Sandra, that might be the morning bumper sticker right there: “We are ALL Heather Cox Richardson.” Because that was exactly the point. It was never just about one historian. It was about everybody who still thinks memory is part of citizenship. Signed right back: trying to stay a true patriot before the coffee even kicks in.
Yes I agree he lost his standing as a legitimate historian in trying to minimize HCR. We are educated women who see him for what he is and we know about The Reconstruction after the Lost Cause. U go Heather👍🇺🇸♥️
Jerry, thank you for this sobering analysis. It hit like strong Black coffee, pun very much intended. Du Bois was already telling us in Black Reconstruction in America that the story told about Reconstruction was part of the crime itself: who gets called fit for democracy, who gets called dangerous, and who benefits when memory is rewritten. Your question is for sure the right one which is who was inconvenienced? Because every time Black freedom or multiracial democracy threatens the old order, the country starts editing the witness instead of answering the evidence.
"America had to be taught to see Black citizenship as disorder, federal protection as overreach, white backlash as understandable, and national exhaustion as wisdom ."
I love this sentence. It really connects the dots.
Susan I gotta say that sentence is the heart of it for me. Reconstruction wasn’t just abandoned. America had to be taught how to justify the abandonment. Once you see that pattern, a lot of today’s “nuance” starts sounding very familiar. Thank you.
Over decades, my wife and I have watched several community leaders get into tussels with the political leadership.... and we compare notes about them.
One issue brought Al Sharpton to our attention. - My wife took issue with what he was saying, noting she couldn't support him .. making such offensive comments. - I noted his comments speak to and for his *constituents*, who otherwise have nobody listening. Did I agree on the matter? No. But I supported his voice and who he was speaking for.
It's my position that the messenger isn't what you need to confront... It's the idea. Be patient and LISTEN
Thanks for posting this. Halperin is not on my normal reading list, so I would have missed it! You are absolutely correct to point out this absolute nonsense he posted. Beyond that, it was a lie. People have become so used to receiving lies from this regime that it barely registers when it happens.
Halperin’s remark means different things to you and I.
You see it as yet another phrase that intentionally belittles someone and gives permission for others to do the same.
I just see it as a lie that is said too easily in this current climate. I do see your point and think less of the person who put it out there!
Thank you for this. I think you might be right to call it a lie. The belittling works because the lie gives people an exit ramp which they don’t have to deal with. That’s exactly why this stuff is so dangerous when it barely registers anymore.
But there is also Halperin’s own history! To those of us who have familiar with his critical and political positioning, this latest comment fits into his own historical pattern and clarifies even more his own permanent stance.
I've been following HCR for about a year and a half now, and I have never noticed her saying that Trump is "finished." So it's more than "just" a lie. It's just plain wrong. As in factually incorrect. Not that such a distinction matters, apparently, to Mr. Halperin. Such a combination of malice and ignorance could qualify him for a position in the Trump Administration.
James, this is the part that keeps nagging at me too. If the premise is wrong, the whole “reasonable analyst” act is built on sand. I have not seen HCR running around saying Trump is finished either. So then the question becomes: was he answering her actual argument, or answering a cardboard version of her readers?
As a long time HCR reader, I have not developed a HCR attitude, I have developed a HCR understanding. An education, based on facts, facts, and more facts.
Thank you, again! Well spoken (as always)! Transforming rational, informed, and thoughtful people and their work into emotive-othering is a specialty of the folks who want to command people who are too lazy to think for themselves. The penchant to wrest credibility from someone (who has rightfully earned it), is a very old tired but effective trick. Those who distort integrity like this, know that they have a stupid audience who would rather have someone else do their thinking for them, simplifying things into black and white, good and evil, and separate their heads from their guts. This is one of the most effective ways to do it; 'otherize' the enemy and make them hysterical, unreasonable objects to treat with disdain. It is plain as day that they are trying very hard to prop up something (dt&co, etc..) that is insupportable. I only hope soon 'it' will implode without taking too many more casualties with them.
That line about wresting credibility from someone who earned it is exactly it. Once they turn the witness into a hysterical “other,” the audience no longer has to deal with the evidence. That’s the old old trick, and lemme tell ya it works because it gives people permission not to think. I appreciate you reading this so closely.
You are welcome, I appreciate your thoughtful flagging of ideas that need to be seen! But the really scary part of this is how closely it is tied to weaponizing and causing destruction, it is also the playbook for teaching soldiers to fire upon their enemy (these humans) become merely 'targets' with no humanity attached to them at all, thus objectified, they become easier to hit and destroy. The aim here is to obliterate. The part they do not understand though, is that in the process of obliteration they dehumanize themselves too, and spend energy on anti-life thought and action. It diminishes them to a half-life (if that much) which never fully blooms.
You are being entirely too kind to Mark Halperin. Mansplainer Mark is emblematic of the problem: a privileged white male with a platform, an evidently useless Ivy League education, and a sense that he is entitled to condescend to the rest of us.
And to answer the question about Trump’s appeal, it’s precisely because a vast swath of American voters just don’t do nuance. Trump caters to that. If Halperin hasn’t been able to figure that out by now, maybe he should give back his Harvard degree.
You may be right that I was too kind. I kept trying not to turn the piece into some indignant roast because the larger move mattered more to me than the man. But yes, the condescension is the smell in the room. The whole posture is this here - let me explain reality to the people who are paying too much attention.
Todd, I was trying pretty hard not to make the piece simply about Halperin, but yes. The shallowness is definitely part of the problem. Horse race analysis can sound sophisticated while dodging the deeper question: which is what is all this doing to the country?
"Reconstruction was defeated by violence, yes. It was defeated by white terror, court decisions, political compromise, voter suppression, and the collapse of federal will. But it was also defeated by narration. America had to be taught to see Black citizenship as disorder, federal protection as overreach, white backlash as understandable, and national exhaustion as wisdom." Some things don't appear to change. The spinners of Reconstruction all those years back have repeated the same tactics under different lies. How much more mileage will they get?
I need to archive this article and read it many times. History as taught decades ago when I was in grade school and high school was flat and full of certainty as well as full of holes. You bring a brilliant richness of detailed criticism in your essay that I cherish for its clarity and insight which I needed. I look forward to your novel.
This would be a great addition to a required reading list.
Thanks for writing this, even though you would rather be working on your novel. I get that. Here's the part that I get: "But it was also defeated by narration." That's what they are actively doing to Katie Porter, what they did to Hillary Clinton for 20 years before she ran for anything, simply because she hyphenated her last name. It's the attitude, which is short-hand for hysterical.
Susan, you got that right. That “defeated by narration” line is the hinge. “Attitude” is really just the cleaned-up version of hysterical. Once that label sticks, the evidence doesn’t have to be answered.
I agree. The value I find and want to share with others that I'll be sending a link to your piece here is all you have taught along with conveying a simple alternative journalism lesson shaped by such useful material, with appropriate gravitas and street cred to shape a youth or even someone experienced enough to know such as to how media reportage is 'certified.' In short, how and what gets imprinted.
Praise be to Substack for allowing such 'newshole' to be filled with such nuanced teaching of the considerations usually reserved for the editorial gate-keepers. As a terminal Mass Comm major and unsuccessful journalist your decency resounds in a profession not known for it. The reader is gifted with more than standard Pavlovian\Consumerist trade craft. Bravo!
Mitch, lemme tell you this is generous as hell. “Who gets to certify the story” is exactly the fight. I’m just trying to name the frame before the gatekeepers turn it into common sense. Deeply appreciate you sharing it.
I have six words for Mark Halperin, "We are ALL Heather Cox Richardson"!
Signed: A true Patriot.
Sandra, that might be the morning bumper sticker right there: “We are ALL Heather Cox Richardson.” Because that was exactly the point. It was never just about one historian. It was about everybody who still thinks memory is part of citizenship. Signed right back: trying to stay a true patriot before the coffee even kicks in.
Yes I agree he lost his standing as a legitimate historian in trying to minimize HCR. We are educated women who see him for what he is and we know about The Reconstruction after the Lost Cause. U go Heather👍🇺🇸♥️
That is Fantastic!!!
Jerry, thank you for this sobering analysis. It hit like strong Black coffee, pun very much intended. Du Bois was already telling us in Black Reconstruction in America that the story told about Reconstruction was part of the crime itself: who gets called fit for democracy, who gets called dangerous, and who benefits when memory is rewritten. Your question is for sure the right one which is who was inconvenienced? Because every time Black freedom or multiracial democracy threatens the old order, the country starts editing the witness instead of answering the evidence.
And women - Dr. Heather Cox Richardson - they want to take away her and every other woman’s Right To Vote!!!
The SAVE Act is the beginning…
Very insightful analysis. Well written. Thank you.
🙏. Thank you for your support Deepak.
Mark Halperin couldn’t be more of a tool if you tattooed CRAFTSMAN across his forehead.
"America had to be taught to see Black citizenship as disorder, federal protection as overreach, white backlash as understandable, and national exhaustion as wisdom ."
I love this sentence. It really connects the dots.
🙏🏻
Susan I gotta say that sentence is the heart of it for me. Reconstruction wasn’t just abandoned. America had to be taught how to justify the abandonment. Once you see that pattern, a lot of today’s “nuance” starts sounding very familiar. Thank you.
Nicely extracted essence!
Over decades, my wife and I have watched several community leaders get into tussels with the political leadership.... and we compare notes about them.
One issue brought Al Sharpton to our attention. - My wife took issue with what he was saying, noting she couldn't support him .. making such offensive comments. - I noted his comments speak to and for his *constituents*, who otherwise have nobody listening. Did I agree on the matter? No. But I supported his voice and who he was speaking for.
It's my position that the messenger isn't what you need to confront... It's the idea. Be patient and LISTEN
Unfortunately, too many want to place a flag or “tag” a deep thought on a person instead of the words.
Thanks for posting this. Halperin is not on my normal reading list, so I would have missed it! You are absolutely correct to point out this absolute nonsense he posted. Beyond that, it was a lie. People have become so used to receiving lies from this regime that it barely registers when it happens.
Halperin’s remark means different things to you and I.
You see it as yet another phrase that intentionally belittles someone and gives permission for others to do the same.
I just see it as a lie that is said too easily in this current climate. I do see your point and think less of the person who put it out there!
Thank you for this. I think you might be right to call it a lie. The belittling works because the lie gives people an exit ramp which they don’t have to deal with. That’s exactly why this stuff is so dangerous when it barely registers anymore.
But there is also Halperin’s own history! To those of us who have familiar with his critical and political positioning, this latest comment fits into his own historical pattern and clarifies even more his own permanent stance.
I've been following HCR for about a year and a half now, and I have never noticed her saying that Trump is "finished." So it's more than "just" a lie. It's just plain wrong. As in factually incorrect. Not that such a distinction matters, apparently, to Mr. Halperin. Such a combination of malice and ignorance could qualify him for a position in the Trump Administration.
James, this is the part that keeps nagging at me too. If the premise is wrong, the whole “reasonable analyst” act is built on sand. I have not seen HCR running around saying Trump is finished either. So then the question becomes: was he answering her actual argument, or answering a cardboard version of her readers?
Thank you for this.
As a long time HCR reader, I have not developed a HCR attitude, I have developed a HCR understanding. An education, based on facts, facts, and more facts.
Thank you, again! Well spoken (as always)! Transforming rational, informed, and thoughtful people and their work into emotive-othering is a specialty of the folks who want to command people who are too lazy to think for themselves. The penchant to wrest credibility from someone (who has rightfully earned it), is a very old tired but effective trick. Those who distort integrity like this, know that they have a stupid audience who would rather have someone else do their thinking for them, simplifying things into black and white, good and evil, and separate their heads from their guts. This is one of the most effective ways to do it; 'otherize' the enemy and make them hysterical, unreasonable objects to treat with disdain. It is plain as day that they are trying very hard to prop up something (dt&co, etc..) that is insupportable. I only hope soon 'it' will implode without taking too many more casualties with them.
Dawn, thank you,.
That line about wresting credibility from someone who earned it is exactly it. Once they turn the witness into a hysterical “other,” the audience no longer has to deal with the evidence. That’s the old old trick, and lemme tell ya it works because it gives people permission not to think. I appreciate you reading this so closely.
You are welcome, I appreciate your thoughtful flagging of ideas that need to be seen! But the really scary part of this is how closely it is tied to weaponizing and causing destruction, it is also the playbook for teaching soldiers to fire upon their enemy (these humans) become merely 'targets' with no humanity attached to them at all, thus objectified, they become easier to hit and destroy. The aim here is to obliterate. The part they do not understand though, is that in the process of obliteration they dehumanize themselves too, and spend energy on anti-life thought and action. It diminishes them to a half-life (if that much) which never fully blooms.
Respectfully, please consider your use of the word "hysterical," given its origins. Thank you.
You are being entirely too kind to Mark Halperin. Mansplainer Mark is emblematic of the problem: a privileged white male with a platform, an evidently useless Ivy League education, and a sense that he is entitled to condescend to the rest of us.
And to answer the question about Trump’s appeal, it’s precisely because a vast swath of American voters just don’t do nuance. Trump caters to that. If Halperin hasn’t been able to figure that out by now, maybe he should give back his Harvard degree.
Hemingway got his measured approach from journalism. For this one I leaned into my years of writing police reports.
You may be right that I was too kind. I kept trying not to turn the piece into some indignant roast because the larger move mattered more to me than the man. But yes, the condescension is the smell in the room. The whole posture is this here - let me explain reality to the people who are paying too much attention.
I do admire your measured approach, though!
And (though if you were blunt/unkind enough to note it plainly I missed it) Halperin is a shallow analyst.
Todd, I was trying pretty hard not to make the piece simply about Halperin, but yes. The shallowness is definitely part of the problem. Horse race analysis can sound sophisticated while dodging the deeper question: which is what is all this doing to the country?
Thank you for putting this out. I appreciate it. Shared.
Thank you, Joan. I almost talked myself out of writing this one, so I truly appreciate you reading and sharing it. You are exactly why I hit publish.
So glad you did write it - I dont see or hear Halperin so wouldnt have been aware. Certainly lowers him in my estimation!
"Reconstruction was defeated by violence, yes. It was defeated by white terror, court decisions, political compromise, voter suppression, and the collapse of federal will. But it was also defeated by narration. America had to be taught to see Black citizenship as disorder, federal protection as overreach, white backlash as understandable, and national exhaustion as wisdom." Some things don't appear to change. The spinners of Reconstruction all those years back have repeated the same tactics under different lies. How much more mileage will they get?
WH called a reporter who shared an image of the President’s eyes drooping a “moron.”
Just as with Trump Mobile, the clock is running out & Trump self promotion is #Blinking.
Resist MAGA gangster, grifter authoritarianism! Vote Sane. #VoteBlue! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZdkRiTs_4w
I need to archive this article and read it many times. History as taught decades ago when I was in grade school and high school was flat and full of certainty as well as full of holes. You bring a brilliant richness of detailed criticism in your essay that I cherish for its clarity and insight which I needed. I look forward to your novel.
This would be a great addition to a required reading list.
Excellent reading of this situation. I'd only add that I suspect Halperin is jealous of the following HCR has--I am sure much larger than his.
Waaaaaaaaaay much larger lol
Thanks for writing this, even though you would rather be working on your novel. I get that. Here's the part that I get: "But it was also defeated by narration." That's what they are actively doing to Katie Porter, what they did to Hillary Clinton for 20 years before she ran for anything, simply because she hyphenated her last name. It's the attitude, which is short-hand for hysterical.
Susan, you got that right. That “defeated by narration” line is the hinge. “Attitude” is really just the cleaned-up version of hysterical. Once that label sticks, the evidence doesn’t have to be answered.
Thx for hitting publish. First one I’ve passed on
Thank you Susan.🙏
I agree. The value I find and want to share with others that I'll be sending a link to your piece here is all you have taught along with conveying a simple alternative journalism lesson shaped by such useful material, with appropriate gravitas and street cred to shape a youth or even someone experienced enough to know such as to how media reportage is 'certified.' In short, how and what gets imprinted.
Praise be to Substack for allowing such 'newshole' to be filled with such nuanced teaching of the considerations usually reserved for the editorial gate-keepers. As a terminal Mass Comm major and unsuccessful journalist your decency resounds in a profession not known for it. The reader is gifted with more than standard Pavlovian\Consumerist trade craft. Bravo!
Mitch, lemme tell you this is generous as hell. “Who gets to certify the story” is exactly the fight. I’m just trying to name the frame before the gatekeepers turn it into common sense. Deeply appreciate you sharing it.
Excellent. Thanks. Shared to my notes.
🙏