Category: Cold Civil War

2023: The Quiet Before The Storm?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This year, 2023, is really beginning to have a “quiet before the storm” vibe to it. The signs are everywhere that our political system is collapsing before our very eyes to the point that I just don’t know if we’re going to make it through the passions of the 2024 election.

It definitely seems as though This Is It. We’re either going to turn into an autocracy when Trump wins or he wins and we have a “Resistance Revolution” in response. Or he loses and he demands a civil war. There just doesn’t seem to be any “Third Way” that allow us to punt some severe, macro problems down the road another four years.

I saw someone today that really alarmed me — he definitely looked like someone who would murder me in cold blood in late 2024, early 2025 if the country collapses into anarchy because there’s either a civil war going on because Trump has lost or a Resistance Revolution going on because he’s won and Blues have managed to stop sucking their own cocks long enough to actually fight back. (Not that I’m advocating anything.)

And, yet, I said the same sort of shit about 2020 and….nothing happened other than the January 6th Insurrection. And, I’m always, always wrong. So…maybe somehow, someway we will manage to eek through 2024 without either turning into an autocracy or having a revolution / civil war? Maybe?

It will definitely be interesting to see one way or another.

I May Participate In The ‘Barbenheimer’ Gimmick On Opening Day

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


I have the means, motive and opportunity to do the Barbenheimer double-feature gimmick. I am very, very poor at the moment, but it would be fun-interesting to do something so zeitgeisty.

It will, of course, be interesting to see if I can actually watch both movies all the way through. I am notorious for leaving movies soon after they start.

Anyway. It’s intriguing, if nothing else.

If Trump Doesn’t Win In 2024, He’s Going To Start A Civil War

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing that Republicans are wilfully oblivious about is not only is Trump going to be the nominee, but if he does lose in 2024, he’s going to single-handedly start a civil war. And if he wins, he may cause a Blue revolt that will be marketed as a “Resistance Revolution.”

The point is — 2024 is it. It’s the year a lot of macro trends come a head, just as the pseudo-science book The Fourth Turning predicts. And, at the moment, it seems like Trump is going win in 2024 — or start a civil war if he doesn’t. Trump is an avatar for a LOT of macro problems in American politics and, as such, we can’t just keep punting these problems down the road.

The Second American Republic, the one founded by Lincoln upon his death, is just about to end and either we turn into an American Autocracy or we have some sort of rebirth into a Third American Republic. At the moment, it could go either way.

My bet is this is it, Trump wins and he and his eventual successor turn us into something akin to Russia, Hungary or Turkey. There might be a WW3 along the way as we transition into an autocracy as well.

But I do think that if Trump loses — as all these well meaning Republicans seem to think in private — we’re going to have a civil war, probably with Texas being the first state to leave the Union. And, add into the equation how fucking old Biden is and…oh boy.

Anyway. Get out of the country while you can, if you have the means.

Yet More Literary Existential Angst

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I got some blood work back today and it indicated that I have high cholesterol — a leading cause of heart attack and stroke. Which, of course, makes me think of how Stieg Larsson died just as he learned he had gotten a book deal. I’m the same age he was when he died of a heart attack and I still have about a year left before I will start querying.

What gets me is that even if I stick the landing with this novel that because of post-production, I could be 55 or 56 before I’m a published author. That really gives me pause for thought when I realize I may drop dead at any moment from a heart attack or stroke.

And, what’s more, there is the issue of what the fuck is going to happen in late 2024, early 2025 just about the time I’m going to start querying my first novel aggressively. It could be that the either we’re slipping into autocracy or we are about to have a civil war or revolution just as I’m doing that.

I don’t think we’re going to have a civil war or revolution. I think Trump is going to win and that will be that. He will use Schedule F to turn us into an autocracy and I’ll have to start to seriously think about how I’m going to escape an ICE agent putting a bullet in the back of my head.

And, YET, given that it was my anger over Trump that caused me to start working on this six novel project in the first place, the case could be made that if some agent learns the nature and overarching subtext of these six novels that they might be more interested in buying the first novel.

The subtext of these six novels is I fucking hate MAGA with a white hot rage to the point that I’m willing to write six novels that let me rant about how much I hate political extremism.

Anyway, we’re totally fucked. I just don’t see any “third way” like what happened in 2020. Something really unexpected will have to happen pretty quick. Trumpism has gone septic and this is it — America is going to be an autocracy starting in 2025.

Taking The Prospect Of A ‘Resistance Revolution’ in Late 2024 – Early 2025 Seriously

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Let me be clear — I hate violence! So, think of this as just some mental masturbation that is toying with the abstract idea of there being some sort of “Glorious Revolution” in the United States in late 2024, early 2025 in reaction to the ding-dong thug and tyrant Trump becoming POTUS again.

First, the reason why I’ve latched on to the idea of a “revolution” rather than a “civil war” is, lulz, I don’t want to leave the US. I love America and what I want is an opportunity found a Third American Republic, not build a new, separate one from scratch.

It’s take me a loooooong time to realize what it was I wanted. It took so long because I was confused and distracted by all the talk about a “National Divorce.” It took me a long time to realize that I don’t want a National Divorce! I just want the opportunity to force through some much-needed political reforms.

So, in my mind a “Resistance Revolution” would begin not with a lot of Blue States deciding to leave the Union, but something far more broad in scope. The issue would not be state level objection to the establishment of “Trumplandia” but, rather millions of individuals across the country take a stand and refusing to allow a tyrant ding-dong like Trump from seizing and consolidating power in the first place.

But as I keep saying, I just don’t think that’s even going to come anywhere near happening. At the moment, at least, it just doesn’t seem viable. Trump is going to win in 2024 and we turn into a MAGA Nazi-themed autocracy soon there after.

I just hope my Trump-branded concentration camp has Wifi.

‘Magadonia:’ We Have To Take The Prospect of American Autocracy Starting in 2025 Seriously

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The key thing to mull whenever the idea of “American Autocracy” is broached is how quickly and peaceful the transition might be. That would be when the autocracy is at its weakest — when the consolidation of power occurs. It’s as our long-term political infection finally goes septic that there is a put up or shut up moment.

The issue is, the United States is at the moment a huge nation that has a strong democratic tradition and is pretty decentralized. Many — many — people have some pretty basic assumptions about their relationship to the government and if as we transition into an autocracy that were to change in a quick, dramatic fashion….holy shit.

It could be, however, that I’m over thinking things. The core group of people who would otherwise be the ideological tip of the spear against autocratic “Magdonia” will slip out of the country and move to the south of France where they will continue to the smug liberal celebrity podcast grift without blinking an eye. Those “Smartless” episodes aren’t going to produce themselves, you know.

So, at the moment, I think Trump wins re-election and that’s that — America begins its transition into an autocracy. And, in the end, it will be not Trump but his successor who is our “Augustus.”

In fact, I will be quite stunned if Blues can get their act together enough to really try to put a stake through the heart of the autocracy that is beginning to grow within the American political system. In short, we’re fucked.

Get out while you still can.

I Don’t Think People Realize How Serious The Stakes of The 2024 Election Are

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing about the 2016 election is people voted for an autocrat and what they got was a dumb, lazy, ding-dong who had no idea what he was doing. He just thrashed around, yelling to the point that he could not do something as simple as steal the 2020 election.

F

With that in mind, he and his toadies, according to The New York Times, have decided to do all kinds of things in 2025 once they’re in power again. Apparently, they’re going to purge the government of the “deep state” and pretty much turn us into Russia.

As such, late 2024, early 2025 is probably going to be lit. The issue is, what are we going to do about it? At the moment, I think nothing is going to happen. Smug, wealthy liberals will use their second passport they got through their refugee grandparents and simply flee the country — probably Europe. So, there will be a massive America diaspora that could radically change world culture. I just don’t think the people who would lead any “Blue Revolution” or “Resistance Revolution” have it in them to do it.

But I suppose there is a greater-than-zero-sum possibility that something like that might happen. I hate violence to much to support any such thing, but on a purely abstract basis, it is an intriguing possibility. I continue to worry about Mike Flynn’s brother, who in charge of U.S. Pacific Command. If there was any sort of “Resistance Revolution” he would be in a position to help squash it. UGH.

The crazy part of all of this is even if The Good Guys win in 2024, there is a good chance that rather than a revolution, we’ll have a civil war as Reds decide to leave the Union.

The point is — my long-held prediction that late 2024, early 2025 is going to be a shitshow is holding up.

Tik-Tok Can Be So Spooky Sometimes

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t remember what it was, but I thought about some subject really intensely out of the blue and then, what do you know, within 24 hours I was pushed a video on Tik-Tok on that very specific topic.

Man, is that weird.

And it happens all the fucking time! Usually, it happens when I think really intensely about a specific subject briefly. But I also find some very strange — but similar — things happen as well. Like, I was getting pushed a lot of Jane Birkin videos and then the moment there were any Alexa Chung videos I got pushed those, too. I had a really weird — even for me — and intense celebrity crush on Ms. Chung for a bit there several years ago.

So, weird that Tik-Tok would know that much about me.

The question, of course, is, is this just AI I’m seeing or something far more ominous? I really have to be careful talking about the idea that Big Tech can read our minds because people think I’m fucking crazy whenever I do. The only reason why I even suggest such a thing is how often some very, very strange things happen in regards to Tik-Tok pushing me videos that seem very, very specific to what I’ve been thinking about in the last 24 hours.

You think people in America would want to band Tik-Tok just because of how close their are to the CCP, just imagine if they were close to the CCP AND they could read our minds! Wow. Just wow.

I refuse to believe that Big Tech can read our minds. But it is a very interesting thing to at least entertain. It’s all very curious.

2024: The Year of Put Up Or Shut The Fuck Up

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Jesus Christ am I tired of all this mealy mouthed, half-assed things that are going on in American politics at the moment. Smug wealthy liberals with all their fucking suck-your-own-cock podcasts already have one foot out the door with a second passport they got through their refugee grandparents.

UGH.

I would rather, in a way, we just give up and allow the fucking fascist MAGA Nazis take over than do this weird political kabuki dance whereby the absolutists on both sides get more and more angry. I hate violence, that I almost — almost — would rather we just slip peacefully into MAGA Nazi autocracy in 2024 and get it over with.

And, yet, there is also a part of me that wants to stand my political ground on a greater political sense. If MAGA Nazis want civil war, how about we have a Blue Revolution instead? And if the Second American Revolution happened in just the right way, it wouldn’t even be that violent.

You would have to knock SOME heads, obviously, but if your revolution aims were low-key enough that MIGHT be kept to a minimum. Hopefully. But I’m not advocating anything, I’m just frustrated and annoyed about how half-assed our politics are at the moment.

We have fucking MAGA Nazi fascists running roughshod over our democracy and we’re just shrugging. Donald Fucking Trump continues to be 60,000 votes in 5 swing states away from being POTUS again. And if he becomes president, that’s it, the end of American democracy as we’ve known it.

So 2024 is it — put up or fucking shut up.

Why The Hollywood Strikes May Last A Long Time

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems clear to me that at some point the Hollywood suits will face an existential choice — either give up and provide concrete assurances regarding AI to the various creative labor unions, or simply wait until the whole issue is moot by technological advances.

As such, either what some people assume will happen, will happen — the strike wraps up around the middle of September or it lasts much, much longer. If the suits get the sense that they can leapfrog directly into something akin to a “Her” future by simply sitting on their hands and suffering a little bit upfront….oh boy.

It could be — maybe — that Hollywood is about to be “Moneyballed” to a point that your head will spin. We will wake up in about 18 months and some pretty basic assumptions about Hollywood will be seen as rather quaint. Everything will be AI generated in the extreme to the point that there won’t even be this thing we now call “mass media.”

Now, remember, all of this is happening in the context of a massive fucking clusterfuck may be about to happen in late 2024, early 2025 on the political front. It could be that America is going to destroy itself for a few years — gulp — and THEN, THAT will be when the “Her” future we all (hope for?) (dread?) will come about.

Or not. I have no idea. I can’t predict the future.

I could totally see things get wrapped up in a rather snap manner out of the blue and the issue of AI will be punted down the road another three years. And, yet, there is a greater-than-zero chance that ALL creatives in Hollywood are totally and completely fucked.