Tom Nichols doesn’t need fireworks on the Fourth of July. Not when he can just as easily get burned by his own hot takes.
Check out what he wrote yesterday:
People on the left ask me how the left contributed to where we are. That's a long answer that includes "read Mark Lilla," but I'd add:
– much of postmodernism was and is an undermining of basic knowledge and reason
– recasting everything in politics in terms of race/gender— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 4, 2021
– years of obsession with the White House combined with ignoring local and state politics
– an intolerance bred on campuses that has escaped into mainstream Dem politics that alienates the normals
– cultishness that is in many cases nearly as bad as Trumpism/2
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 4, 2021
Wait … is he actually admitting that the Left has really screwed things up? Has he had an awakening?
Nope:
But with all that said, the center-left does have a kind of rule-based, good-government foundation to it that I prefer over the win-at-all-costs rightist culture warriors. I have said repeatedly that the Democrats are the better stewards of the Constitution now.
/3— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 4, 2021
“But with all that said.” Even though the Left is garbage, Democrats are still the better stewards of the Constitution now.
But there *is* an authoritarian streak in the left that has a pedigree that goes way back and is endemic to leftism, which believes generally in the government's ability to hasten the perfectability of human beings – always a terrifying thought. /4
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 4, 2021
Dems ignore this at their peril. But the GOP and the right is now openly a seditionist, anti-constitutional movement, and I'm with the Dems as a coalition partner. President Biden is not the leader of some liberal college's Young Socialists, and it's stupid to conflate them. /4x
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 4, 2021
Dems suck, but at least they suck in a good way! Leftist authoritarianism is dangerous but it’s not like we have to worry about it, even though the Democratic Party is full of aspiring leftist authoritarians! Joe Biden won’t let the Squad gain too much influence!
Washington Examiner managing editor Jay Caruso has gone at it with Tom Nichols before, and doing it again is probably not how he wanted to spend his time today. But with Nichols saying something so incredibly stupid and willfully ignorant, Caruso apparently feels a responsibility to call him out.
And when that happens, it sucks even more than usual to be Tom Nichols:
If this is what you believe, Tom, I think you're wrong. If you're trying to convince others, you're gaslighting.
From @charlescwcooke https://t.co/3PAJKcQANJ https://t.co/7x6bLOP1TQ pic.twitter.com/4evQOKIzjj
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 5, 2021
Remarkably, I’m going on the available evidence of who’s been attacking liberal democracy more consistently and dangerously. I took a raft of shit yesterday for saying that the left has an authoritarian streak, but they are far less dangerous than the entire institutional right.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
Poor guy.
You took a comment about the center-left and said it’s wrong by citing a comment about progressives, but “center-left” and “progressives” are typically thought of as two different groups, not as synonyms of each other.
— Nicholas Grossman (@NGrossman81) July 5, 2021
I did nothing of the sort. I was taking issue with this: “I have said repeatedly that the Democrats are the better stewards of the Constitution now.”
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 5, 2021
This is the typical move for people on the right now, to juxtapose hypothetical dangers of the left as a way of trying to deflect from the concrete and actual damage being done by the right. /1
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
There are of course people on the extreme left who are a menace to democracy. But they do not control the institutional Democratic Party. The anti-constitutional lunatics on the right control the institutional GOP. Therefore the Dems are better stewards right now. /2x
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
A year and a half later the institutional Republican party is still supporting insane efforts to overturn a democratic election, but you see, the real danger is critical race theory and DC statehood and stuff
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
This guy, man.
It’s not hypothetical, Tom. The House passed the DC statehood bill in April. There is continued pressure on Manchin and Sinema to end the filibuster and Democrats are promising to pass trillions of dollars in spending via reconciliation — which they’ve already done.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 5, 2021
None of those things are a threat to democracy; none of them even remotely approach the menace to the Constitution represented by the Republican Party. The behavior of the Senate Republicans in particular has eviscerated my ability to defend the filibuster any longer.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
Tom’s blaming Senate Republicans for the fact that he’s a garbage liberal hack who got away with masquerading as a committed conservative for so long. How is ending the filibuster not a threat or a menace to the Constitution?
Anyway:
You’re moving the goalposts now. This was a discussion about “stewards of the constitution” and the motte and Bailey comparison here is not of interest to me. What the Democrats are actively trying to do goes against our constitution order. You can’t simply wave it away.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 5, 2021
But he can try!
I disagree that those are against our Constitution, but even having this discussion is allowing you to cdeflect your attention away from the actual attacks on our system supported by a Republican Party that refuses to accept the outcome of the democratic process.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
Who’s deflecting, Tom? Caruso has absolutely been critical of Republicans (and definitely critical of Trump), but his criticisms are rooted in reality as opposed to a pathological need to reject conservatism for the sake of owning Trump and Trump supporters.
Adding states/Not having a filibuster/spending excess money have nothing to do with the ‘constitutional order’ jfc.
— Tobi (@MrTobiasA) July 5, 2021
They most certainly do. “It’s allowed” or “it’s legal” is not necessarily within the bounds of constitutional order. JFC yourself. You’d think after the last 4 years people would get that through their skulls. I guess some people slept through it.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 5, 2021
Tom apparently did.
Also, "The Dems want to make DC a state" – which has been true for decades – is not on the same level as "the Republicans have created a party litmus test that requires covering for seditionists."
This is why the conversation goes nowhere and there's no point in it.— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
There's no point because you keep returning to this notion that we're engaged in a contest of "who's worse."
Rougned Odor is a below-average baseball player. If I say that, it does not mean I am saying Tyler Wade is better than him.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 5, 2021
Intellectual consistency is a very difficult concept for many people, even self-proclaimed Experts™ like Tom.
“Biden said something and therefore the state legislatures are not doing what they’re doing“ is not a model of intellectual honesty, either.
You think the Democrats are more dangerous than the Republicans; I think in 2021 that assertion is not amenable to rational discussion.— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
The entire Republican Party project has boiled down to entrenching and institutionalizing minority rule for its own sake.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
This is silly. You know very well the foundation for the Senate in that it has nothing at all to do with population. You live in Rhode Island with two House members and two Senators despite a smaller population than Montana.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 5, 2021
Which totally explains the efforts to limit the rights of others to vote in all of the other states. Instead of deciding to create a larger coalition years ago, the Republicans have decided to simply give up on democracy and stay in power by any means possible.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
“Which totally explains the efforts to limit the rights of others to vote in all of the other states.”
Where are those rights getting limited. Be specific because what you said is a talking point, not a fact.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 5, 2021
No thank you, Jay. If you think these are just empty talking points, so be it. I’m not up for an afternoon of the kind of gaslighting that you are quick to accuse others of doing.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
Of course not. I mean, according to Joe Biden, the new Georgia laws are akin to “Jim Crow” so I wouldn’t expect an intellectually honest answer.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 5, 2021
“Biden said something and therefore the state legislatures are not doing what they’re doing“ is not a model of intellectual honesty, either.
You think the Democrats are more dangerous than the Republicans; I think in 2021 that assertion is not amenable to rational discussion.— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
You said the laws were “limiting the rights of others to vote.” I asked for a specific and you refused. Biden’s comment was steroid-like version of yours in that it’s not true. And I’m not defending Republicans. I’m asking you to defend the things you’re saying.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 5, 2021
Looks like that’s gonna be a hard pass from Tom:
I decline the invitation. At some point, when surrounded by the obvious, "prove this obvious thing" is just a treadmill of deflection. You think I'm wrong; I understand your objection.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 5, 2021
Tom declines the invitation to defend what he’s saying because he can’t defend what he’s saying.
The Left can have Tom Nichols. He’s all theirs. He’s their problem now.
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