, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Every country has a ruling, decision making class. And every countru has a founding myth/event/ethos which serves to give that class legitimacy. In the US, that is the story about the founding fathers and their commitment to “freedom,” “liberty,” “equality.”
It is this founding myth from which the US ruling class derives its legitimacy, and thus maintains their power and influence. They rule today because they supposedly maintain these ideals and are the descendants, in blood and ideology, of the founders.
Sep 28, 2021 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
I don’t know how the “Democrats need to stop talking about race” takes still exist. The idea is that it alienates working class whites (sure). But how can they believe refusing to talk about race won’t provoke a backlash of poc/college educated? That we’ll just roll with it?
Its not an unusual or unpopular concept, you hear it from MY, from Shor, etc etc. I think the idea is totally bogus. They can perceive a white backlash to Dems talking about race, but funny how they cannot conceptualize a poc backlash for Dems dropping racial equity.
Sep 24, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Extremism is also relative. Extremists never consider themselves to be so. It is very uncomfortable but important to understand how Nazi Germany was inspired in part by US early racial laws and expansionism. assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/i1092…
Obviously not taught in most schools, it turns the American exceptionalism myth and ethos upside down. It makes people question and the should—how could Nazi Germany’s actions be inspired, even in part, by early American political actors?
Sep 18, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
If you wanted to simplify American history, break it down to its most elementary form, it is a long struggle over the question: “How much power should whites have in society relative to everyone else?” Viewed in that framework and context all events make much more sense.
When you earnestly believe in the ethos, the American myth, about liberty and freedom and egalitarianism and rights you find it hard to understand Trump voters. But when you understand the central question in American history it all makes sense.
Aug 11, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
“By 1860, there were more millionaires (slaveholders all) living in the lower Mississippi Valley than anywhere else in the United States. In the same year, the nearly 4 million American slaves were worth $3.5 billion, making them the largest financial asset in the US economy”
The fight about critical race theory isn’t about education at all. Its about the fundamental question throughout American history—how much power should nonwhites have? Are they legitimate citizens?
The fight about CRT is the same fight as “voter fraud” claims, where the subtext is that poc voters are fundamentally illegitimate (which is why poc heavy counties are where they claim the “fraud” is). Its the same movement as the Tea Party’s reaction against Obama.
Jul 9, 2021 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
The funny thing about reading conservative media now is they truly feel like their way of life is under siege. They feel like its never been harder to be a white guy. But they don’t use empathy to understand that minorities have felt this and worse for America’s entire history.
I mean for virtually all of American history until very recently minorities were largely shut out of the mainstream economy. Native Americans were removed from their land. Black people were enslaved. Japanese Americans put in camps. All in the past 200 years.
Jun 6, 2021 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
I want to write a response to this narrative at some pt—the argument that Dems need to focus on economic issues and put social issues on the back burner is a bad one. It presumes marginalized groups like poc will still turnout for Dems if they reduce talk about race.
It also presumes that the Dem position on social issues is untenable while the GOP position is closer to the American mainstream. There’s a wide range of pub opinion polls which show Americans on avg are closer to the Dem position on cultural issues than GOP.
May 15, 2021 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
The reason I like watching sports drafts so much is they are essentially selling you hope. In the cynical and outrage fueled world of internet and social media I think hope is under supplied.
A cynic might say you’re delusional, how can anyone have hope in a cruel and self interested world where only the powerful make the rules and have agency? And I would reply that over the past 100 years, the world has made unbelievable strides in reducing poverty & mortality.
Apr 22, 2021 • 19 tweets • 4 min read
I’ve seen a lot of people say “Today’s conservatism doesn’t offer a compelling version of the future for young people.” I think this is a misunderstanding of conservatism as an ideology. Its primarily about status quo maintenance for people already in power.
Most tend to view power strictly in the economic sense. Ruling class as the wealthy. But there’s been more consideration of race/ethnicity, culture, politics as of late. There is an argument to be made that the ruling class in America has historically been white people writ large
Apr 8, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Here is my latest piece: “Why Conservatives Keep Losing The Culture Wars” newsweek.com/why-conservati…
Even though conservatives have amassed considerable political and economic power, they continue to lose cultural battles. My argument for answering why conservatives keep losing the culture war is rooted in the fundamental commitments the US made post Civil War and World War 2.
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