Category: The Resistance

Future Headlines: ‘Saturday Night Dead’

February, 2025:
NEW YORK CITY — A so-called “glorious revolution” began last night when ICE agents interrupted the live broadcast of Saturday Night Live to arrest the show’s executive producer Lorne Michaels for “crimes against the people.” A stunned nation watched in horror as Michaels was cuffed and frog walked out of 30 Rock by armed ICE agents.

“Viva the glorious revolution” Michaels screamed as he left the studio.

Within moments of this scene, a large crowd of New Yorkers assembled in front Fox News studios, The Wall Street Journal and Trump Tower. Things grew violent when ICE agents repeatedly fired upon the crowd. The sheer size of the crowd grew too large for the ICE agents, however and the so-called “Taking of Trump Tower” began (See Sidebar.)

The rest of last night saw unpreceded violence across the nation. Cities ranging from NYC, to LA to Chicago descended into chaos. Reports that the U.S. Military — called into these cities last month upon the invocation of the Insurrection Act by the president — were refusing to fire on protesters or, in some cases, were joining them.

These events take place as the America has been on edge since the Second Trump Administration began last month.

“It was only a matter of time before something happened,” one political analyst told the press early this morning.

All eyes now look towards the U.S. Military. While the general consensus is that the enlisted will support Trump’s efforts to crush Blues, a question lingers over the officer corp.

The Two Ways The US Might Have A Civil War

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have given this way too much thought and it seems as though there are two main scenarios that would lead to the US having a civil war of some sort.

  1. Trump Loses
    In this scenario, Trump loses fair and square and he’s so afraid of going to jail for the rest of his life that he starts to scream at the top of his lungs about the need for a “National Divorce.” States like Texas take him up on it and, there you go, civil war.
  2. Trump Wins
    In this scenario, Trump wins and goes full tyrant starting on January 20th. At some point Blues have had enough and there’s some sort of coordinated resistance to the Red King to the point that the U.S. Military deposes him. This, in turn, causes the Red States — who love the Red King — to freak the fuck out and the call up secessionist conventions.

    So, it seems our best bet is either Trump loses and he manages to just sling peacefully into political oblivion, or he wins and he somehow manages to transition the US into a MAGA-themed autocracy without pissing Blues off so much that there’s a revolution

    We have about a year to find out.

A Civil War / Revolution Because of Ding-Dong Red King Trump Would S U C K

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The issue about any sort of civil war or revolution because of ding-dong Trump thrashing around history is how much it would suck, suck, suck. It would be not sexy or fun. It would be a horrible tragedy.

And the more I think about it, the more I realize that we could very well be on the cusp of nothing short of the most powerful nation in the world bombing itself into the stone age because of…vibes. Once you start things like revolution and civil war, it is very, very difficult to stop it.

So, it’s very possible that we could have a solid decade of death and destruction starting in late 2024. Now that really sounds hysterical, but there is an air of inevitability when it comes to Trump coming to power again that is very eerie. It’s like we’ve just decided that we all have to “go through some things” to get it all out of our system.

And remember none of this catastrophic tragedy would happen in a geopolitical vacuum. If the United States is imploding, that will mean that the greater world is exploding into WW3. At least a billion people could die specifically and directly because of ding-dong Trump because he will have caused the US to implode into civil war / revolution.

I know how hysterical that all sounds, but we have to start taking shit like that seriously. We have to sit up and take notice about where things are heading. And part of that is taking seriously how bad this new, war-torn America would be for the everyday person.

The chief thing is how any form of communication would probably be a premium. Command and control would be the first thing each side of any war in the United States would try to knock out and, as such, there’s a good chance that once the ball started rolling most of us would have no idea what the fuck was going on outside of our immediate neighborhood.

And if the absolute worst happens, we’ll all be so busy struggling to eat and avoid various explosions that we just won’t have time to worry about what our pronouns are any other form of identity politics — it’s hard to be “woke” when everything is very, very existential on a daily basis.

But only time will tell. It could be I’m overthinking all of this and we’ll either drift peacefully into a MAGA themed autocracy or Trump will lose and he’ll just slink away into the political darkness.

We have about a year to find out.

What The Nattering Nabobs Of Negativism Aren’t Telling You About A Second Trump Term

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It is becoming apparent to me that the usual suspects of the American intelligentsia are willfully hiding from the American public how fucking bad it will get if ding-dong Trump wins re-election.

The more I learn about Trump’s plans for his second term, the more alarmed I grow. The reason is — he wants to rule as a Red King over the Blue States. And somehow thinks that simply invoking the Insurrection Act will make all his dictatorial dreams come true.

And that is just not how these things work.

So, the smarty pants of The Atlantic are saying everything but the obvious — America is probably going to descend into civil war / revolution if Trump wins a second term for the simple fact that America 2025 is NOT Germany 1933.

Trump will have no MAGA SA at his disposal. The USA has a long history as a strong, stable democracy — it’s not the Weimar Republic. The US is far bigger and far more decentralized than the Weimar Republic of 1933. And, in general, the tool that Trump thinks he can use to knock heads — the U.S. Military — is a foundation of the American democratic tradition.

So, if it is Trump, rather than, say, Ron DeSantis, who gets the opportunity to become America’s Republican autocrat — shit is going to hit the fucking fan pretty quick. And the fine folks at The Atlantic apparently want to dance around this fact, rather than shake the American population by the shoulders and tell them DO YOU REALIZE WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IF TRUMP WINS IN 20204????

I guess the nattering nabobs of negativism simply don’t want to scare people because at the moment it’s all rather abstract. I mean, we don’t KNOW what will happen in a Trump second term, we can only speculate. It definitely *seems* as though Trump will try to subjugate Blue States as a Red King, they will fight back and the country has something akin to a Blue “Glorious Revolution,” which, in turn causes a Red Secession Crisis and…we’re going to the show.

Blues may turn into Blue Meanies before 2025 is over with.

The greatest country the world has ever seen will implode because of…vibes? Because Red Alpha Males are strangely so insecure in their masculinity that they hate gay people? What the what?

But, here we are. It could be that in about a year the final bolts will fly off the United States and some rather dramatic events may happen. Or….Trump loses and he somehow has a brain transplant and slinks into the political night without demanding a National Divorce so he stays out of prison?

I just don’t know. I can’t predict the future. No one can. But I’m growing more and more alarmed!

The Political Rhetoric On The Right In The United States As We Enter The 2024 Election Cycle Is Beyond Bonkers

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Some of the political rhetoric spewing out of the MAGA Republican right these days is so insane that it’s hard not to see how all of this ends in civil war / revolution or some sort of Pol Pot American Killing Fields. I mean, it is a tenant of faith at the moment in most Republican circles that Democrats personally kill a baby at least once a day.

And it continues to get worse. Trump keeps cribbing off of Nazi ideas in his speeches in a way to telegraph exactly what he plans to do. Now, there is something interesting to think about.

If Trump is re-elected, I assume he’ll go after undocumented people by dramatically building out the existing ICE infrastructure. But it definitely seems as though once things get going that MAGA is coming for gay people in a big way. But it won’t stop there — because form follows function, the Jews will inevitable be put in the camps along with the undocumented, the gay, and the mentally ill.

But, of course, none of this is going to happen in a political vacuum. And never forget that Trump doesn’t have an American SA to knock heads. He doesn’t have a nation-wide paramilitary group of a few million men to swoop in after he’s re-elected and bash the heads in of Blues to “persuade” them to keep their head down while Trump establishes Trumplandia.

The United States is just too diverse and decentralized for anyone — much less ding-dong Trump — to establish a military dictatorship without the assistance of an SA-like paramilitary group. So, even if 1 million smug Twitter liberals flee the country starting in late 2024, there will still be PLENTY of Blues who refuse to kowtow to Tyrant Trump.

What that will mean in real terms for the future of the country, I just don’t know. But we can all point to the bonkers Right wing rhetoric that’s being pumped out at the moment, a year before, as a sign of things to come.

House Republicans Are Very Dumb

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Of all the reasons to impeach Joe Biden, some nebulous dealings with his son just doesn’t cut it. There are any number of other things that make a lot more political sense that he could be impeached for. Not that I would support such an impeachment, but at least it would make some sense.

The biggest reason I could see House Republicans impeaching Biden for is the “crisis at the border.” That, at least, from a political standpoint, makes some sense. There is some logic to it. It’s something they could pitch to the average person in a simple way that people could grasp — Biden isn’t addressing the “crisis at the border” and, as such, he needs to be removed from office.

But, no, those ding-dongs want to root around in Joe Biden’s love for his son Hunter. It’s all very, very dumb and misguided. It makes you wonder if the House Republicans have very poor abstract thought abilities. If they could rub two brain cells together, they would realize that while the “crisis on the border” is an abstract political problem, it’s at least exists and is easy to understand.

I just don’t know what is going to happen going forward. I still worry about a 1872 Election Endgame — I worry about the near-term health of both Biden and ding-dong Trump. Even though I despise Trump’s political vision for America, I don’t want anything to happen physically for two reasons.

One, there would be mass violence from all this kooky supporters assuming the “deep state” got rid of him. And, second, someone just as bad, but younger and more focused would simply slip in and do the exact same thing Trump would want to do without all the thrashing around.

There are some seriously fucked up things going on in America politics on a macro level and there just isn’t anything we can do about it. It’s all coming to a head in late 2024, early 2025, one way or another.

We’re Careening Towards A Dark Future With Our Eyes Wide Shut

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Jesus Christ. The thing about having to deal with macro trends on a personal basis is a lot of times events just make no fucking sense. But, here we are — because of a number of long-term macro trends, America is face to face with fascism for the first time in its history.

And if we don’t transition into a fucking fascist state, we’re going to collapse into either a civil war or a revolution. While we’re on the subject of shit like a civil war — we don’t need a big budget action movie about a civil war called Civil War, we need a Threads-like movie that depicts how much a civil war or revolution would s u c k.

My big complaint about the Civil War trailer is there is a basic assumption about communication that is just wrong. If a civil war / revolution really broke out in the US communication would be at a premium because that would be the first thing that each side tried to knock out. If the general population has no clue as to what is going on, then they’re a lot easier to attack.

And that doesn’t even begin to address the potential use of WMD by both sides if things REALLY got bad. AND, you have to address that outside the United States, about 1 billion people could die because, lulz, the US just won’t be able to make sure nations like India and Pakistan don’t use nukes on each other. It really could get that bad.

And, what’s more — there are no assurances that “the good guys” (IE, people I like) would win a revolution / civil war. And there are no assurances that the war would end in such a way that the country was put back together. In fact, our best bet is some sort of United States of North America is formed after whatever history gets done sorting out the massive clusterfuck that may be heading towards us.

Am I’m Missing Something? I’m Really Struggling With The Idea Of The U.S. Military Being Tyrant Trump’s Goons

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Jesus Christ. I continue to read a flood of articles that detail malignant ding-dong Trump’s plans for the U.S. Military when he is “dictator for a day.” The issue is — at its heart, the U.S. Military is a democratic institution. It just doesn’t make any sense that Tyrant Trump can order the U.S. Military to effectively be his SA.

The Nazi SA was a bunch of fucking street brawling thugs who would kick your teeth in if you stood your ground against Nazi aggression. And while, yes, there are plenty of paramilitary groups floating around the US at the moment — the Patriot Front being the one that unnerves me the most — the US of 2025 will not be Germany 1933.

It would take at LEAST 18 months for Tyrant Trump to organize and build out an American SA of no less than 1 million hateful thugs who would beat the shit out of people like me in the streets to “persuade” them to go alone with the America First agenda.

So. Trump and his toadies can pencil in “thugs TBA” in their 2025 agenda all they like — there would be a huge window of opportunity for a General Strike or a Woman’s Strike to pressure the U.S. Military to slow walk –at a minimum –the implementation of Tyrant Trump’s more tyrannical orders.

I mean, the U.S. Military wouldn’t even use tanks for Trump’s fucking 4th of July parade in D.C. because it would “tear up the pavement” and you mean to tell me they would turn into street brawlers at the behest of a ding-dong like Trump? Really?

It definitely seems as though someone hasn’t really though through the implications of all these nefarious, tyrannical plans they have gamed out for 2025. There will come a point soon after Trump goes full tyrant in 2025 when there will be a severe and direct reaction on the part of Blues against his tyrannical behavior.

I’m not advocating anything, just pointing out the obvious.

A Generative AI Equivalent of ‘Toy Story’ Is Less Than 18 Months Away

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It is clear to me that the first Hollywood genre to be totally “disrupted” by generative AI will be animated movies. As such, it will probably be produced by some plucky startup without a direct connection to the Hollywood system. But it will knock everyone’s socks off to the point that everyone will realize that Hollywood as we know it is about to be totally upended.

We have to prepare for the prospect that it will be the arts that will be the first to fall to generative AI. It will be Hollywood that may be so completely upended that there simply won’t be any human jobs left. And it could happen far, far quicker than any of us could possibly imagine.

I continue to believe that this particular clusterfuck will cause a massive resurgence in live theatre, from Broadway all the way down to local community theatre. People may even begin to give value to such a human-created experience to the point that instead of watch an personalized AI generated movie in the comfort of one’s home, people will go out of their way to see live theatre.

Or something. I can’t predict the future. But this particular scenario definitely at least seems possible. It definitely seems as though we’re zooming towards something akin to a “Petite Singularity” within about two years. Or, if you really wanted to get dark about it — we’ll have a perfect storm of The Fourth Turning in politics and the Petite Singularity in technology starting in late 2024, early 2025.

There Are No Moderate Republicans

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

With all front-line Republicans voting to begin an formal impeachment investigation into President Biden, it’s finally clear that there are no moderate Republicans. To be a Republican is to be completely and absolutely beholden to the wishes of malignant ding-dong Trump.

This is yet another ping from a very, very dark future. While I know this will sound like my usual “hysterical doom shit,” it definitely seems as though we continue to careen towards a historic moment in our nation’s history starting in late 2024, early 2025.

Either we slide peacefully into MAGA themed autocracy by electing Trump or Trump loses and we have a civil war because he doesn’t want to go to jail. Meanwhile, if Trump goes “full tyrant” in 2025, it’s possible that Blues won’t take Trump’s shit anymore and the country will collapse into revolution and civil war.

And all of this will be happening in the context of the entire post-WW2 liberal order collapsing as well. With the US preoccupied with trying to figure out what to do with Trump, the entire world will be up for grabs. With the US distracted with mass domestic chaos, you could see at least 1 billion people die as a number of nuclear-tipped frozen regional conflicts suddenly grow very, very hot.

It’s going to suck.

This is all a prime example of the old saying that you go bankrupt gradually, then all at once.

I would like to note something — most Republicans aren’t stupid, but rather craven. They know damn well what they’re doing in regards to impeaching Biden is dumb and unjustified, but they have a word salad they want to impress upon the minds of low information voters, so they just say whatever is necessary during their latest CNN hit to get a few key words shoehorned into the discussion.

They. Do. This. All. The. Time.

But the point is — things definitely *feel* like they’re coming to a head. It seems as though we’ve collectively decided to force the issue of the current Red vs Blue debate out into the open in as painful and dumb a way as possible. And, alas, as much as I hate to even think about it — this might result in a lot of innocent people getting hurt just because of “vibes.”

Yet racism, bigotry and sexism are all hell of a drug. So, barring something I really, really can’t predict, we’re totally and completely fucked. This is it. One way or another, we’re going to the show.

Get ready.