Notices by Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history@mastodon.social), page 7

What we are up against is an escalating counter-mobilization: Reactionaries are actively mobilizing, they are deliberately pursuing a political project. They have agency – and therefore should be held accountable for the policies they support. 13/ https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/democracy-faces-a-reactionary-counter

That’s what the term “backlash” suggests, and why we need to be skeptical about a “backlash” narrative that tends to put the agency solely with traditionally marginalized groups - who are therefore ultimately at fault for causing an inevitable reaction. 12/

America can accept this Supreme Court as legitimate and its rulings as the final word - or it can have true democracy and a functioning state. But not both.
 
Wrote this a year ago: The Rogue Court vs Modern Democracy

1/

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-rogue-court-vs-modern-democracy

We need to see the Supreme Court’s disastrous rulings in the context of the Right’s larger project to uphold traditional hierarchies of race, wealth/class, gender, and religion - all part of the attempt to halt the drive towards egalitarian, multiracial, pluralistic democracy. 2/

Don’t believe “alarmist” lefties like me? Fair enough! But you should believe these rightwing leaders when they tell us that they aggressively reject the idea of a pluralistic democratic society and will use government as an authoritarian tool against it. /end

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-project-2025-would-do-to-america

That’s what I mean when I say I’m almost, in this particular sense, grateful for “Project 2025”: The radical reactionaries who are behind these plans and are in charge on the Right could not possibly be clearer about what they want to impose on the country, against majority will. 2/

The one constant in my conversations about “Project 2025” is that almost everyone is taken aback by what’s in these plans, even people who really pay attention to politics - if not by how radical it is, then by how far-reaching, detailed, and aggressively explicit it is. 1/

I got to talk to Chris Hayes about “Project 2025” on his “Why Is This Happening?” podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-is-this-happening-with-chris-hayes/id1382983397?i=1000660146418
 
If you want to know more, I wrote a three-part series on the Right’s radical plans to use government as an authoritarian tool to impose a reactionary vision on America. Some thoughts:
 
🧵1/

https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-makes-project-2025-so-dangerous

On one level, this is a radical program to dismantle the modern state. The Right wants to rob government of any tool that might be used to install boundaries for moneyed interests and help create a fairer, more democratic pluralistic society. 5/

Part II offers a detailed dissection of the policy agenda “Project 2025” has produced and the plans to install an army of ideological loyalists.
 
These people understand they weren’t ready during Trump’s first presidency. In 2025, they will be. 4/
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-project-2025-would-do-to-america

In his foreword to the "Project 2025" report, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts offers his “Promise to America”: It perfectly captures the escalating siege mentality, self-victimization, and grievance-driven lust for revenge that are fueling the Right's plans. 3/

Part I focuses on the worldview of the people behind “Project 2025.”
 
They see themselves as noble defenders of “real America” against a totalitarian “woke,” “globalist” assault. “Project 2025” is their declaration of war on multiracial pluralism: 2/
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/project-2025-promises-revenge-oppression

This striking renunciation of the supposed pillars of modern conservative thought manifests most clearly in the open rejection of “small government” principles: Reactionaries don’t fear the authoritarian state, they want to mobilize it against their enemies. 9/

“Project 2025” is indicative of a broader realignment on the Right towards an aggressive embrace of state authoritarianism - an emerging “counter-revolutionary” consensus that entails a remarkably open renunciation of what conservatism was supposedly all about. 8/

Part III compares “Project 2025” to what other rightwing factions, including Trump himself, are planning, examines how it fits in the history of modern conservatism, and explores the conditions that now make it much more likely for these plans to succeed. 7/
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-makes-project-2025-so-dangerous

But beyond just dismantling the state, “Project 2025” simultaneously seeks to mobilize and weaponize government in a far-reaching effort to punish and purge “woke” enemies and impose a reactionary white Christian patriarchal order on American society. 6/

“Project 2025” would transform America into a much nastier, much more dangerous, much more hostile place for anyone who dares to deviate from the white Christian patriarchal order. Those are the stakes.
 
Please consider subscribing:
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/what-makes-project-2025-so-dangerous

A second Trump presidency could count on a fully Trumpified GOP, a reactionary super-majority on the Supreme Court, and the omnipresent threat of escalating political violence.
 
Americans may want to resist. But it would be far harder and far more dangerous this time. 12/

The Right was not ready in 2017. They didn’t have any plans or strategies, Trump world didn’t have a clue how government worked, the extremists didn’t have the personnel to bend the state to their will and harness its powers. This will not hinder them the next time. 11/

With “Project 2025,” rightwing leaders are making it maximally clear they do not accept an egalitarian, pluralistic vision of a society in which the individual’s status is no longer determined by race, gender, religion, and wealth and everyone is to be recognized as equal. 10/