Month: May 2022

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

For about 40 odd years, there was an implied narrative to Washington scandals that originated directly from what we experienced with Watergate. And then Trump happened and, lulz, nothing matters. I’m reading the new Watergate history and it’s amazing how the Ur modern Washington scandal was like a real life political thriller.

There was cause and effect. And, most of all, there was accountabiilty.

With Trumplandia, there is no cause but no effect. We know everything that happened and, lulz, there is no criminal persecution. Nothing happens. Nothing matters. In fact, if anything, the more “criming” Trump and his ilk do, the more power they accrue because it shows how much power they really have. A lot of this has to do with FOX News existing. A lot of it has to do with the abject lack of shame on the part of Republicans. A lot of it has to do with how all politics is now national.

There is no middle ground.

So, Trump gets away with deep, severe political crimes every day and nothing happens. And, to date, nothing has happened. We are in a post-accountability era. Either we go all-in and have autocratic white minority rule, or we finally get some accountability as part of a civil war.

Take your pick.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m reading the new Watergate history and I keep thinking about dingus Trump and how he did worse than that scandal when he woke up in the morning. But there is one issue that stands out so far from reading the book: Nixon was very stupid because the Watergate break in happened just about when it was clear he was going to win, no cheating necessary.

The same goes with Trump — even though Trump is demonstrably not as popular as he was at his height, with the entire Republican Party at his beck and call, I think Trump is a shoe-in to win 2024 without any cheating. And, yet, it’s so much a part of Trump’s character to cheat that he will do everything in his power to win, even if it means cheating even though he will win.

But the fact remains — we’re going to have a civil war or begin the final process of turning into an autocracy around 2024 – 2025. If we choose autocracy, there may be an American spin to it, but it will exist. We’ll have minority rule and be an autocratic state of blood and soil where Republicans have one party control — and change the Constitution soon enough.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of my favorite blog posts of all time comes from Slate, which suggests that August should be abolished because, well, it sucks. All these bad things happen in August to the point that maybe we should just not have August.

It’s possible that summer 2022 could be one of the more interesting summers in American history. It could be, if nothing else, a precursor to a very turbulent fall where the Reds seize control of Congress and…just never let it go again. Biden and Harris will be impeached — repeatedly — starting in January 2023.

But let’s go back to this summer.

A number of important SCOTUS opinions will be handed down — chief among them being the over turning of Roe. The reaction to the end of Roe will ultimately be the thing that determines our future. If there is a shrug, then, lulz, we’re just going to become a Russian-style autocracy.

And there will be the January 6th Commission hearings in June. I don’t think there is anything that can possibly come out of those hearings that will make a difference. No one cares and no one will care. Lulz.

But if there are serious protests across the nation because of Roe being ended and other major rulings. Yet, time will only tell. It could go either way. We will know soon enough, I guess.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Republicans are notoriously bad at governance. So, it’s possible that when one of the more loony members of their caucus gets up on Day One of the new, Republican controlled House in 2023 and puts forth some Articles of Impeachment, they could very well pass.

And then, lulz, out of sheer embarrassment, Republican House leadership will send the Articles of Impeachment over to the newly-Republican controlled Senate and we spend far, far, far longer than we should in 2023 sitting through a Biden Impeachment trial.

Then, of course, Republicans things might break their way and Republicans might think up something with a microscopic grain of merit to go after Biden with and we’ll have Impeachment Trial Number 2.

Ugh.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

First, we have to accept that Red States starting a civil war at this point is silly. They’re politically ascendant and have every reason to just be patent and wait while we slowly become a Russian-style autocratic state. And YET, day after day I continue to get pings to this blog from people in the more rural portions of Red States from people obviously very interested in my dystopian hellscape civil war scenarios.

So, how, exactly, could Red States, rather than Blue States, start a civil war?

Well, one thing we have to do is define “civil war.” A bunch of good old boys grabbing their AR-15s and shooting dem dar librals is NOT a civil war. Maybe something akin to a second insurrection, but not a civil war. And, really, at this point, I think the Reds who want a civil war bandy the term around just because it’s the worst possible thing they can think of in response to this or that thing that Blues have done to annoy them this time.

But I’ll give the shithead Reds what they want — a civil war started by their side, not by my side. Here goes.

All I got, at this point, is things grow so white hot during the coming impeachment of both Biden and Harris after the Reds take control of Congress that Red States flip out and begin to leave the Union. This, but even more so if Biden for some reason succumbs to old age and it’s President Harris and Speaker Trump we’re talking about.

If Speaker Trump, in the middle of the impeachment trial of President Harris starts to rant about secession (or reTruths something about it) then, yeah, you fucking cocksucker Reds, you might just get your Second American Civil War.

Otherwise, lulz. It either doesn’t happen and we just become an autocracy, or it’s the BLUEs who start it because of a Certification Crisis around 2024 – 2025.