Roundup

How Donald Trump Cancelled the Republican Party

by Sidney Blumenthal

From Reagan onward, even as the fringe moved to the center and took it over, the party did not anticipate that it was slouching toward Trump. Conservatives have consistently failed to grasp the unintended consequences of conservatism.

Trump and Republicans are Following the Goldwater Model with Qanon. That Didn't End Well

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Is that the future Republicans want? To borrow from William F. Buckley, is the GOP willing to acquiesce quietly in QAnon's falsehoods? The answer, for the moment, would seem to be yes.

No, There Isn’t A Constitutional Right To Not Wear Masks

by Helena Rosenblatt

Libertarian arguments against compulsory mask-wearing to fight COVID-19 claim the mantle of individual liberty but ignore the way that liberal theory has focused on both rights and duties as the core of the social contract. 

Jimmy Carter Tried to Make it Easier to Vote in 1977. The Right Stopped Him with the Same Arguments it’s Using Today

by Rick Perlstein

The ascendant New Right in the Republican Party thwarted efforts to make voting easier in the 1970s. Making voting difficult remains a central strategy for the party today. 

Suffrage Movement Convinced Women They Could ‘Have It All’

by Allison K. Lange

Suffragists exploited the ideology of female domesticity to argue that the vote would make women the nation's mothers and housekeepers. COVID-19 has exposed the consequences of this strategy as women are unsupported in meeting obligations for paid and domestic labor. 

Representation Suffers When We Give Up on Census

by Karim Michel Tiro

The abrogation of the census count, if it is allowed to happen, would harm our ability to make sound decisions. It also would mark a further erosion of that basic fairness that is essential to any democratic republic worthy of the name.

The Passing of Pioneering Historian Moses Rischin Marks the End of an Era

by Jonathan Sarna

Moses Rischin, the last survivor among the bold group of scholars who created the field of American Jewish history following World War II, died last week in San Francisco at the age of 94. His passing marks the end of an era.

How Fascist is President Trump? There’s Still a Formula for That

by John McNeill

Trump earned 47 of a possible 76 Benitos, or 62 percent. He remains the greatest threat to American democracy since the Civil War, but his exercise of power only partly resembles that of real fascists. 

UNC Fiasco Reveals Truth About Reopening Colleges

by David M. Perry

University administrations need to be more transparent and accountable for how they are handling reopening under COVID. 

So Far Away from 1965

by Julian Zelizer

By the early 1980s, a new generation opposed to African American political participation was resurrecting the old bromide of “voter fraud” in what would eventually become a successful attack on the VRA.

What Is College For?

by Steven Mintz

Two new books argue for a robust and engaged humanistic study as indispensable to higher education. 

Spoiling the Egyptians: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Uses of Racist Scholarship

by L.D. Burnett

W.E.B. DuBois recognized that his efforts to write the history of Africa and African peoples would depend on his ability to use sources produced by racists without reproducing their political goals. 

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

"Biden’s failure to meaningfully acknowledge his role in constructing the “color-blind” racial regime of the post-civil-rights era, structured around calls for law and order and the coded deprecation of poor Black women, has clouded his newfound epiphany concerning racial justice."

Between Africa and America: Recalibrating Black Americans' Relationship to the Diaspora

by Nemata Blyden and Jeannette Eileen Jones

Black people in the United States have maintained their own relationships with Africa—dating back to the 17th century—despite official US policy regarding the continent.

The Roundup Top Ten for August 21,2020

The top op eds by historians or about history from around the web this week. 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Right to Warn of “Fascism in the United States”

by Federico Finchelstein, Pablo Piccato and Jason Stanley

American exceptionalism establishes as dogma that Americans are either too good or too dumb to embrace ethnonationalist authoritarianism and overthrow democratic institutions. The authors are not confident this is true. 

For 100 Years, El Monte Has Celebrated A Blatant Historical Falsehood. Why?

by Romeo Guzmán

The city of El Monte in southern California has embraced a false origin story--that the town was the end of the Santa Fe trail--to focus public history on white/anglo settlers and not the Native, Mexican, and Asian immigrant people who have also built the city. 

The Virtual Democratic Convention Ignores Milwaukee At Its Peril

by Mike Amezcua

The 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago offers a cautionary example for Democrats today: the party's success depends on recognizing and meeting the needs of its constituents. 

Harris’s Speech Placed Her In The Long Legacy Of Black Women Who Built America

by Kellie Carter Jackson

Senator Harris has an army of shoulders to stand on, and she is going to need all of their strength, tenacity and resilience. Being called a “nasty woman” by President Trump will be the least of her concerns. 

Conspiracy Theories Make Sense of a Topsy-Turvy World — But Undermine Democracy

by Zachary R. Goldsmith

While the “paranoid style” in the various conspiracy theories of QAnon are nothing new, they certainly bode ill for democracy.