Alexander Karn

Associate Professor of History at SLAC (NY, USA). Not representing employer.

Interests: power and the production of historical knowledge, public history, historical justice, historical dialogue, reconciliation, museum studies.

Commentary: Mother Jones, The Progressive, Salon, HuffPost.

Resist Much, Obey Little. #RMOL

Web: https://www.xankarn.net
Pixelfed: https://pixelfed.social/xankarn

Last Notes

2025-11-18 22:36:53 UTC

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I am resisting the most obvious comparison here, but the killing of Charlie Kirk does come to mind.
Okay, I wasn’t really resisting.

2025-10-24 14:06:24 UTC

DJT has presided over the two longest govt shutdowns in US history.
He's perfectly happy to sit on his hands while Russ Vought guts the whole thing because "dismantlement of the administrative state" makes his dictatorial ambitions easier.
Pesky democracy. Pesky checks and balances. Pesky rule of law.
King Donald can't be bothered with any of it.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/22/government-shutdown-trump-democrats.html

2025-09-16 16:45:01 UTC

USAG Pam Bondi making the rounds to say that Feds will target anyone who uses or promotes hate speech.
Of course, there is no definition of hate speech under federal law and no federal laws against hate speech, except when speech can be shown to directly incite criminal violence or when it consists of direct threats of violence against a group or a member of the group.
Hate speech is protected under 1A, and many MAGA influencers have built their whole careers on this.
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/hate

2025-08-14 01:31:17 UTC

If you're wondering, ""Who is the greatest American writer of the 20th century?" let me offer James Baldwin as a leading candidate.
"All that can save you now is your confrontation with your own history...which is not your past, but your present. [Y]our history has led you to this moment, and you can only begin to change yourself and save yourself by looking at what you are doing in the name of your history."
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/024/524/651/737/949/original/546731d52e68f2b2.png

2025-05-02 15:31:10 UTC

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Perhaps he’s not fighting anti-Semitism?

2025-04-23 12:39:15 UTC

Letter to Harvard was an accident.
Trade war with China not sustainable.
Peace deal in Ukraine not feasible.
Markets and treasuries in nosedive.
Etc.
Never has a president been so inept. So incompetent. So utterly full of shit.
What’s left when the curtain is pulled back?
Just the cruelty, the vindictiveness, and the grift.
#uspol #democracy

2025-04-16 11:56:03 UTC

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With Trump, everything is singular and unprecedented. There is no form to the world except the superlative form.
“Like never before…”
“The worst/best we’ve ever seen…”
“You’re not going to have a country…”
“A golden age like no other…”
All of this language creates the conditions for a state of exception.
Nothing can ever be normal for the man who intends to dismantle normal politics and rule of law.

2025-04-16 00:37:52 UTC

Reposting cuz post-totalitarian dictatorship is here.
#uspol #democracy #authoritarianism #liveintruth #rmol
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/344/839/601/463/295/original/1ebeb81575ec248b.png

2025-04-16 00:11:30 UTC

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MAGA rhetoric strikes a hyperbolic and hysterical tone whenever political obstacles and rivals appear in its path.
Rivals are recast as insane lunatics. Enemies inside the gates.
Divergent perspectives are presented as toxins and poisons in the body politic.
Opposition becomes something treasonous.
All of this fear-mongering is done to lay the groundwork for a state of exception. The nation has never been so deeply imperiled; the gloves must come off. Lawlessness is patriotism.

2025-04-16 00:03:37 UTC

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Snyder on language and the state of exception (i.e., how authoritarians talk their way out of their legal obligations):
“If we are living in normal times, then we think we should be governed by law. But if politicians can use words to make us think that these are exceptional times, then we might accept their lawlessness.”

2025-04-15 23:54:54 UTC

Tim Snyder today on state terror and MAGA’s assault on language.
“The control of language is necessary to undermine a legal or constitutional order. Our rule of law begins with notions such as the people and their rights. If politicians shift the framework to "criminals" and "terrorism," then they are shifting the purpose of the state.”
Something from last year on MAGA language and the linguistic barrage that subverts democratic values.
https://progressive.org/op-eds/trumps-rhetoric-is-frightening-and-toxic-karn-20241029/

2025-03-27 08:46:56 UTC

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Congratulations. Very inspiring to see people being focused and productive in their chosen field.

2025-03-22 17:52:21 UTC

Oeufs, I did it again.
I ❤️ 🇨🇦
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/207/350/612/376/342/original/f85023c4bc0e12aa.jpeg

2025-02-02 20:59:40 UTC

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I wish I could remember who came up with this b/c I think there's some truth in it.
Dems have struggled to enact solutions, but require citizens to be morally restrained.
Trump/MAGA pitch big solutions, while giving their supporters permission to be morally unrestrained.
There are plenty of people who don't believe that Trump can or even wants to solve problems, but while he pitches himself as the redeemer (only I can fix it), we should highlight each and every failure.

2025-02-02 20:03:07 UTC

Not yet in the driver's seat, but AOC continues to fight, speak truth, and run the diagnostics.
"I have a weird relationship with the Democratic Party. I don't believe in a two-party system, but I also understand the Democratic Party is a coalition and if we want the party to change, the balance of the coalition has to change. But right now, you open the hood on the Democratic Party, what you have is, I think, a bit of a power struggle over the last couple of years."
https://www.newsweek.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-warns-democrats-about-confused-messaging-2024852

2024-11-12 00:20:05 UTC

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Thoroughly disgusting. But do note the masks.
The white “pride” clique are still (for now) ashamed to show their faces.
Why? Because they KNOW it’s terrorism, not heritage. Even as they whoop and holler in an attempt to convince themselves otherwise, they know it’s despicable and un-American.
There’s hope while this remains true.