Georgetown University Professor Thomas Zimmer Explains How the “Right’s counter-mobilization against democracy is driven by the reactionaries’ disdain for all those who dare to question what they see as their rightful place at the top”

See below for yet another superb thread by Georgetown University Professor Thomas Zimmer, this time on how the “Right’s counter-mobilization against democracy is driven by the reactionaries’ disdain for all those who dare to question what they see as their rightful place at the top, their supposed right to dominate the nation, the family, the workplace, the public square.” Scary stuff, and why we must never let our guard down.

• “They are already acting on it wherever they are in charge. Driven by resentment and disdain for all those who dare to question what they see as their rightful place at the top, their supposed right to dominate the nation, the family, the workplace, the public square.”
• “And they fully understand that they do not have majority support for their vision, that they are out of step with public opinion, that their sensibilities are only shared by a shrinking minority. It is what fuels the rightwing radicalization against democracy.”
• “No one should seek comfort in the idea that reactionaries – and the Republican Party they dominate – will inevitably moderate once they realize the majority is so clearly against them. They have realized that long ago, and it has pushed them further to the right.”
• “The idea that these people will eventually moderate is predicated on the assumption that they care about democratic legitimacy. But they don’t. They care about what they believe is the natural / divinely ordained order and their right to rule and dominate this “real America.””
• “The rightwing offensive against democracy is not coming from a sense of strength. It’s animated by a sense of weakness, so fully on display in this misogynist rant – by a feeling of being under siege, of running out of time to preserve what is the only acceptable order.”
• “This is the main reason why I am so skeptical of the idea that the result of the midterms will lead to moderation. Every defeat, every crisis only heightens the sense of being under siege, is answered by calls for more drastic measures, more radical steps.”
• “‘Oh, but they can’t win – the demographics are getting worse for them every year’… Well, whether or not minority rule can be upheld largely depends on how far the ruling minority is willing to go to uphold it, how far into authoritarianism they’re willing to venture.”
• “If the ruling minority is willing to keep curtailing the rights of opposing groups, to further restrict their ability to take part in the political process, to mobilize state power and to enable paramilitary/vigilante forms of violence, minority rule can absolutely be sustained.”
• “Do these dudes give off the vibe of people who would shy away from such authoritarian measures? Who would hold back and accept defeat – out of respect for democratic self-government or the demands for equality of the groups they so clearly consider inferior?”
• “There’s no appeasing or persuading these people, no bargain or truce to be had. Their entire worldview is built on the idea that they deserve to dominate in all spheres of public and private life, that they are entitled to constant affirmation and reverence.”
• “These people walk through life always demanding the type of respect they refuse to show anyone who doesn’t reflect their own image back at them and shares their reactionary sensibilities. It’s pathetic. And it’s fueling the counter-mobilization against democracy.”
• “At the heart of the reactionary project these resentful dudes support is the refusal to compromise with the vision of egalitarian multiracial pluralism, with anyone who deviates from their idea of the natural/divinely ordained white patriarchal order. They must be stopped.”
• “It’s not tactical or strategic, it’s ideological: They say this because they mean it, and they simply cannot help themselves.”