The greatest transgression against truth and justice that conspiracists perpetrate is compounding tragedy with ignorance. That is why conspiracy theories aren't simply wrong, they're malicious delusions intent on harming victim and inquirer alike

Remember that brief few weeks in 2021, when the GOP grew a spine and denounced Donald Trump following the Capitol Insurrection? Should've taught sane Americans something important: Do not debate fascists. MAGA didn't re-emerge out of reason. They're too deep in the cult to leave

I don't like them putting denialism on the internet. They turned the freakin' fonts gay. Do you understand that!?

In an hour, join Mr. Beat and I on twitch.tv/cynicalhisto... while we attempt to watch the 2nd episode of Matt Walsh's abysmal "Real History," this time about American Indians (and yes, he made his own face look constipated like that)

Love how often I'll see people say that I "claim to be unbiased." Find a singular instance of that in my entire 13 years as a public historian, just once. No. People who say that simply want their own biases confirmed. Here's why: youtube.com/shorts/0JBGg...

Elon did to Twitter the same thing that happened with 4Chan when hacktivists (Anonymous) migrated to IRC; slant the site by privileging rightwing extremists, making moderates and the left disengage, with a few remaining simply for tradition or belligerence

Matt Walsh's so-called "Real History" has somehow gotten worse since @iammrbeat.bsky.social and I viewed the first episode, full of racism, deceit, and conspiracism. We'll watch more of this MAGA denialism on saturday afternoon at twitch.tv/cynicalhisto...

The famous 1872 "American Progress" painting is a perfect summation of our frontier myth. Here is a short breakdown of what it symbolizes: youtube.com/shorts/5Wegf...

Gonna start editing the first fascism episode on twitch.tv/cynicalhisto... in just a bit. This is perhaps my most pertinent history in awhile and has been in the works for a year

A 1937 speech by the archbishop of Chicago popularized the derogative label "paper hanger" for nazi sycophancy. In retaliation, Hitler conspired to defraud Catholics of funds for the University of Saint Mary of the Lake. Sounds familiar

Thank goodness that my cat has white parts of his coat. I'd accidentally kick him far more often simply due to his preference to be underfoot in the dark

We need historians because the past is never just the past. Every policy debate, public conversation, and cultural shift is shaped by what came before. Historians help us understand context, trace change over time, and recognize what’s at stake. #TalkAboutHumanities 🗃️

Serious question: Does Viktor Orban conceding this election mean he is not (or at least no longer) an authoritarian? Explain your answer and remember that this holds implications for authoritarianism elsewhere

I'm pretty sure this would be illegal in most states, but at least it's a great metaphor for the obstructed perspective of MAGA

Just confirmed that my presentation proposal about my public history work was accepted for the AHA-Pacific conference at one of my alma maters, UNLV. It'll be in late July and will be fun. Looking forward to it

"It is the nature of religious communities to embellish the story of their past with tales of providential guidance and divine direction" -Stephen J. Stein, 1992. Cuts to the quick of not just the Shakers he wrote about, but basically everything (I might review the Ann Lee movie)

Texas failed to invade New Mexico 3-5x (1842, 44, 49-50, 61-62, "TX flood") with 2x successful otherwise (1862-65, '77). How many more need slaughtering before you learn? Here's an episode about Texans' inherent inferiority to New Mexicans: youtu.be/CTA10aruS6Y

Making pretty good headway on recording the lectures for my my US history survey (first half). The one about the American Revolution is next. 8 remain after that. Patrons can vote on what I record next at www.patreon.com/c/CynicalHis...

The third week lecture for my US history survey, covering colonial times from roughly 1670-1715, is now available: youtu.be/2S1CpB49gWQ

As if we weren't fighting enough wars, we're bombing another country and no one cared. At least Operation Enduring Freedom (2001-14 across 15 countries) had congressional authorization. Trump 2.0 began 5 American wars, continued 3, and resolved none

Any serviceman committing these war crimes, from loaders to chiefs of staff, is accountable. I'm astounded by the sheer cowardice in not refusing illegal orders. You have an oath-bound duty to the Constitution and Uniform Code of Military Justice, not POTUS's tyranny

Trump began this illegal war on a whim and targeted schoolgirls on the first day. Now he openly tweets genocidal intent. The Hague has everything it needs to indict this maniac, even if he makes today (hopefully) TACO Tuesday

Something fun about the Artemis missions is that their namesake is the twin sister of Apollo

the first fascism episode (covering all the necessary ideology and movements that comprise protofascism) is a lot shorter than I expected; 35 minutes. My review of Death By Lightning will likely be longer, both which I will be live editing in the next week or two over on twitch.tv/cynicalhisto...

I'm less concerned with AI itself than so many people abandoning actual interaction (digital or otherwise) for plagiarized facsimiles. Apathy toward creativity and humanity as a whole is the ultimate result of AI adoption. How do we mature otherwise?

This is real. Even the crazy Christian nationalists should want to impeach him now (on Easter Sunday no less), while the sane among us should want that because of his war crimes, corruption, autocracy, and sexual predation. The midterms are too distant. Impeach now

If you claim that ""they"" are replacing the white race, I'm happy to label you not only a racist, but a fascist. This is the key difference from Trump I and Trump II. He was authoritarian and ultranationalist, but not radicalized before 2020. Now MAGA is fascism

The most common misconception about cynicism is conflating it with pessimism, despair, and distrust. A cynic maintains a hope for us to do better, despite knowing we likely will not. The most cynical statement is to plan for the worst and hope for the best

The existence of heavy metal music implies that there is light and medium metal bands

Sometime history rhymes in a good way

"paleoconservative" is simply a polite term for cryptofascist

For all the haranguing about "woke studies degrees," I've yet to see any nitwit explicate requirements. It's almost like anti-woke imbeciles are too illiterate to read a course catalogue

Takes 6months to officially become a recession, but this decline is definitely continuing, right? Plus there's so many investments leveraged on others (especially big tech) that too much decline starts a death spiral. Affordability will only worsen for the foreseeable future

Make your voices heard! Just marching in the #NoKings protest today is a significant contribution to demonstrating or dissatisfaction with Trump's ever worsening tyranny. I will be at the Las Vegas one today (while also attending a nearby brewfest, lol)

Fortune cookies encourage suicide now, lol

We're committing tons of war crimes, from unilateral aggression to ethnic cleansing at home, while the conman POTUS fleeces our economy into oblivion and destroys education to maintain his cult …And it's all because fools got big mad that some women criticized video games

Why are words like indubitably, impetuously, impertinently, indelibly, indivisibly, inadvisably, inevitably, incredibly, incredulously, and imperturbably so fun to say?

I'm in this picture and I dislike that

Perhaps the greatest factor for why generational-AI cannot create is its failure to replicate process. Even in basic aesthetics, humanity cares about falsifiability. Without verifiable novelty, no personality exists. The human element is innovation, something 🤖s cannot perform

This demagogue and his followers demanded decorum from the entire nation after Charlie Kirk's death, an activist who had dedicated his entire career to hurting innocent people. And yes, this is a real tweet from Trump celebrating a diligent lawman's death

The economy feels like current VidCon: sculpted for elites with pittances for rubes to worship celebrities and worthies get enough to feel superior, all while the in-group pretend elitism through private parties and actual elites laugh from above. "Broadcast yourself" is extinct

How do I convey my contempt for putting AI in Google Docs and disallowing us from disabling this? Scaphism seems the only appropriate punishment for whoever did this

I did not ask for this AI thumbnail and it's disturbing how many elements of my channel and facial features it managed to capture. Worrisome. Anyways, the preview is available on www.patreon.com/c/CynicalHis...

My Nuremberg review is finally free from copyright claim limbo, so here is my newest episode, covering the trials and their legacy, which led to the creation of the International Criminal Court: youtu.be/T1vGh1qBfVw

Funny thing about the American version of St. Patrick's Day is like many traditions, spinning insult in our favor, reflecting a unique history. Nativists chastised Irish immigrants, stereotyping them as drunkards no greater than apes and uncouth radicals, but that changed 🧵1/8

May have to push back the release of this. I planned for Thursday, but they can technically wait for 29 days and then deny my first appeal, granting them my hard-earned revenue for that period

Corollary to Santayana's "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" is Hall-Patton's "Those who deny history want such mistakes to recur." We got here somehow and conspiracists denying it attempt to save face for their pathetic nationalism

Beware the Ides of March

When you have to predict how an incredibly wrongful war will affect your everyday life

You may have seen that a major update in our lawsuit challenging the dismantling of the National Endowment for the Humanities went a bit viral this week. Why? Because the outcome of this case affects a lot of people—not just historians. Here’s what’s going on. 🧵 (1/5)