Thomas ZimmerDec 27, 2022

ICYMI over the holidays - New episode of Is This Democracy:

What happens to democracy if Trump goes to jail - and what if he doesn’t?

And: How the terms #CultureWars and #IdentityPolitics have been weaponized to delegitimize the claims and voices of traditionally marginalized groups. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-this-democracy/id1652741954

Is This Democracy

Politics Podcast · 36 Episodes · Updated Weekly

Apple Podcasts
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 27, 2022
@LilyMasonPhD, @perrybacon, and I discuss the larger implications of the January 6 Committee’s decision to recommend prosecution: the potential pitfalls as well as the role of legal procedures in solving a political problem like Trumpism more generally (minute 2:45-29:00).
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 27, 2022
That discussion also sparked a rant about the “History will judge!” fallacy: “History” is a never-ending struggle, an always-raging debate on the past. Don’t wait for it to deliver justice. That’s on us, now.  “History” is not coming to the rescue of American democracy (at the 29:00 minute mark).
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 27, 2022
Also: Now that the January 6 Committee has finished its work, we reflect on what it has and has not achieved, about the story the Committee has decided to tell, and on the dangers of focusing too narrowly on Trump as the threat to democracy (minute 32:15-53:00).
Show threadThomas Zimmer
The biggest threat to democracy is not just Trump, but a Republican Party obstructing all attempts to hold anyone accountable, remaining fully committed to the quest of installing authoritarian rule by a reactionary minority. That was decidedly not the Committee’s focus.
Dec 27, 2022 at 2:07pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 27, 2022
And: Culture wars! Identity politics! We dissect the origins and implications of these terms, assess their utility for making sense of the current moment, and discuss how they’ve been weaponized in service of a reactionary political projects to obscure more than they illuminate.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 27, 2022
What some people like to deride as “empty culture war stuff,” a mere distraction, is actually a struggle over what “America” should be, who should get to define it – and therefore, who gets to dominate politically, culturally, economically. The stakes are enormous (minute 53:00-1:09:30).
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 27, 2022
The term “identity politics,” finally, has been weaponized to delegitimize the voices of traditionally marginalized groups. But all politics is identity politics – only we don’t call it that as long as it’s shaped by the sensibilities and interests of white men (from minute 1:09:30).
Show threaddoctorlauraDec 27, 2022
@tzimmer_history I really enjoyed that episode, and that part of the discussion was incisive. So many people dismiss the importance of culture, because they don’t understand that it is fundamental to how we live as a society.
Show threadToxteth O'GradyDec 27, 2022
@tzimmer_history Conservatives are the chief practitioners of identity politics. Christian nationalism is the most obvious example, but we are seeing other forms of it, particularly around the Second Amendment.