Alexander Karn
@xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
72 followers 16 following 1.5K posts
Associate Professor of History at SLAC (NY, USA). Not representing any employer. Interests: power and the production of historical knowledge, public history […] 🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mastodon.online/@xankarn, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
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xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
I've been posting here about #taxresistance and other approaches to #softsecession

MAGA makes plain that it doesn't represent those whose political view differ from the president's and, in fact, POTUS has said explicitly and repeatedly that his govt is fighting a war against the enemy within […]
Original post on mastodon.online
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Reposted by Alexander Karn
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Douthat regrets that Trump has squandered an opportunity to persuade Americans that MAGA aims to serve and advance "the general good."

But MAGA is a movement that seeks to purge and nullify rival perspectives to secure its power.

MAGA has no concept of the "general good," only a concept of "us […]
Original post on mastodon.online
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xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Ross Douthat's biggest concern re: Trump?

That he will squander this golden opportunity to advance and consolidate MAGA "ideological" revolution.

NYT going full fash today.

#uspol #democracy #defundfascism

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/opinion/trump-2028-election.html
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Douthat regrets that Trump has squandered an opportunity to persuade Americans that MAGA aims to serve and advance "the general good."

But MAGA is a movement that seeks to purge and nullify rival perspectives to secure its power.

MAGA has no concept of the "general good," only a concept of "us […]
Original post on mastodon.online
mastodon.online
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Ross Douthat's biggest concern re: Trump?

That he will squander this golden opportunity to advance and consolidate MAGA "ideological" revolution.

NYT going full fash today.

#uspol #democracy #defundfascism

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/opinion/trump-2028-election.html
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Re the #Shutdown and the battle over messaging:

JD gave away the game ages ago. He thought he was being clever by letting us see to the bottom of his shriveled, blackened soul, but at least we know that HE KNOWS he's lying.

#uspol […]
Original post on mastodon.online
mastodon.online
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
@w7voa

Worth remembering that Trump was ALREADY hell bent on down-sizing the federal gov't and federally funded initiatives like VOA from the moment he swore his oath.

Pretending that additional cuts are the Dems' fault is convenient, but the truth is he has been in DOGE mode for the past 9 […]
Original post on mastodon.online
mastodon.online
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Would you buy this 3 inch x 3 inch vinyl sticker for $3 ppd if the proceeds went to protectdemocracy.org?

#defundfascism
Avatar: Clenched red fist on white background with black text below: #DefundFascism
Reposted by Alexander Karn
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Shall we state the obvious?

Trump is prohibited by law from serving a third term. The Constitution is absolutely clear on this point.

There is no circumstance, then, in which this president should be conducting a rally.

None.

That he does so in the context of an address to active military is […]
Original post on mastodon.online
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xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
#democracy #uspol #defundfascism

As is a president who threatens to “go around the courts.”
Reposted by Alexander Karn
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
A president who governs in campaign mode is a danger to democracy, as is a president who seeks to have his own shock troops.

“Let’s face it,” President Trump told thousands of U.S. Navy sailors Sunday afternoon, “this is a rally.”

#democracy #uspol #defundfascism […]
Original post on mastodon.online
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xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
What does it all mean?

Where does this leave us?

See first post in thread.

Rinse and repeat.

Resist much, obey little.

#defundfascism

end/
Reposted by Alexander Karn
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
In 2025, there is a distinctly different view of politics on the right, and the GOP, under the sway of the MAGA clique, now stands in a dangerously different relation to the Jeffersonian principle of contractual governance.

9/x
Reposted by Alexander Karn
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Once upon a time, but not so long ago, Republicans (and their Libertarian brethren) used to love invoking Jefferson in their jeremiads on creeping socialism and America’s flirtations with tyranny.

Doing so fed their conviction that government regulations in the marketplace and judicial […]
Original post on mastodon.online
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In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson had something to say about exactly this scenario.

Where governments do not acknowledge the sovereignty of the people or direct their power and resources toward the common good, it is the right and duty of a people to “throw off such […]
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xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Alongside this program of partisan resource allocation (feed my friends, starve my foes), Trump has explicitly and repeatedly stated that he intends to wage war against those who oppose his policies.

He said as much in his “Chipocalypse Now” post.

He made the same point again in his meeting w […]
Original post on mastodon.online
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xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Trump has made no secret of his intention to starve his rivals and adversaries of federal funding whenever and wherever possible. Indeed, the withdrawal and withholding of grants, salaries, and congressional appropriations has been one of his biggest bully clubs since his second term began.

4/x
Reposted by Alexander Karn
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Trump’s antagonistic framework and his unrelenting habit of elevating his supporters while demeaning and dehumanizing his political opponents have proven disastrous since his return to the Oval Office.

Stuck in the rhetoric of the campaign trail, he has abandoned any pretense of reconciliation […]
Original post on mastodon.online
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Reposted by Alexander Karn
xankarn.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy
Like other populists who peddle in divisionism, Trump believes the electorate comprises two groups.

On the one hand, there are “real” Americans, i.e., those who are fully vested in the rights of citizenship. On the other hand, there are sub-citizens (or, he might say, “fake” Americans), whose […]
Original post on mastodon.online
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The crux of the situation is this: The forty-seventh president of the United States does not believe we are one people or one nation, indivisible.

1/x

#uspol #democracy #defundfascism