Notices by Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history@mastodon.social), page 3

The political system that was stable for most of U.S. history was a white man’s democracy, or racial caste democracy. There is absolutely nothing old or consolidated about *multiracial, pluralistic democracy* in America. It only started less than 60 years ago. 7/

People need to accept that things can change – in either direction: It really could get much, much worse.

But it could also get better. There is nothing inevitable about either doom or progress. We are neither fated nor guaranteed to experience the status quo for all eternity.

That is why Reconstruction is such a key historical reference. America’s first attempt at biracial democracy was quickly drowned in ostensibly “race-neutral” laws and escalating white reactionary violence. It took a century to get the country back to that level of democracy.

We must not assume directionality in history at all. There is no arc, and there definitely is no ironclad law of the universe that says “We” can’t slide back – or slide forward into a new kind of authoritarianism.

And because the anti-egalitarian, anti-pluralistic ideas didn’t just vanish into thin air with the passage of civil rights legislation of 1964/65, the conflict over whether or not democracy should be allowed to endure and prosper has been the central fault line in U.S. politics ever since.

I wrote about the disastrous mix of a deep-seated mythology of American exceptionalism, progress gospel, lack of political understanding, and (willful) historical ignorance that has created a situation in which a lot of people simple refuse to take the Trumpist threat seriously.

It Could Definitely Happen Here
 
Many Americans struggle to accept that democracy is young, fragile, and could actually collapse – a lack of imagination that dangerously blunts the response to the Trumpist Right.
 
New piece:
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/it-could-definitely-happen-here

But the political system that was stable for most of U.S. history was a white man’s democracy, or racial caste democracy. There is absolutely nothing old or consolidated about *multiracial, pluralistic democracy* in America. It only started less than 60 years ago.

There is a pervasive idea that in a country like the United States, with a supposedly centuries-long tradition of stable, consolidated democracy, authoritarianism simply has not realistic chance to succeed, that “We” have never experienced authoritarianism.

Crucial piece by Mike Podhorzer on how polls are obscuring the extremist nature of Trump’s plans.

I’ll add a related thought: Since the mainstream discourse stipulates that extremism must be “fringe” in America, anything that has broad support is reflexively sanitized as *not* extremism.

https://www.weekendreading.net/p/poll-washing-our-way-to-fascism

Trump is the fascistic leader of a rightwing coalition that unites all shades of reaction and is entirely dominated by extremism. Should Trump emerge victorious from the election, America will not become a fascist dictatorship overnight.

But the Trumpist Right will try.
https://mastodon.social/@tzimmer_history/113333986289814438

Weekend reading: I wrote about Donald Trump’s closing pitch to the American people: Rage, intimidation, and vengeful violence.
 
He is threatening – or promising, if you ask his supporters – fascism. No more plausible deniability for anyone who refuses to see the threat.

This week’s piece:
 
🧵1/
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/donald-trump-american-fascist

Trump has a fascistic way of describing the problem – and offers a fascistic solution. The nation is in decline, besieged by invading “Others” and the “enemy within”; only a providential leader, fueled by a radicalizing mass base, can restore glory by violently purging these enemies. 4/

Trump is not “the new Hitler” and he is not “just like Mussolini.” We are not facing an exact replica of the Ur-fascism that rose to power in Europe’s interwar period. But Trumpism is a specifically American, specifically twenty-first century version of fascism. 3/

Mere weeks before the election, I revisit the Fascism Debate and discuss where we stand after Trump has, even by his own standards, gone on a rampage recently. If anyone thought more evidence was needed before we could call it fascist, the Trumpists have certainly provided it. 2/

In this sense, Trumpism stands in continuity with some very old ideas and movements – and in continuity with the often violent counter-mobilization that has accompanied every real or even just perceived progress towards egalitarian democracy in U.S. history. 8/

Trumpism is in line with long-standing anti-democratic tendencies and impulses that have always defined modern conservatism as a political project. And fascism is not something foreign to American society: There is a domestic tradition of violent extremism and, yes, fascism. 7/

The argument is not that every institution of establishment conservatism has been replaced by fascist structures. The Right is best approached as a coalition of forces, ideas, people who reject egalitarian democracy. And as of right now, the radicals are firmly in charge of that alliance. 6/

Trumpism regards any opposition to this project of national purification and re-birth as fundamentally illegitimate. It is dogma among Trump’s supporters that he as their leader embodies the will of the true people, the Volk – Trump is the tribune of “real America.” 5/

Donald Trump, American Fascist
 
Trumpism is what a specifically American, twenty-first century version of fascism looks like. And in November, fascism is on the ballot.

More here - please consider subscribing:
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/donald-trump-american-fascist