Sunday reading: A MAGA Feeding Frenzy Is Ravaging the Constitutional Order The assault is coming from different angles: Project 2025. The feudal tech barons. The America First nativists. Less a single master plan – and more comprehensive chaos. This week’s piece: - ThreadSky

thomaszimmer.bsky.social • 14 days ago

Sunday reading: A MAGA Feeding Frenzy Is Ravaging the Constitutional Order

The assault is coming from different angles: Project 2025. The feudal tech barons. The America First nativists. Less a single master plan – and more comprehensive chaos.

This week’s piece:

Comments

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•14 days ago

The assault is coming from several directions. There are the reactionary elites mostly aligned with Heritage and Project 2025; there are the America First nativists; there are the Musk-led tech broligarchs. There is also Donald Trump with his personal obsessions and thirst for domination.

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•14 days ago

I think we need to resist the temptation to boil the situation down to that one thing, identify the one master plan, or the one analogy (“just like Orbán in Hungary”). We want certainty – if we know the *one* playbook, we think we know what’s coming. But that’s not quite what is happening.

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•14 days ago

Take the idea that the Trumpists are following Orbán’s playbook: Orbán actually mostly stuck to what experts call “autocratic legalism” – while much of what the Trump regime is doing is blatantly illegal; Orbán also never gave free rein to a wannabe CEO-King who wants to wipe away the system.

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•14 days ago

The different MAGA factions have been let loose. It is unclear how much coordination there is between them. The way this assault on the constitutional order is unfolding tells us something important about the inner workings of the MAGA coalition, and what to expect going forward.

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•14 days ago

One of the biggest questions about the MAGA movement has been: Who would be in charge once they take power? Would the different factions get along and be able to cooperate within the regime – or would infighting and rivalries constitute a serious impediment to Trumpist rule?

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•14 days ago

The answer, as of right, seems to be: They all get to enact their agenda and act out their fever dreams. All at the same time. They have all been given the green light to go berserk on the system. This helps explain the remarkable speed and aggression we have been witnessing.

paisleyeducator.bsky.social•14 days ago

Will still be infighting - you cannot coalesce that many hybrid groups. That’s not the point. The point is for the wealthy to take control back to a fever filled dream of golden age (pick one - US has many). It’s the rollback of liberties/assault on traditional markets that should scare people.

feralrobots.bsky.social•14 days ago

...& TBF, is that _ever_ really quite what's happening? 'Just like Orban' is typically something we can only say after the fact. Mussolini didn't rise in isolation, nor did Hitler or Franco.

americaweeps.bsky.social•14 days ago

I know you say resist trying to boil it down to one thing but I'm of the belief that for Trump this is about a 3rd term, and eventual Trump family takeover of the presidency. Who's gonna stop them? His grip on SCOTUS will only tighten.

johngordon.bsky.social•14 days ago

Minor typo: “understand the desire the boil”

pnwcoffeeswiller.bsky.social•12 days ago

Will the midterms be rigged so the Democrats cannot ever get control in Congress?

mountainvalleys.bsky.social•9 days ago

Yes, I think that’s very likely.

lilostartuplilo.bsky.social•14 days ago

📌

annahs814.swifties.social•14 days ago

With all due respect, it appears that pillar IV in project 2025, their playbook, is Curtis Yarvin’s Butterfly Revolution. https://medium.com/thought-thinkers/the-butterfly-revolution-america-is-being-stolen-ddeae909b270

yappydagger.bsky.social•14 days ago

Correct. He was writing about this in the early aughts.

robtbell.bsky.social•14 days ago

It's what I call a conspiracy of interests. The groups have varying agendas, but a common interest in destroying the current constitutional order and rule of law. They don't all have to meet in smoky rooms and plot a certain course of action, but their separate actions serve their shared purpose.

chris-mas.bsky.social•14 days ago

We got a taste of it with 45.
imo, a big part of why Biden won in 2020 was voters wanting some normalcy. Most Americans are conflict-averse and hate politics. But they also have short memories.
I wish Dem leadership could understand their only weapon against the chaos and not let $$$ get in the way.

notgoingback2024.bsky.social•8 days ago

A longer read, but definitely worth it.

mountainvalleys.bsky.social•9 days ago

Sorry for randomly posting this but I just want to say again THANK YOU for your pieces and for your podcast with Lilliana Mason. It’s helping me stay sane. So much that’s out there now (on other podcasts, in the NYT, etc.) honestly feels like gaslighting. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/is-this-democracy

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•9 days ago

🙏

purplett.bsky.social•14 days ago

Which is why this battle must be fought on all fronts. Whatever it takes to regain control both physically and digitally if we are to save humanity & our planet from these sadistic fascist nazi oligarchs.

frauwise.bsky.social•14 days ago

📌

coconnor8.bsky.social•14 days ago

I’m not sure the donor class cares who breaks what, as long as stuff gets broken and power is expressed only in money and violence

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