Seth CotlarGifted article. I’m curious what folks think of this reporting about a 33 year old white guy union electrician from rural Georgia whose reading of Emerson leads him to vote Democratic. As someone who grew up in a similar sort of place that now votes 70/30 Trumpy Red, the person described in this article is a recognizable type—someone whose largely self-guided reading of the American canon and US History leads them toward anti-authoritarianism and anti-racism. https://wapo.st/3hSmViC
It's useful to read that article about that organic, anti-authoritarian intellectual from Georgia alongside this thread by Thomas Zimmer who I'm happy to see has made the jump to Mastodon! https://mastodon.social/@tzimmer_history/109557832518828487
Thomas points out a key dimension of post-WWII US conservatism--it was an uneasy fusion between social conservatives and libertarians, bonded together by a shared hatred of Communism. Trumpism has muted that libertarian strain and elevated the social conservative strain that's more comfortable using state power to advance its authoritarian goals. To my mind, that's what makes it veer more into fascism (or just illiberal) territory.
But here's the thing...a lot of the self-described "conservative" people I grew up amongst in rural Central PA in the 1980s still harbor that old libertarian streak that is not so hard to activate in opposition to a) the cult-like dimensions of Trumpism and b) culture war fear mongering. It's not that hard for such a "conservative" to find the trans panic and anti-CRT book banning offensive--just let people be who they want to be and read what they want to read for crying out loud!
I expected Fetterman to win because he activated precisely that sort of populist tradition that spoke to progressives but also some self-described "conservatives" in PA. Since when do independent-minded Americans vote for snake oil salesmen like Oz or narcissistic and corrupt billionaires like Trump, or smooth talking former Goldman Sachs bankers like Steve Bannon who get into politics in order to do favors for their billionaire pals?
What Fetterman did effectively was that he used humor and ridicule to make the case for why any self-respecting Pennsylvanian who isn't a billionaire shill should vote for him and not some dude from Jersey whose only qualifications for being a public servant was being a rich celebrity. Getting duped by rich propagandists trying to feather their own nests is something all people hate, including self-described "conservatives." But the hard part is getting them to see that this is wha't happening.
We need to see more righteous populist anger from librarians like this woman, calling out the far right authoritarians rising in our midst for being such a disgrace to the principles upon which our national identity rests. https://www.tiktok.com/@inclusiveottawacounty/video/7179067901180300590?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en
TransitBiker@sethcotlar my girlfriend is a librarian, and I can confirm that these things are happening. Hate speech must be condemned only.
fionataylor@sethcotlar People need to back the librarians, who are the ones being threatened and harassed instead of leaving them to deal with it on their own, though. Librarians seem to be speaking out. Not enough other people are. (In my neighborhood, they are, thankfully.)
E. Hatt-Swank@sethcotlar Great thread. I always found it so frustrating that the type of conservative you're talking about would fall for Trump's shameless con-man persona -- he didn't even really try to hide it! What normal beer-drinking, blue-collar Steelers fan would vote for someone with a golden toilet & that ridiculous hair, for pete's sake? Hopefully their infatuation has started to fade enough that we can finally be rid of him.
@sethcotlar ... Also, i was reading a piece today about the disgusting reactions on the right to Zelensky's visit to Congress, and i wonder if that might also start to wake people up. It's just not hard for normal people to see that Putin is an evil prick who invaded a neighboring country; and to see right-wing media attacking Zelensky instead of Putin has gotta seem "off" to lots of conservatives like the guy in the WaPo article.
@ehattswank One would think that the GOP's increasing mindmeld with the weirdest sort of terminally online right wing nutters would eventually have electoral consequences for them. Hopefully this is the future that defeats like Mastriano's and Tudor Dixon's point to.