Weekend reading: Liz Cheney’s vision is incompatible with a fully realized democracy. But there is *some* line she’s not willing to cross to impose it on the country.
A devastating indictment of the Right that this actually distinguishes her.
Some thoughts based on this week’s piece:
1/
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/liz-cheney-and-the-problem-of-the
One reason to remain skeptical about anti-Trump Republicans is that they tend to propagate a diagnosis of Trumpism as a mere aberration from an otherwise noble conservative tradition. Such self-serving mythology misleads the political discussion. 2/
Modern conservatism as a political project arose in the middle decades of the twentieth century as an alliance between different factions who agreed that a fully realized democracy was the enemy of the “natural” order defined by hierarchies of race, gender, wealth, and religion. 3/
GOP elites and more “moderate” conservatives have often tried – and always failed – to harness far-right popular energies that ultimately fueled Trump’s rise. They have never been able to control the accelerating radicalization that is now threatening constitutional government. 4/
In many ways, Trumpism builds on and emerges from long-standing extremist tendencies, a manifestation of a deeply entrenched anti-democratic political culture. That is why merely turning the clock back to a pre-2016 “normal” can’t be the answer. 5/
And Cheney? She supported Trump in 2016 and 2020 for the same reasons many Republican elites did: They wanted a brawler to fight back against the “leftist” menace of Democratic governance. Cheney helped create the militant, antidemocratic culture on the Right. 6/
Cheney is no moderate. She shares many of the anti-democratic tendencies and impulses that have defined modern conservatism since its emergence. She has never opposed the ongoing Republican attempts to subvert democracy in more “traditional” ways. 7/
But it’s not just Cheney’s reactionary vision that defines her, but also how far she is willing to go to impose that vision on the country. What sets her apart from those who are in charge on the Right is that she accepts that there is a line that must not be crossed. 8/
The key conflict on the Right is between those like Cheney who want to uphold white Christian elite rule from within the confines of a narrowly restricted version of democracy – and those who want to pursue that goal by embracing authoritarianism and militant extremism. 9/
Both of these positions are in line with anti-democratic traditions in conservatism. The key question on the Right has never simply been democracy or autocracy – but rather: How much authoritarianism is necessary to prevent too much democracy for too many people? 10/
It matters that Cheney is refusing to cross the line. It matters whether or not a democratic framework remains in place because, no matter how imperfect, it provides basic protections and some room for real democratization as well as racial and social progress. 11/
Such is the situation in which the country finds itself: The anti-democratic radicalization of the Republican Party is progressing so rapidly, so pervasively, that all those in the (small-d) democratic camp need to accept alliances with those who object to authoritarianism. 12/
At the same time, those who seek to establish a fully realized democracy in the United States need to make sure that those alliances do not lead to a wholesale rehabilitation of people who have been deeply complicit in Trumpism’s rise. 13/
Most importantly: All those who want to see America realize the promise of egalitarian, multiracial, pluralistic democracy need to hold the line against any attempt to legitimize positions and ideas held by Cheney and others that are incompatible with that vision. 14/
Liz Cheney’s struggle against Trump sets her apart. It matters. But she should not be allowed to define the boundaries of the “respectable” spectrum of U.S. politics or the contours of American democracy.
More here - please consider subscribing:
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/liz-cheney-and-the-problem-of-the
@tzimmer_history Brilliant and concise 
@tzimmer_history As they say, politics makes strange bedfellows. This year, I will value the vote of anyone who is committed to not having TFG become president again. But remember we must also vehemently support the down ballot campaigns of all Democrats so that reactionaries like the Cheneys cannot regain power.
fantastic description of the dialectic thinking required to understand Republican efforts to save democracy at this point
never forget the Rush Limbaugh effect!
where were these Republicans when he mainstreamed hate and lies into the culture?
that moldy orange is not an aberration.
He is the tumor they fed