@tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 3w ago

A Far-Right International Is Assaulting Democracy MAGA and the AfD are united in a struggle against democratic pluralism that transcends national borders. It is an alliance of extremists defined by aggrieved revanchism. Some thoughts from my new piece: 🧵 https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/3a16237c-484a-4d5e-8f15-2ea94fd8f4d2

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 1mo ago

Sunday reading - on a day that could mark a caesura in German post-war history: Warnings and Lessons from the Struggle Against Trumpism In the fight against the far-right AfD, Germany must avoid the mistakes that have sabotaged the democratic response to rightwing extremism in the United States. 🧵 https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/01654b70-1319-4395-8191-0c6da2ae195b

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 3w ago

The German version of my latest essay is out: A Far-Right International Is Assaulting Democracy MAGA and the AfD are united in a struggle against democratic pluralism that transcends national borders. It is an alliance of extremists defined by aggrieved revanchism. https://steady.page/de/demokratie-americana/posts/fbba55cf-328e-48eb-bcd1-35aba27ae280

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 2mo ago

The German version of my latest essay is out - a glass-half-full interpretation of our moment: The Right is freaking out because they know we could be on the brink of proving that egalitarian, pluralistic democracy is possible. We are facing a world-historic chance: https://steady.page/de/demokratie-americana/posts/3ca0c464-1c7a-4af5-b7eb-e393101bc6d4

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Multiracial Democracy is Young and Fragile

A brief history of the struggle to reconstitute a nation built on racial hierarchy around the principle of equality – Part I: Lessons from the rise and fall of Reconstruction.

This piece is free to read, no paywall - and some thoughts:

🧵

https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/b0eafc14-f68d-4499-8108-b440bad1af7f

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 3mo ago

Understanding Our Disruptive Moment in History – and What It Requires The old order is dead. The Right has a revolutionary theory of the moment that promises renewal. Unless we can counter it with a transformative vision, we will lose. Some thoughts from my new piece: 🧵 https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/59b197fa-1a03-44e5-b155-2c221e2a3c0e

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 2mo ago

A World-Historic Chance The Right is freaking out because we could be on the brink of proving that egalitarian, pluralistic democracy is possible. My new piece - a glass-half-full interpretation of our moment: https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/812a42b1-dc13-4e26-b659-736ce7c146b9

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

It’s a piece about Lindsay Graham - but more importantly: About the relationship between opportunism and ideology; about the logic of escalation that is fueled by a sense of having burned all bridges; and, ultimately, about the permission structure that has governed rightwing politics for decades.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 2mo ago

My new piece - a glass-half-full interpretation of our moment: The Right is freaking out because they know we could be on the brink of proving that egalitarian, pluralistic democracy is possible. We are confronted with a world-historic chance: 🧵 https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/812a42b1-dc13-4e26-b659-736ce7c146b9

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

The enemies of multiracial democracy understand this precisely. It’s why they’ve been focused on rolling back the rights revolution of the 1960s - and on nullifying the Reconstruction Amendments on which it was built. They fear multiracial democracy because they know it works.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 2mo ago

This week’s piece: The glass is half-full. Or at least this is my attempt to argue it might be. We are confronted with a world-historic chance. I am taking down the paywall for this one, as I believe it remains relevant as a potential antidote to cynicism and declinism. https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/812a42b1-dc13-4e26-b659-736ce7c146b9

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

A few weeks ago, Christopher Rufo, of all people, publicly vented his frustration with the increasingly deranged state of today’s Right, bemoaning that its “collective brain is getting melted in a vat of slop, conspiracy, and algorithm-chasing.” He’s right! But also: He bears responsibility.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

Ich hoffe sehr, Demokratie Americana findet ein Publikum, dass groß genug ist, die deutsche Version meines Newsletters zu tragen. Bitte helft mir dabei, die Nachricht unter die Leute zu bringen. Dafür bin ich euch aufrichtig dankbar! https://steady.page/de/demokratie-americana/posts

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

RE: @blnensemble@mastodon.art

What’s next, America?

Really excited about this: I’ll be discussing the political situation in the United States, how we got here, and where America might be going, with Robert Habeck and Adam Tooze at the Berliner Ensemble.

If you are in or around Berlin, come join us!

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

I am grateful to Die Zeit for regularly giving me the space for such deep dives. I’m hoping to make an extended English version available soon via Democracy Americana - which is also my main source of income as an independent writer. If you’re interested in such long-form explorations, please subscribe: https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/newsletter/sign_up

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

And so, we are at this point again where today’s intellectual vanguard of the Conservative Movement finds itself unable to steer the extremist forces whose rise to power they have fueled by laundering and legitimizing them, by refusing to draw a line against the extremist fringe.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 3mo ago

Ich habe über diesen Moment welthistorischer Umwälzungen geschrieben - und was er von uns erfordert. Die alte Welt geht unter. Die Rechte hat eine revolutionäre Theorie, die Erneuerung verspricht. Um ihr zu begegnen, brauchen wir eine Vision grundlegender Veränderung. Neuer Essay, auf Deutsch: 🧵 https://steady.page/de/demokratie-americana/posts/61a827ea-a4d9-48fd-9851-5c5cfe16f2b6

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

A reminder: Democracy Americana is now also available in German. Same content, same analysis – only in German. The German version of this piece will be out shortly. Please help me spread the word: https://steady.page/de/demokratie-americana/posts

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

We have seen this dynamic play out so many times since the formation of Modern Conservatism in the 1950s: Every new generation of rightwing intellectuals wants to believe they can harness and control the extremist, conspiratorial energies for their own purposes. It never works.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

RE: @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

Because Louisiana v Callais is, in many ways, the culmination of a “backlash” against multiracial democracy that has been raging for decades, it signifies the end of a distinct phase in U.S. history.

The Second Reconstruction is over; we are into the second “Redemption” now.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

A reminder: Democracy Americana is now also available in German. Same content, same analysis – only in German The German version of this piece will be out shortly. Please help me spread the word: https://steady.page/de/demokratie-americana/posts

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

I wrote about Lindsay Graham – and about so many more like him. The reason why it is worth dwelling on the last decade of Graham’s life is that it captured the core dynamics that have defined the behavior of the Republican establishment more broadly.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Those self-proclaimed intellectual leaders who have been fueling this politics of friend-vs-foe / good-vs-evil, this hysterical siege mentality on the Right, do not deserve our sympathy when they are getting swept away by the very forces they have been summoning.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

Transformative Veränderung ist das Gebot der Stunde. Wir dürfen das nicht mit idealistischen Blütenträumen oder naivem Utopismus verwechseln. Angesichts der Umbrüche, die sich gerade vollziehen, ist ein mutiger Sprung nach vorne die einzig realistische Option, die uns noch bleibt.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 3mo ago

Was dieser Moment welthistorischer Umwälzungen von uns erfordert Die alte Welt geht unter. Die Rechte verfügt über eine revolutionäre Theorie, die Erneuerung verspricht. Um ihr zu begegnen, brauchen wir eine Vision grundlegender Veränderung. Neuer Essay für die deutsche Version von Democracy Americana: https://steady.page/de/demokratie-americana/posts/61a827ea-a4d9-48fd-9851-5c5cfe16f2b6

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

The first part of this piece is free for everyone. If you want to read more than the preview or gain access to the audio/podcast version of the essay, please consider becoming a paid member of Democracy Americana, which is solely funded by readers: https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/about#js-publication_plans

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

But the self-anointed intellectual vanguard was never in charge. Because the movement they are “leading” is not fueled by ideas. It is animated by grievance towards a changing society, by a desire to restore dominance in a world they believe owes them admiration and deference.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Rufo is one of the stars of the new-right intellectual scene. His rise was fueled by conspiracy theories about leftist radicals supposedly dominating all the institutions of American life. No one has been more successful at laundering rightwing extremism and making it palatable for polite society.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

And this story from Buckley to Rufo should also be an urgent warning to the political mainstream: These conservative intellectuals have never kept their promise of taming/purging the extremists. We should treat them as what they have been: Dangerous enablers of extremism.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Rufo wants all the MAGA factions to focus their conspiratorial rage on the targets he has chosen and deemed safe - rather than targets that are controversial within the movement and could therefore contribute to MAGA’s disintegration.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Eine noch ausführlichere Version dieses Arguments werde ich demnächst – auf Englisch – für meinen Newsletter Democracy Americana schreiben. Wer sich für solche Langform-Essays interessiert, kann den Newsletter hier abonnieren: https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/newsletter/sign_up

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Ihr Versprechen, die radikalen Kräfte einzuhegen, haben die Vordenker der konservativen Bewegung nie halten können oder wollen, sondern sich mit ihrer Weigerung, nach rechts klare Grenzen zu ziehen, zu Wegbereitern des Extremismus gemacht. So sollten wir sie auch behandeln.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Now Rufo is concerned about the conspiratorial fever swamp getting out of (his) control. He believes he, as the intellectual vanguard of Trumpism, should be in charge of the radical “counter-revolution” and feels his status threatened by the more unruly extremist forces bubbling up.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Rufo is also clever enough to understand that Trumpism as a political project is failing because it is drowning in a swamp of conspiratorial rage, with a leader too delusional to change course, a hardcore base addicted to a spectacle of violence that is alienating the larger public.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

In that sense, there is a fairly direct path from William F. Buckley, the godfather of Modern Conservatism, to Rufo. Not the mythological Buckley who purged the extremists – but the real historical figure who deemed the demagogues useful and the extremist energies indispensable.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

And such a movement is most certainly not going to be contained or restrained by people like Rufo who have been preaching that evil leftist, “globalist” forces are out to destroy the nation and only a comprehensive, ruthless “counter-revolution” may suffice to save America.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Wer dabei hilft, die politische Auseinandersetzung in diese Bahnen zu überführen und die hysterische Belagerungsmentalität der Rechten zu schüren, hat ganz sicher nicht unsere Sympathie verdient, wenn er selbst von den radikalen Gewalten zerschmettert wird.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

I open and end the piece with a quote from James Baldwin: “American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.” This should be the paradigm that guides our historical analysis and political imagination. https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/3ed79187-f4a3-4d02-98ed-cd49f1762756

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

Since the moment the country was founded, the ideas in the Declaration – what role, exactly, they should play in shaping the political and social reality of this young nation, who they should apply to and who would remain excluded have been endlessly, relentlessly contested.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

Here are eight propositions about this inflection point in history. About how the political, economic, technological, and environmental crises intersect and why they are escalating now – and about the political implications of recognizing the profound disruption we are witnessing.

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Thomas Zimmer @tzimmer_history@mastodon.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

We find ourselves in a situation that is immensely dangerous. But the radicalization of the Right has not been fueled by a sense of strength. It is driven by a pervasive sense of weakness. Because reality has indeed been moving away from those who refuse to accept pluralism.

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