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Seth Cotlar, mostly now at the other places Profile picture
Seth Cotlar, mostly now at the other places
@SethCotlar
Teaches US History at Willamette Univ. Working on a book about the long history of the US Right. Same handle at Blsky & Mastodon.
4 subscribers
Oct 6, 2018 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
1. With the "America is a republic not a democracy" crowd in full voice these days, I figured I'd share this piece I wrote back in 2012 on the meaning of the word "democracy" in the late 18th century. medium.com/@sethcotlar/ye… 2. Here are some of the key takeaways. Significant numbers of people began calling the American political system a "democracy" (with a positive connotation) in the early & mid 1790s.
Oct 6, 2018 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
1. Conspiracy theories (like the S*ros and Q stuff) are all "beautiful cacophony of free speech," "haha," fun & games, cultural sideshow until people start acting upon them. 2. It's worth remembering that Nazi Germany was (in its most elemental terms) an anti-semitic conspiracy theory upon which people, and then a militarized state, acted. First they acted by vandalizing synagogues, then boycotting Jewish stores for a day, then Kristallnacht, then...
Oct 5, 2018 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
1. The modern-day identity of "lib hater" is an improvisational and flexible stew of homophobia, anti-semitism, misogyny, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and racism---all mixed together in different proportions depending on the specific individual we're talking about. 2. It's one part these people.
Oct 5, 2018 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
About an hour after @gop President Trump and @gop Senator Grassley claimed that Dem opposition to Kavanaugh was part of a secretive, international, leftist, Jewish (Soros) conspiracy, McConnell has the stones to claim that "the other guys" are deploying McCarthyite tactics. Putting the links here for posterity.
Oct 4, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
1. Flashback to another similarly charged moment in American political history when a wedding intervened. It's 1796 and the House is considering the controversial Jay Treaty. The deciding vote that broke a 49-49 tie was cast by Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania. 2. Muhlenberg's constituents were adamantly opposed to the treaty, but his daughter was engaged to marry the son of a leading Federalist who strenuously supported it. That Federalist father-in-law-to-be threatened to call off the wedding if Muhlenberg voted against the treaty.
Oct 2, 2018 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
1. G. Washington (1796): "The unity of gov't wch constitutes you one people is...a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty wch you so highly prize." 2. "It is easy to foresee that...much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth...batteries of internal & external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed [against it]."
Oct 2, 2018 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Friend received an aggressive push poll call today in support of Selma Pierce, running for OR House against @PaulEvansOregon. It identified Pierce as an independent (untrue) & asked which of 3 statements about Evans (all of them untrue) would make them less likely to vote 4 him. When asked, the caller would not identify who had paid for the poll. I assume Pierce chose to be falsely identified as an independent because our district is fairly purple and it's a tough time to be a Republican. Seems duplicitous, if not strictly illegal. #orpol
Sep 30, 2018 • 17 tweets • 5 min read
1. When the film about this Kavanaugh confirmation is made it could be called Revenge of the Starr Warriors. A minor character would be editor at the Nat Rev, Jonah Goldberg, a usually even-keeled Never Trump conservative turned hyper-partisan GOP warrior for Kav. 2. Read this testimonial about Starr-world by David Brock. He was one of the conservative hacks going after the Clintons in the 90s, now he plays for the other team. Not a 100% trustworthy source, but the number of familiar names was stunning. nbcnews.com/think/opinion/…
Sep 29, 2018 • 23 tweets • 4 min read
1. I'd like to offer an alternative definition of "rational, rights-based liberalism" to counter the ahistorical one put forward here. I don't think there's anything "dangerous" or post-liberal about trusting Ford's compelling testimony. 2. Tom Paine, someone we can safely take to be an articulator of America's "rational, rights-based liberal" tradition, was very attuned to how historical power dynamics had systematically authorized the voices of some people (monarchs & aristocrats) & silenced others (like him).
Sep 29, 2018 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
1. Here's the part I can't get past. If he is the caring, decent person he has claimed to be, Kavanaugh didn't need to lie about any of his non-sexual assault related behavior in order to be confirmed. There were easy scripts he could have followed. thecut.com/2018/09/kavana… 2. "There are many inappropriate and sexist comments in my high school yearbook. I look back at those now with horror and shame, and I genuinely regret any harm my immaturity may have caused people."
Sep 27, 2018 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
1. Aside from the sexual assault allegations, there's something else I find quite troubling about Kavanaugh and which, to my mind, is disqualifying. He has not only lied, but he's told such obviously cynical, self-protective lies. 2. The first ridiculous lie was about Trump having undergone the most rigorous process ever. It was the first thing that came out of Kav's mouth as a nominee, and it was laughably false. How does anyone with integrity say something like that?
Sep 25, 2018 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
1. I can't recommend this interview enough. Derek Black is the son of the KKK Grand Wizard who started the most important white supremacist website in the country, Stormfront. In college Derek renounced white supremacy and he tells his story here. npr.org/2018/09/24/651… 2. So many takeaways from this interview. Here are a few. Derek was instrumental in rebranding white supremacy as white nationalism. This involved muting the violent, hateful rhetoric and playing up the racial pride--"I'm just proud to be white, what's wrong with that?"
Sep 24, 2018 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
National Review, running with the Soros conspiracy argument. Update. Jonah Goldberg pulled down his retweet. But John Fund, the original poster of this fake news (it's the wrong Deborah Ramirez) still has it up. Fund is a columnist for the same magazine as Jonah, the National Review, the flagship magazine of American Conservatism.
Sep 23, 2018 • 17 tweets • 4 min read
1. Quick thoughts on 80s "political correctness," civility, anti-PC conservatism, & democracy. tl;dr, what conservatives called "political correctness" was a request for basic civility, respect, reciprocity, and democracy. Conservatives' refusal to grant that is what got us Trump 2. It is important to remember that "political correctness" is a term that conservatives used to criticize progressives in the 80s and 90s. It is not a term that progressives embraced. It was always an insult. Even using the term shifts the debate onto reactionary terrain.
Sep 22, 2018 • 34 tweets • 8 min read
1. This story about Kavanaugh's "buddy" Mark Judge has reminded me of important lessons I learned about the American plutocracy in the late 80s when I moved from a small town to attend an Ivy League college. washingtonpost.com/local/100-kegs… 2. Brown Univ had recently dropped "need blind" admissions right before I attended. This meant that I, as a middle class son of small business owners in rural PA, was one of "the poor kids" at the school. I was quite privileged in my hometown, now I was the salt of the earth.
Sep 21, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I feel like this part of the Rosenstein NYT story hasn't gotten enough attention. He wrote up the Comey memo justifying the firing in regard to the handling of the Clinton e-mail investigation. And then he was SURPRISED when this wasn't Trump's real reason for the firing? Really? Is it really possible that Rosenstein was THAT naive about Trump? I mean, did anyone outside of hardcore MAGA-land believe that Trump actually cared about the injustice Comey had inflicted upon poor Hillary?
Sep 21, 2018 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
1. Ed Whelan's embarrassing, desperate, libelous Twitter thread, much like the entire Trump administration, has deep roots in the world of Republican politics. It's not some black swan event. Whelan is a well-respected, entrenched figure in @gop-land. He's no Alex Jones. 2. Whelan worked with a PR firm that is best known for Swift Boating John Kerry back in 2004. You know, back when "reasonable Republicans" like GWB and a host of Never Trumpers were running the party. Same org works for the *very sober* Federalist Society as well.
Sep 21, 2018 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
1. How Deep is Your State?
by the Bee Gees

I know your eyes in the morning sun. 2. I feel you touch me in the pouring rain
Sep 21, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
President Donald Trump has some thoughts about the proper way in which victims of sexual assault should behave, and he'd like to share those with the world. Because, as we know, the legal system is rigged against powerful men like Trump, but it bends over backwards to be fair to 15 year old girls when they bring attempted rape charges against rich sons of judges.
Sep 21, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
These utterly unethical, meanspiritied, and emotionally unhinged Republicans ca. 2018 are entirely different from when I knew them ____ years ago when Republicans were reasonable. Episode 391. Episode 392 occurred during this conservative podcast which I listened to today. Fascinating, critical conversation about Dinesh D'Souza. Talks about what a troll he was in college. Then asks "when did he go off the rails?" player.fm/series/the-dai…
Sep 20, 2018 • 16 tweets • 5 min read
"Yes, I meant to eat that dolphin steak," Tom said porpoisefully. #IsItTomSwiftyThursdayYet "I've been clearing this old insulation out of my attic all day and can barely breathe," Tom said, asbestos he could.
#IsItTomSwiftyThursdayYet