Notices by Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history@mastodon.social), page 5

What is happening in Springfield, Ohio is not merely a distraction from the Right’s plutocratic agenda, it’s not just a campaign tactic. This is the manifestation of the Right’s defining political project. And a preview of what is to come if they get back to power. 14/

The central promise of Trump’s election campaign is to conduct an unprecedented mass deportation of tens of millions. Their plans are not confined to undocumented people, they don’t care about legal status. They aim at radically redrawing the boundaries of the body politic. 13/

Crucially, the Right’s desire to purge is not confined to the national story. They also dream of cleansing the nation from anyone they believe does not belong. For the homeland to be safe for “real Americans,” the enemy within must be purged too. 12/

I wrote about the Right’s defining political project: A blood-and-soil nationalism that is fundamentally incompatible with multiracial, pluralistic democracy. It has come to dominate the Republican Party, and the elevation of J.D. Vance captures this perfectly.

Blood and Soil
 
The Right is committed to preserving America as a white Christian homeland. They are determined to purge the nation and radically redraw the boundaries of the body politic.

Inciting a pogrom in Springfield, Ohio is part of that project.
 
New piece:
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/blood-and-soil

Trump is trying to incite a pogrom.

Mere weeks before the election, he has about a 50:50 chance to get back to the White House.

As president, he could then use the racist frenzy he and Vance caused as justification for mobilizing the federal government to “cleanse” the nation.

A stark contrast in patriotism at the conventions:

Democrats: We love America - by which we mean the demographically, socially, and culturally pluralistic country as it actually exists.

Republicans: We love America - by which we mean we hate the pluralistic America that actually exists and vow to extinguish it.

Weekend reading

I wrote about why the “These guys are weird” messaging is significant: It rejects the claim of “real American” white Christian conservative “normalcy,” and with it the Right’s justification for minority rule.

This week’s piece:

🧵1/

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-is-weird-and-what-is-normal

ICYMI - I wrote about the meaning of Kamala Harris in this particular moment in American history.

Her story as VP reflects the post-George Floyd racial reckoning that never came as well as the racial and social retrenchment since 2020:

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/kamala-harris-may-force-a-reckoning

Kamala Harris May Force a Reckoning

Harris emerged as VP in the summer of 2020 when it seemed the country might finally deal with its defining demons. But as the reactionary counter-mobilization triumphed, she was sidelined. Until now.

Some thoughts from my new piece:

🧵1/

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/kamala-harris-may-force-a-reckoning

This time, expect a lot of talk about Harris as the “DEI candidate” who doesn’t deserve to be the nominee and got to this position at the expense of people far more qualified. At first sight, that might seem less aggressive than the birtherism. But in many ways, it is more insidious. 5/

I actually don’t think openly and aggressively flinging racist and sexist dreck at Kamala Harris is a good electoral strategy for the Right. They will do it anyway. A Black Woman rising is too much of a provocation for a movement fueled and defined by white male grievance. 4/

The Right will go all in on racist and sexist attacks against the Black woman that now stands between them and a return to power. Already in 2020, the Right tried a little birtherism against Harris - unsurprising from a movement that wants to abolish birthright citizenship. 3/

I wrote about the meaning of Kamala Harris in this particular moment in American history: Her story as VP reflects the post-George Floyd racial reckoning that never came as well as the racial and social retrenchment since 2020. 2/

This broader shift is behind a lot of the skepticism towards Harris, to use a charitable term, that extends far beyond the Right: It is pervasive among the nation’s self-regarding moderates, the establishment media, and the elite punditry from center-right to center-left. 8/

While polite society widely rejected birtherism as a repulsive form of racism, the anti-DEI crusade has been fully normalized in mainstream political discourse, as the Right has latched on to the pervasive sense among the elites that “woke” radicalism is running amok. 7/

The anti-DEI crusade is a campaign to taint and disavow any person of color, especially women of color, in a position of power and influence. The underlying political project is one of purging and re-segregating elite spaces in order to restore white male domination. 6/

And as the country’s elites went from briefly joining and/or getting caught up in the plea for a truly egalitarian, multiracial, pluralistic America to regrouping around the fear of the excesses of “woke” radicalism, the perspective on Kamala Harris changed. 12/

But once Trump was no longer president, a longing on the center-right to center-left for “unity” and a return to pre-Trump “normalcy” overwhelmed and drowned out calls for progressive change that the forces of status quo now derided as “woke” radicalism. 11/

Harris seemed like the perfect VP candidate in the summer of 2020: A woman of color, highly qualified and accomplished, who rose to elite status through her abilities and determination, in a party that wanted to tell the world: Yes, we are indeed the champions of multiracial pluralism. 10/