Thomas Zimmer
@thomaszimmer.bsky.social
Historian - Democracy and Its Discontents - Newsletter: Democracy Americana https://democracyamericana.com - Podcast: Is This Democracy https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/is-this-democracy
To emphasize what @moiradonegan.bsky.social is saying:
In the same speech where Rothbard announced his desire to “repeal the twentieth century,” he raged against “organized feminism” and the “loony left” as a key enemy - the “feminist, deconstructing, quota-loving, advanced victimological left.”
In the same speech where Rothbard announced his desire to “repeal the twentieth century,” he raged against “organized feminism” and the “loony left” as a key enemy - the “feminist, deconstructing, quota-loving, advanced victimological left.”
November 6, 2025 at 4:58 PM
To emphasize what @moiradonegan.bsky.social is saying:
In the same speech where Rothbard announced his desire to “repeal the twentieth century,” he raged against “organized feminism” and the “loony left” as a key enemy - the “feminist, deconstructing, quota-loving, advanced victimological left.”
In the same speech where Rothbard announced his desire to “repeal the twentieth century,” he raged against “organized feminism” and the “loony left” as a key enemy - the “feminist, deconstructing, quota-loving, advanced victimological left.”
None of this is surprising, of course: Remember the “Mass Deportation Now” signs at the Republican Convention last fall? This is a party devoted to an ethno-religious understanding of America as a land defined by white Christian patriarchal dominance.
May 29, 2025 at 11:36 PM
None of this is surprising, of course: Remember the “Mass Deportation Now” signs at the Republican Convention last fall? This is a party devoted to an ethno-religious understanding of America as a land defined by white Christian patriarchal dominance.
This was on full display in the Right’s freak-out over the NYT’s “1619 Project.” Every piece in National Review, for instance, focused on the fact that slavery existed outside America – but only ever to de-legitimize the attempts to advance a narrative about U.S. history beyond white male heroism.
May 24, 2025 at 4:30 PM
This was on full display in the Right’s freak-out over the NYT’s “1619 Project.” Every piece in National Review, for instance, focused on the fact that slavery existed outside America – but only ever to de-legitimize the attempts to advance a narrative about U.S. history beyond white male heroism.
The piece also serves as a primer on who or what the AfD really is, why the decision to officially designate it as a “confirmed rightwing extremist” party is obviously correct, and why a party ban is nevertheless unlikely.
Always remember: This is who the Trumpists are siding with:
Always remember: This is who the Trumpists are siding with:
May 4, 2025 at 4:40 PM
The piece also serves as a primer on who or what the AfD really is, why the decision to officially designate it as a “confirmed rightwing extremist” party is obviously correct, and why a party ban is nevertheless unlikely.
Always remember: This is who the Trumpists are siding with:
Always remember: This is who the Trumpists are siding with:
This can’t possibly come as a surprise either, considering that Republicans have been doing exactly this on the state level wherever and whenever they got a chance. Just look at Florida, the spearhead of this campaign to purge anyone and anything daring to deviate from the white nationalist story.
April 12, 2025 at 4:08 PM
This can’t possibly come as a surprise either, considering that Republicans have been doing exactly this on the state level wherever and whenever they got a chance. Just look at Florida, the spearhead of this campaign to purge anyone and anything daring to deviate from the white nationalist story.
Utterly unconscionable – though hardly surprising – for the New York Times to print such vile fabrications, completely untethered from empirical reality, and to keep platforming a man who would spread such extremist propaganda as one of their most prominent columnists.
March 15, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Utterly unconscionable – though hardly surprising – for the New York Times to print such vile fabrications, completely untethered from empirical reality, and to keep platforming a man who would spread such extremist propaganda as one of their most prominent columnists.
WTF.
Democratic leaders have had their brains poisoned by a consultant class and a bunch of “popularist” bloggers who believe anything related to “democracy” is bad messaging and they should stick to the “pocketbook” instead.
And so we get this, in the midst of an acute constitutional crisis.
Democratic leaders have had their brains poisoned by a consultant class and a bunch of “popularist” bloggers who believe anything related to “democracy” is bad messaging and they should stick to the “pocketbook” instead.
And so we get this, in the midst of an acute constitutional crisis.
February 2, 2025 at 3:27 PM
WTF.
Democratic leaders have had their brains poisoned by a consultant class and a bunch of “popularist” bloggers who believe anything related to “democracy” is bad messaging and they should stick to the “pocketbook” instead.
And so we get this, in the midst of an acute constitutional crisis.
Democratic leaders have had their brains poisoned by a consultant class and a bunch of “popularist” bloggers who believe anything related to “democracy” is bad messaging and they should stick to the “pocketbook” instead.
And so we get this, in the midst of an acute constitutional crisis.
Douthat isn’t exactly pro-MAGA – he is just vehemently anti-anti-Trump and fully dedicated to laundering the Trumpist Right for a mainstream audience by intellectualizing and sanitizing it to the point where the version of the Right we are getting from him is deliberately detached from reality.
January 12, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Douthat isn’t exactly pro-MAGA – he is just vehemently anti-anti-Trump and fully dedicated to laundering the Trumpist Right for a mainstream audience by intellectualizing and sanitizing it to the point where the version of the Right we are getting from him is deliberately detached from reality.
I tend to think that such utter Nazi shit from this completely unhinged extremist is more likely to hurt the German far-right in the February election.
Rightwing extremists depend on support from people who self-identify as mainstream conservatives - and they tend to regard open Nazism as uncouth.
Rightwing extremists depend on support from people who self-identify as mainstream conservatives - and they tend to regard open Nazism as uncouth.
January 4, 2025 at 6:31 PM
I tend to think that such utter Nazi shit from this completely unhinged extremist is more likely to hurt the German far-right in the February election.
Rightwing extremists depend on support from people who self-identify as mainstream conservatives - and they tend to regard open Nazism as uncouth.
Rightwing extremists depend on support from people who self-identify as mainstream conservatives - and they tend to regard open Nazism as uncouth.
“Was once a critic of the president-elect” is really funny.
This is a whole genre now: “Here’s why this reactionary went from being staunchly anti-liberal and aggressively anti-anti-Trump to openly supporting Trump.”
A particular kind of normalization of authoritarianism and blaming “the Left.”
This is a whole genre now: “Here’s why this reactionary went from being staunchly anti-liberal and aggressively anti-anti-Trump to openly supporting Trump.”
A particular kind of normalization of authoritarianism and blaming “the Left.”
January 3, 2025 at 9:36 PM
“Was once a critic of the president-elect” is really funny.
This is a whole genre now: “Here’s why this reactionary went from being staunchly anti-liberal and aggressively anti-anti-Trump to openly supporting Trump.”
A particular kind of normalization of authoritarianism and blaming “the Left.”
This is a whole genre now: “Here’s why this reactionary went from being staunchly anti-liberal and aggressively anti-anti-Trump to openly supporting Trump.”
A particular kind of normalization of authoritarianism and blaming “the Left.”
Oh look, another Democratic elected official going all in on normalizing Trump and preemptively accommodating his regime.
It is incredibly deflating that the defense of basic rights and democratic self-government depends so much on people who have nothing but compliance and acquiescence to offer.
It is incredibly deflating that the defense of basic rights and democratic self-government depends so much on people who have nothing but compliance and acquiescence to offer.
January 1, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Oh look, another Democratic elected official going all in on normalizing Trump and preemptively accommodating his regime.
It is incredibly deflating that the defense of basic rights and democratic self-government depends so much on people who have nothing but compliance and acquiescence to offer.
It is incredibly deflating that the defense of basic rights and democratic self-government depends so much on people who have nothing but compliance and acquiescence to offer.
Today’s Right, meanwhile, disdains norms and rules - there is only Us vs Them, only power; Democrats are a fundamentally anti-American faction, a threat akin to the terrorists of 9/11, as far-right thinker Michael Anton put it in his “Flight 93” essay. Do whatever it takes. So little time left.
December 21, 2024 at 2:06 PM
Today’s Right, meanwhile, disdains norms and rules - there is only Us vs Them, only power; Democrats are a fundamentally anti-American faction, a threat akin to the terrorists of 9/11, as far-right thinker Michael Anton put it in his “Flight 93” essay. Do whatever it takes. So little time left.
Behold, the leaders of the “party of law and order.” The most blatantly lawless and comically corrupt major politician in history and the Right’s latest icon of white vigilante violence.
An excellent reminder of what “law and order” politics has always been about, what “order” it seeks to protect.
An excellent reminder of what “law and order” politics has always been about, what “order” it seeks to protect.
December 15, 2024 at 2:10 PM
Behold, the leaders of the “party of law and order.” The most blatantly lawless and comically corrupt major politician in history and the Right’s latest icon of white vigilante violence.
An excellent reminder of what “law and order” politics has always been about, what “order” it seeks to protect.
An excellent reminder of what “law and order” politics has always been about, what “order” it seeks to protect.
“Conservatism is no longer enough” should be required reading for anyone who seeks to understand what’s been happening on the Right: It captures the escalating siege mentality, the “counter-revolutionary” sensibility, the increasingly unhinged radicalism.
This is where and what the Right is today.
This is where and what the Right is today.
December 9, 2024 at 2:45 PM
“Conservatism is no longer enough” should be required reading for anyone who seeks to understand what’s been happening on the Right: It captures the escalating siege mentality, the “counter-revolutionary” sensibility, the increasingly unhinged radicalism.
This is where and what the Right is today.
This is where and what the Right is today.
For instance, in an infamous essay titled “Conservatism is no longer enough,” Claremont-affiliated far-right thinker Glen Ellmers outlined a vision of excluding over half the population: Literally every single Democratic voter, as they had forfeited the right to be regarded “American.”
December 9, 2024 at 2:37 PM
For instance, in an infamous essay titled “Conservatism is no longer enough,” Claremont-affiliated far-right thinker Glen Ellmers outlined a vision of excluding over half the population: Literally every single Democratic voter, as they had forfeited the right to be regarded “American.”
And yet, judged by their answers to these questions, 29% of Republicans qualified as QAnon believers, up from 23% two years earlier. And while support was lower among Democrats, we encounter the same trend, as the number of Democratic QAnon believers had doubled since March 2021, from 7% to 14%.
December 2, 2024 at 7:23 PM
And yet, judged by their answers to these questions, 29% of Republicans qualified as QAnon believers, up from 23% two years earlier. And while support was lower among Democrats, we encounter the same trend, as the number of Democratic QAnon believers had doubled since March 2021, from 7% to 14%.
The survey sought to measure support for the QAnon conspiracy by breaking it down into the following three questions, which seems adequate to me. The questions do not sanitize this inherently violent conspiracy theory – they capture how out there, how deranged and extreme this stuff is:
December 2, 2024 at 7:22 PM
The survey sought to measure support for the QAnon conspiracy by breaking it down into the following three questions, which seems adequate to me. The questions do not sanitize this inherently violent conspiracy theory – they capture how out there, how deranged and extreme this stuff is:
I remember this shocker from digging into the 2023 American Values Survey: “Since March 2021, the share of QAnon believers has increased significantly, from 14% to 23% today. The percentage of Americans who completely reject QAnon beliefs has significantly decreased from 40% to 29% in 2023.”
December 2, 2024 at 7:21 PM
I remember this shocker from digging into the 2023 American Values Survey: “Since March 2021, the share of QAnon believers has increased significantly, from 14% to 23% today. The percentage of Americans who completely reject QAnon beliefs has significantly decreased from 40% to 29% in 2023.”
This pervasive misunderstanding is why mainstream media outlets have found Musk’s politics “complicated” and confounding - and why, for instance, I have been asked several times in interviews since the election why the “non-political” or “liberal” Musk would support Trump.
November 29, 2024 at 7:38 PM
This pervasive misunderstanding is why mainstream media outlets have found Musk’s politics “complicated” and confounding - and why, for instance, I have been asked several times in interviews since the election why the “non-political” or “liberal” Musk would support Trump.
So. Very. Much. This.
One concrete example: The survey data we have strongly suggests that support for anti-trans legislation is less driven by consistent and stable ideological leanings and much more a function of how the issue is framed. Here are the results of the 2023 American Values Survey:
One concrete example: The survey data we have strongly suggests that support for anti-trans legislation is less driven by consistent and stable ideological leanings and much more a function of how the issue is framed. Here are the results of the 2023 American Values Survey:
November 27, 2024 at 1:06 PM
So. Very. Much. This.
One concrete example: The survey data we have strongly suggests that support for anti-trans legislation is less driven by consistent and stable ideological leanings and much more a function of how the issue is framed. Here are the results of the 2023 American Values Survey:
One concrete example: The survey data we have strongly suggests that support for anti-trans legislation is less driven by consistent and stable ideological leanings and much more a function of how the issue is framed. Here are the results of the 2023 American Values Survey:
The most pointless form of election discourse: Just baseless assertions about what cost Democrats the 2016 and 2024 elections - there is no empirical basis to claim the “progressive Left” is why Hillary lost, or that campaigning with Cheney had an impact either way - in service of settling scores.
November 26, 2024 at 2:05 PM
The most pointless form of election discourse: Just baseless assertions about what cost Democrats the 2016 and 2024 elections - there is no empirical basis to claim the “progressive Left” is why Hillary lost, or that campaigning with Cheney had an impact either way - in service of settling scores.
And finally, the bizarre, but fully unsurprising crescendo: In order to save democracy, we must let the criminal demagogue abolish it.
Gaslighting nonsense, packaged as sage advice.
Gaslighting nonsense, packaged as sage advice.
November 19, 2024 at 3:50 PM
And finally, the bizarre, but fully unsurprising crescendo: In order to save democracy, we must let the criminal demagogue abolish it.
Gaslighting nonsense, packaged as sage advice.
Gaslighting nonsense, packaged as sage advice.
Same here: Just completely adopting the Trumpist argument that it’s all just a political witch hunt, that a prosecution in a “liberal” place is fundamentally illegitimate.
Pure MAGA propaganda. Exactly the attack line Trump has pursued.
Pure MAGA propaganda. Exactly the attack line Trump has pursued.
November 19, 2024 at 3:45 PM
Same here: Just completely adopting the Trumpist argument that it’s all just a political witch hunt, that a prosecution in a “liberal” place is fundamentally illegitimate.
Pure MAGA propaganda. Exactly the attack line Trump has pursued.
Pure MAGA propaganda. Exactly the attack line Trump has pursued.
Look at this utter horse shit. This isn’t a legal argument at all. It literally just says: If someone is politically powerful, the legal system should leave them alone - and also, Trump is the Tribune of the people who must not be hampered by puny laws.
Indistinguishable from MAGA propaganda.
Indistinguishable from MAGA propaganda.
November 19, 2024 at 3:43 PM
Look at this utter horse shit. This isn’t a legal argument at all. It literally just says: If someone is politically powerful, the legal system should leave them alone - and also, Trump is the Tribune of the people who must not be hampered by puny laws.
Indistinguishable from MAGA propaganda.
Indistinguishable from MAGA propaganda.
Here is just one concrete example: The survey data we have strongly suggests that support for anti-trans legislation is less driven by consistent and stable ideological leanings and much more a function of how the issue is being presented. Here are the results of the 2023 American Values Survey:
November 18, 2024 at 2:54 PM
Here is just one concrete example: The survey data we have strongly suggests that support for anti-trans legislation is less driven by consistent and stable ideological leanings and much more a function of how the issue is being presented. Here are the results of the 2023 American Values Survey: