Notices by Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history@mastodon.social)

“He who saves his Country does not violate any law,” Donald Trump said yesterday.

Two possible reactions:

1) Continue on the trajectory that got us here in the first place by discarding this as “just Trump being Trump”

2) Grapple in earnest with the fact that Trump asserts dictatorial power as the providential leader tasked with saving the nation.

This is acutely dangerous.

Last night, the Senate confirmed Russell Vought.

I wrote a long profile of him: He’s one of the architects of Project 2025, an avowed Christian nationalist, and a radical ideologue of the “post-constitutional” Right.

Some thoughts on a man who is at war with pluralistic democracy:

🧵

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/meet-the-ideologue-of-the-post-constitutional

And there it is: Russell Vought is confirmed.
 
I wrote a long profile of him, his worldview, his political project: He’s one of the architects of Project 2025, an avowed Christian nationalist, and a radical ideologue of the “post-constitutional” Right.
 
He is at war with pluralistic democracy.
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/meet-the-ideologue-of-the-post-constitutional

We are not witnessing a presidential transition enacting policy changes. The Trumpists are seeking to remake the political order itself by redefining the rules of how power is being wielded, of who gets to wield power and who gets to control it. They want regime change.

MAGA Feeding Frenzy Has Caused a Constitutional Crisis
 
The assault is coming from different angles: Project 2025. The feudal tech barons. The America First nativists. It’s not a single master plan – it’s comprehensive chaos.

Some thoughts from my new piece:

🧵

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/maga-feeding-frenzy-has-caused-a

Elon Musk doing the Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration rally. Did it twice, actually.

Don’t waste time arguing with the people telling us that’s not what happened. They’re not mistaken, they are engaged in propaganda.

Faced with authoritarianism in power, it is crucial we trust our own eyes.
https://www.threads.net/@aaron.rupar/post/DFD2ArHA080

Navigating the Nonsense and Propaganda of Clownish Authoritarianism
 
Ignoring what Trump says won’t work. Constant outrage is not a viable strategy either. We must find a more productive way to engage Trump’s dangerous outlandishness.
 
New piece:
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/navigating-the-nonsense-and-propaganda

Wrote this on January 6, 2024:

“If the insurrectionist-in-chief returns to power without ever facing any real consequences and while explicitly declaring his intent to establish a vindictive autocracy, then January 6 will have been successful.”
 
One year later, here we are.
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/january-6-in-history

In this scenario, January 6 would have helped spark a mobilization of civil society in the defense of constitutional government and marked an important moment in an intensified push towards finally realizing the promise of egalitarian, multiracial, pluralistic democracy.

In this scenario, the constitution would have actually been applied to Donald Trump: No longer would his impunity have been justified by exceptionalizing him – for fear of backlash, or because of a self-defeating assumption that every form of resistance could only ever benefit Trump.

There was, right after the Insurrection, one possible future scenario in which the attack on the Capitol would have played a crucial role in galvanizing the pro-democracy forces, in getting more people to grapple honestly with the anti-democratic radicalization of the Republican Party.

That is not how the story has played out over the past four years. Instead, those who are nominally tasked with defending democracy and the rule of law have proved unable and/or unwilling to hold the line, accommodating extremism instead. A pervasive, system-wide failure.

I got to talk to The Bulwark about Russell Vought, a key ideologue of the “post-constitutional” Right.

His trajectory is emblematic of a broader radicalization on the Right: They believe “conservatism” is no longer enough - and desire “counter-revolution” instead.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/michael-weiss-and-thomas-zimmer-competent-and-radical/id1447684472?i=1000679116677

Vought’s ideology of “radical constitutionalism” captures the defining sensibility on the Trumpist Right: The Left has command of America, all that is noble has been destroyed, nothing short of a radical “counter-revolution” can now save the nation. I wrote about it last week:

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/meet-the-ideologue-of-the-post-constitutional

Vought is one of the architects behind Project 2025. He is a very competent, utterly committed ideologue. He is not interested in “normal” democratic politics, but in purging government and using state power to impose the “natural order” on society. He'll be a key figure in the Trumpist regime.

Elite Acquiescence and Treacherous “Normalcy” All Around Us
 
What are the reasons behind the pervasive tendency among ostensibly anti-MAGA elites to accommodate authoritarian power and preemptively signal compliance with Trumpism?
 
Some thoughts from my new piece:

🧵1/
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/elite-acquiescence-and-treacherous

I wrote about the drumbeat of accommodation and acquiescence from ostensibly anti-MAGA elites that normalizes and legitimizes the incoming Trump regime.

We need better.

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/elite-acquiescence-and-treacherous

A much more extreme Trump regime that is vastly better prepared and will be operating under conditions that are significantly more favorable to its political cause.
 
Doomerism is poisonous. But let’s not be (willfully) naïve about what is likely to come.

New piece:

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/why-the-second-trump-regime-will

It’s darkly hilarious that the very same circles who, four years ago, derided the idea that Trump might not accept the result of the 2020 election as pure “alarmism” are now telling us that it’s “hysterical” to warn of authoritarianism - and they still get to dominate the op-ed pages.

We are here because of a system-wide failure to hold Trump accountable and mount an effective defense against the onslaught of authoritarian minority rule. And so, we are left with an election as the desperate last stand of a democracy under siege. 7/