Thomas Zimmer

I generally try hard not to indulge in any kind of doomerism. But this shit… betting on war, betting on death - all fully legal and pushed down our throats by our tech elite overlords… It’s just so fucking infuriating.

The worst people on the planet are determining the trajectory of our species.

This shit is so unbelievably deranged. One can only hope that we, as a species, somehow and despite our worst efforts make it to a point sometime in the future when our descendants can look back at us and be aghast at how aggressively stupid we were to let this all happen.

And/or disingenuous. Who can really tell what the exact mix is with these people. Either way: Utterly disqualifying. Ahmari will keep doing Ahmari, I guess.

How Conservatives Gave Themselves Permission to Go MAGA In 2016, leading conservatives came out “Against Trump” – but soon let their disdain for “the Left” override all else. It's the story of Modern Conservatism in a nutshell

Yet another day that urgently begs the question: How the hell did we get here?

I wrote about one big piece of the puzzle: How Conservatives Gave Themselves Permission to Go MAGA

This week’s piece:

Come for a critique of the hypocrisy and cynical opportunism of conservative elites - stay for a deep dive into the history of Modern Conservatism, the continuities and radicalizations of a reactionary movement, and the permission structure that has governed rightwing politics:

Democracy Americana A newsletter on U.S. politics and history - and the ongoing struggle over how much democracy, and for whom, there should be in America

Ten years ago, leading conservatives came out “Against Trump” – but soon let their disdain for “the Left” override all else.

It is the story of Modern Conservatism in a nutshell.

Please consider subscribing to Democracy Americana to support my work:

As the commitment to ultimate values and the “natural order” was never balanced by an equally strong commitment to limiting principles that could have moderated political action and drawn a clear line, where was the restraint against further escalation and radicalization supposed to come from?

Their allegiance was never to democratic principles, but to upholding (white, Christian) “civilization”. The question has always been: What if society moves away from that order? Do Conservatives accommodate – or seek to impose “civilization” against majority will?

From the start, the Conservative Movement’s intellectual leaders defined the stakes of the conflict as existential because they saw the “natural order” under assault – an order they did not believe was up to democratic deliberation; and they derided their political enemies as violent extremists.

Modern Conservatism was never just, or even predominantly, (small-c) conservative: A conservatism of limits, of conserving and preserving, was part of the mix. But the notion that such a conservatism was failing to preserve the “natural order” was a defining sensibility from the start.

And perhaps they were even necessary as a last-resort effort to fight back against the onslaught of “woke” liberalism? That certainly is the definition of “conservatism” that is lurking right under the surface here – and the sentiment that quickly came to dominate almost every corner of the Right.

Once it became clear that Trump was not secretly a liberal, most of the contributors to “Against Trump” quickly decided that the authoritarianism, the blood-and-soil nationalism, the lawlessness, the corruption were, at the very least, not a dealbreaker.

Most of the contributors to “Against Trump” did not, contrary to what mainstream coverage at the time suggested, take a principled stand against the forces of rightwing extremism, they weren’t concerned with policing the fringes of the Right. They just didn’t trust Trump to be a proper rightwinger.

But there is a story here not *just* about ignoring principles – but about a radicalizing tendency inherent in the defining principles of Modern Conservatism itself, a movement defined from the beginning not as small-c conservatism, but by a reactionary, disdain-fueled devotion to anti-liberalism.

There is quite a bit of careerism and cynical opportunism at play here, combined with a hefty dose of hypocrisy. Whatever noble principles the “Against Trump” contributors may have invoked in early 2016: To most of them, they evidently weren’t all that fundamentally important.

Do you remember “Against Trump”?
 
I revisit the moment it may have seemed conservative elites were standing up to Trump, look at why they so quickly decided to go along with MAGA, and situate their radicalizing trajectory in the broader history of Modern Conservatism since the 1950s.

How Conservatives Gave Themselves Permission to Go MAGA In 2016, leading conservatives came out “Against Trump” – but soon let their disdain for “the Left” override all else. It's the story of Modern Conservatism in a nutshell

Yet another day that urgently begs the question: How the hell did we get here?

I wrote about one big piece of the puzzle: How Conservatives Gave Themselves Permission to Go MAGA

This week’s piece:

Oh yes, of course - I write about that too in the piece: The careerism, the cynical opportunism.

Man this is very correct

Democracy Americana A newsletter on U.S. politics and history - and the ongoing struggle over how much democracy, and for whom, there should be in America

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.

steady.page/en/democracy...

This was a beast to write: I am “celebrating” the tenth anniversary of National Review’s “Against Trump” with a deep dive into the history and political identity of Modern Conservatism - a movement that was always defined by disdain-fueled anti-liberalism.

A thread, outlining the key arguments:

How Conservatives Gave Themselves Permission to Go MAGA In 2016, leading conservatives came out “Against Trump” – but soon let their disdain for “the Left” override all else. It's the story of Modern Conservatism in a nutshell

If I can bother you with something that is not SOTU commentary:

I wrote about how to situate the radicalism that defines today’s Right in the history of Modern Conservatism - and how Trumpism came to dominate rightwing politics and identity so easily:

Come for a critique of the hypocrisy and cynical opportunism of conservative elites - stay for a deep dive into the history of Modern Conservatism, the continuities and radicalizations of a reactionary movement, and the permission structure that has governed rightwing politics:

How Conservatives Gave Themselves Permission to Go MAGA In 2016, leading conservatives came out “Against Trump” – but soon let their disdain for “the Left” override all else. It's the story of Modern Conservatism in a nutshell

From “Against Trump” to anti-anti-Trumpism or full-on MAGA:

The rightwing leaders who quickly made that transition can hardly claim to be acting as (small-c) conservatives. But they do continue, in a profound sense, the tradition of Modern Conservatism.
 
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Modern Conservatism was never just, or even predominantly, (small-c) conservative: A conservatism of limits, of conserving and preserving, was part of the mix. But the notion that such a conservatism was failing to preserve the “natural order” was a defining sensibility from the start:

How Conservatives Gave Themselves Permission to Go MAGA In 2016, leading conservatives came out “Against Trump” – but soon let their disdain for “the Left” override all else. It's the story of Modern Conservatism in a nutshell

How Conservatives Gave Themselves Permission to Go MAGA

Ten years ago, leading conservatives came out “Against Trump” – but soon let their disdain for “the Left” override all else.

It is the story of Modern Conservatism in a nutshell.

Some thoughts from my new piece:

🧵

How Conservatives Gave Themselves Permission to Go MAGA In 2016, leading conservatives came out “Against Trump” – but soon let their disdain for “the Left” override all else. It's the story of Modern Conservatism in a nutshell

This was a beast to write – an attempt to synthesize, on about 5,500 words, my thoughts on how Trumpism came to dominate and define the Right’s politics and identity so quickly and against so little resistance?

steady.page/en/democracy...

I realize now that it was probably a mistake to publish this piece on this SOTU/Epstein-dominated day…

But if you can stomach it: I am “celebrating” the tenth anniversary of National Review’s “Against Trump” with a deep dive into the history and political identity of Modern Conservatism:

This is a really valuable recap. It's so important to recognize that the conservative movement itself is corrupted beyond redemption.