Category: Trumplandia

The Rise Of The Blue Meanies

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I know the Blue Meanies are the bad guys in the movie who are defeated by The Beatles. I just find the idea of Blues turning into Blue Meanies for a little while in 2025 because of Tyrant Trump amusing.

Maybe Blues need to become Blue Meanies to save America. (Wink)

Potential Scenarios for late 2024, early 2025:

  1. Trump Loses — gives up
    It’s a real possibility that all the wet dreams of earnest, well meaning liberals like Mueller, She Wrote will come true and lulz, not only does Trump lose, but he just gives up. The “Good Guys” win and that’s it. We punt our structural problems down the road another four years.
  2. Trump Loses — demands a National Divorce
    In this scenario, Trump loses, but instead of just slinking away, he frantically demands a National Divorce. A lot — A LOT — would depend on, say, Texas in this scenario. There is a greater-than-zero chance that Texas could very well call up a Secessionist Convention if Trump demanded a National Divorce. This would, in turn, cause a civil war.
  3. Too Close to call (1876 / 2000 endgame)
    If this happens, then, holy shit are we in trouble. The country would collapse into civil war and revolution. If we just didn’t know who the next president was going to be…whoa buddy. Chaos. Violence. Collapse. Fourth Turning.
  4. Biden Loses — It’s a Lulz
    If Biden loses and 1 million smug Twitter liberals leave the country ASAP, then, lulz, we turn into an autocracy and that’s that. We wake up in a few years and President-for-Life Trump is invading Canada for some dumb reason.
  5. Biden Loses — Glorious Revolution
    In this scenario, Trump wins but goes full Tyrant in such a way that Blues stand their ground and organize things like a General Strike and or a Women’s Strike. The U.S. Military, rather than being Trump’s SA goons, stands down and maybe uses the guise of the 14th Amendment to overthrow Trump and we have President James Mattis for a few months until a Constitutional Convention can be called up.
  6. The 1872 Election Endgame
    Look it up. It’s bad.

I’m not advocating anything! I just like to run scenarios. It’s a way to make my abstract fears concrete and, as such manageable. As such, let’s imagine Trump goes “full Tyrant” as soon as he’s sworn in on January 20th. We already know he wants to invoke the Insurrection Act on day one.


Now, remember, Tyrant Trump is going to be a military dictator in regards to Blue States and just a regular olde autocrat when it comes to Red States. As such, it seems this will be a very, very volatile situation because Red States will be treated a lot differently than Blue or rebellious parts of Purple States.

And the key thing to remember is we would have no idea if any attempt to depose Tyrant Trump would…actually work. It could be that any attempt to bring him down would only make him stronger. That’s what happen in Turkey a few years ago when there was a coup attempt against their autocrat. He’s still there, more powerful than ever.

We may all be Antifa in 2025, if Tyrant Trump goes full tyrant.

But here are a few ways I could imagine we might force Tyrant Trump out of office

  1. General Strike / Women’s Strike
    Things would have to be REALLY BAD for anything like this to work. It’s just not in American political DNA for average Americans to strike en masse nationally for a specific purpose. It’s much more of a European thing. But Trump goes full tyrant (at least in Blue and parts of Purple States) I could see Radical Moderates popping up to the point that a General or Women’s Strike might actually be practical. Even if it was just the major Blue States, if there was a General or Women’s strike, that would really cripple the national economy to the point that you MIGHT get the U.S. Military to either stand down or even go so far as to topple Trump altogether.
  2. Overreach On His Part
    There is a chance that Trump goes nuts against Blue States. He goes sucked into throwing more and more troops at Blue States to the point that there is a general uprising against him there because he will be a military dictator there. This could cause the Blue parts of Purple and Red States to rebel as well. There would be growing pressure on the U.S. Military to just stand down or to even to topple Tyrant Trump altogether. Maybe. It’s at least possible. I can hear Tom Nichols telling me I’m full of shit as I write this.
  3. Use the 14th Amendment to Force Him Out (With Help From U.S. Military)
    There is a lingering unresolved issue surrounding Trump’s eligibility to be president because of the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment. Now, remember, during Reconstruction the Constitution’s demand that states of a “republican form of government” gave Radical Republicans what they needed to prevent defeated slave states from returning to the Union. So, I could see out of sheer desperation — and some legal cover — that a very, very distressed U.S. Military might say, “Well, the 14th Amendment says Trump isn’t even POTUS.” That would at least potentially get red of Trump and his Veep. I would be cool with that, even if it meant we were stuck with President Johnson. (Again, I’m not advocating anything, just saying this as a general sentiment.)
  4. A Specific Demand For a Constitutional Convention
    Any attempt to overthrow Tyrant Trump would have to be done in the context of specific demands for structural political reform. For me, that would mean deposing Trump and MAYBE a military junta that would rule specifically long enough for a Constitutional Convention to be held. So, we might have President Mattis for a few months while all of that was going on.
  5. A Social Media App Designed To Organize National Direct Action
    One thing that might help bring down Tyrant Trump would be a social media app designed specifically with organizing direct action like strikes built into it. That’s just a daydream.

    All of this is just a daydream at this point. I absolutely fucking hate violence of any sort. I would rather just leave the country that have to worry about violence. But, all of this is political mental masturbation to make me feel better, to not feel so helpless in the face of macro historical and political trends I can’t control.

    And remember — it could be that any attempt to depose Trump that was successful would just cause a National Divorce and, as such, even more tragedy. So, hopefully, we won’t have to worry about it. Mueller, She Wrote keeps telling me someone or something is going to save us, right?

I’ve Figured Out Trump’s 2025 Strategy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Some scenarios for the day after tomorrow:

  1. Trump Loses — gives up
    It’s a real possibility that all the wet dreams of earnest, well meaning liberals like Mueller, She Wrote will come true and lulz, not only does Trump lose, but he just gives up. The “Good Guys” win and that’s it. We punt our structural problems down the road another four years.
  2. Trump Loses — demands a National Divorce
    In this scenario, Trump loses, but instead of just slinking away, he frantically demands a National Divorce. A lot — A LOT — would depend on, say, Texas in this scenario. There is a greater-than-zero chance that Texas could very well call up a Secessionist Convention if Trump demanded a National Divorce. This would, in turn, cause a civil war.
  3. Too Close to call (1876 / 2000 endgame)
    If this happens, then, holy shit are we in trouble. The country would collapse into civil war and revolution. If we just didn’t know who the next president was going to be…whoa buddy. Chaos. Violence. Collapse. Fourth Turning.
  4. Biden Loses — It’s a Lulz
    If Biden loses and 1 million smug Twitter liberals leave the country ASAP, then, lulz, we turn into an autocracy and that’s that. We wake up in a few years and President-for-Life Trump is invading Canada for some dumb reason.
  5. Biden Loses — Glorious Revolution
    In this scenario, Trump wins but goes full Tyrant in such a way that Blues stand their ground and organize things like a General Strike and or a Women’s Strike. The U.S. Military, rather than being Trump’s SA goons, stands down and maybe uses the guise of the 14th Amendment to overthrow Trump and we have President James Mattis for a few months until a Constitutional Convention can be called up.
  6. The 1872 Election Endgame
    Look it up. It’s bad

Here’s how malignant ding-dong Trump plans to rule starting in late January 2025 if he wins re-election.

On a basic level, his animal brain knows he can rely upon Red States to give him free reign to be a more traditional autocrat. As such, he realizes he has two things standing his way — Blue States and the “Deep State” found lurking within the Federal government.

So, what he believes he can do is purge the Federal government of anyone who opposes him, knowing that he can rely upon the MAGA hacks of SCOTUS to back him up. He will also use his pardon power in a gratuitous manner to allow his fascist toadies to do any number of otherwise illegal things.

Then what he does is “crush” opposition in Blue States using the U.S. Military using the Insurrection Act. So, in Blue parts of the country Trump plans to rule not as an autocrat, but as a military dictator. Meanwhile, he will browbeat the national press so no one will know how bad things have gotten in Blue States. Remember — in an autocracy, communication can be a weapon. I could even see domestic social media being regulated to an unprecended extent as 2025 progresses.

Ok. There are some weaknesses to this plot. The key one being the United States is pretty porous to the point that if the U.S. Military was killing thousands of people in Blue States, it would inevitably be discovered in Red and Purple States. ALSO, I’m not 100% sure that the U.S. Military is totally prepared to be Trump’s MAGA SA-like goons.

But I have to give Trump credit, he’s a lot closer to being the type of autocrat he admires. But there are at least two issues he simply can not avoid — the whole setup will be EXTREMELY UNSTABLE and he’s fucking old.

I feel better now, though. I have figured out what we’re up against should Trump win in 2024.

Idle Musing About How The Canucks & Other Allies Might Help Depose Tyrant Trump

by Ender

Some scenarios for the day after tomorrow:

  1. Trump Loses — gives up
    It’s a real possibility that all the wet dreams of earnest, well meaning liberals like Mueller, She Wrote will come true and lulz, not only does Trump lose, but he just gives up. The “Good Guys” win and that’s it. We punt our structural problems down the road another four years.
  2. Trump Loses — demands a National Divorce
    In this scenario, Trump loses, but instead of just slinking away, he frantically demands a National Divorce. A lot — A LOT — would depend on, say, Texas in this scenario. There is a greater-than-zero chance that Texas could very well call up a Secessionist Convention if Trump demanded a National Divorce. This would, in turn, cause a civil war.
  3. Too Close to call (1876 / 2000 endgame)
    If this happens, then, holy shit are we in trouble. The country would collapse into civil war and revolution. If we just didn’t know who the next president was going to be…whoa buddy. Chaos. Violence. Collapse. Fourth Turning.
  4. Biden Loses — It’s a Lulz
    If Biden loses and 1 million smug Twitter liberals leave the country ASAP, then, lulz, we turn into an autocracy and that’s that. We wake up in a few years and President-for-Life Trump is invading Canada for some dumb reason.
  5. Biden Loses — Glorious Revolution
    In this scenario, Trump wins but goes full Tyrant in such a way that Blues stand their ground and organize things like a General Strike and or a Women’s Strike. The U.S. Military, rather than being Trump’s SA goons, stands down and maybe uses the guise of the 14th Amendment to overthrow Trump and we have President James Mattis for a few months until a Constitutional Convention can be called up.
  6. The 1872 Election Endgame
    Look it up. It’s bad

I’m not advocating anything! I just like to run scenarios and, as such, I like to look at whatever is bothering me from different angles. As such, let’s revisit something I’ve written about before — what the fuck would the global reaction to Tyrant Trump attempting to impose a military dictatorship on the United States be?

If things get as bad as I fear — and they may not — and 1 million smug Twitter liberals flee the country, the Canada will be awash in American political refugees the moment Trump is declared the winner of the 2024 election. They got plenty of land and all the refugees would be wealthy, well educated and well trained, so they would be welcomed to open arms.

But if ding-dong Trump started get too bad, the natural temptation of the Canucks, NATO, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan would be to try to help the democratic resistance to the would-be Tyrant King Trump. It would be like a reverse Underground Railroad with arms coming into the US via the “open border” to the north. (I’M NOT ADVOCATING ANYTHING!!!)

It does make me wonder what would happen if Trump literally declared himself king. Would THAT be enough for my Traditionalist relatives — who I love dearly — to finally say, “I’m out.”

Or maybe not. Maybe the weird cultural, political and economic problems that have bent American politics would just be too much to the point that Trump could literally declare himself a king…and it would still be a lulz as long as brown kids were back in cages.

Trump is upset because Blue Meanies have hurt his feelings.
But things would have to get REALLY BAD for that sort of thing to happen. And, yet, if Trump literally does put the U.S. Military in the streets of major American cities because they’re populated by “Blue Meanies” then, oh boy, anything is possible.

Radical Moderates: Renegades Of Funk

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


Some scenarios for the day after tomorrow:

  1. Trump Loses — gives up
    It’s a real possibility that all the wet dreams of earnest, well meaning liberals like Mueller, She Wrote will come true and lulz, not only does Trump lose, but he just gives up. The “Good Guys” win and that’s it. We punt our structural problems down the road another four years.
  2. Trump Loses — demands a National Divorce
    In this scenario, Trump loses, but instead of just slinking away, he frantically demands a National Divorce. A lot — A LOT — would depend on, say, Texas in this scenario. There is a greater-than-zero chance that Texas could very well call up a Secessionist Convention if Trump demanded a National Divorce. This would, in turn, cause a civil war.
  3. Too Close to call (1876 / 2000 endgame)
    If this happens, then, holy shit are we in trouble. The country would collapse into civil war and revolution. If we just didn’t know who the next president was going to be…whoa buddy. Chaos. Violence. Collapse. Fourth Turning.
  4. Biden Loses — It’s a Lulz
    If Biden loses and 1 million smug Twitter liberals leave the country ASAP, then, lulz, we turn into an autocracy and that’s that. We wake up in a few years and President-for-Life Trump is invading Canada for some dumb reason.
  5. Biden Loses — Glorious Revolution
    In this scenario, Trump wins but goes full Tyrant in such a way that Blues stand their ground and organize things like a General Strike and or a Women’s Strike. The U.S. Military, rather than being Trump’s SA goons, stands down and maybe uses the guise of the 14th Amendment to overthrow Trump and we have President James Mattis for a few months until a Constitutional Convention can be called up.
  6. The 1872 Election Endgame
    Look it up. It’s bad

    Oh boy. Now that it is clear to me that Trump is so fucking stupid that he wants he thinks he can get away with imposing an actual military dictatorship on the United States…yikes.

It would take a next level amount of stupidity on his part to try to do such a thing. But here we are, with the idea that that is exactly what Trump might try to do. Any other Republican and I would tell you to prepare for a garden variety autocracy.

But Trump’s fascination with the Insurrection Act is very, very troubling. If he actually tries to establish a military dictatorship because his abstract thinking ability is too weak to think of the power plays of an autocrat, we are all in A LOT of trouble.

And, yet, as I keep saying, I can’t fucking predict the future. There are plenty — plenty — of known unknowns that might allow us to punt all of our structural problems down the road. But if Trump goes full tyrant not as an autocrat, but as a would-be military dictator…you got me.

There just would be no viable endgame.

We would be going beyond just “bad optics” to the type of tyrannical behavior that might even make Traditionalists who just want brown children in cages again….to sit up and take notice.

Radical Moderates are found in William Safire’s novel “Freedom.”
If that were to happen, then a group of people not seen since the American Civil War might appear in American politics — Radical Moderates. These are people who are usually Traditionalists, but, for a very brief amount of time are willing to adopt otherwise radical measures because of tectonic forces of political history.

But maybe I’m overthinking things. Maybe Trump will lose. Or something. We still have a year of stewing in our political juices to find out one way or another.

A Bridge Too Far

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Any understanding of what Tyrant Trump is chomping at the bit to do should he win re-election gives every indication that he doesn’t want to be an autocrat — he wants to be a military dictator.

There is a big difference between being an autocrat and being a military dictator. An autocrat — usually in the beginning at least — is willing to play by the rules of civil society. That has been a go-to play for every autocrat since Augustus Caesar.

And that’s what I’ve always assumed Trump would do. I thought he would use the basic elements of being a strong man as seen in Russia, Hungary and Turkey. But from what I can tell from his obsession with the Insurrection Act, Trump really does want to go full tyrant by being a military dictator.

His decision to go full tyrant maybe be out of a combination of how stupid he is and the simple fact that he doesn’t have a MAGA SA to knock heads. He thinks invoking the Insurrection Act is like fascist magic pixie dust that will solve all of his problems, being too stupid to realize if instead of “four dead in Ohio” we have “10,000 dead in LA” that the American populace could, collectively freak the fuck out.

EVEN IF Trump had some sort of an organized paramilitary arm of MAGA, the US of 2025 is not the same as Germany 1933. The United States is huge, decentralized, diverse and has a long, long tradition of a free society. You would have to have at least 500,000 MAGA SA members who could swoop into restive Blue States and knock heads.

And simply using the U.S. Military — an democratic institution itself — to get what you want just isn’t going to cut it. At least, I’d like to think so. I suppose I’m giving the U.S. Military too much credit by thinking that if there was some sort of collective action like a General Strike or a Women’s Strike that that might be enough to cause it to stand down — or even join any sort of movement to depose Tyrant Trump.

But there are many, many known unknowns. We’re still a year away from all of this and there is always a pretty good chance that Trump will not win, fade into political oblivion and everything will work itself out.

Potential Scenarios for late 2024, early 2025:

  1. Trump Loses — gives up
    It’s a real possibility that all the wet dreams of earnest, well meaning liberals like Mueller, She Wrote will come true and lulz, not only does Trump lose, but he just gives up. The “Good Guys” win and that’s it. We punt our structural problems down the road another four years.
  2. Trump Loses — demands a National Divorce
    In this scenario, Trump loses, but instead of just slinking away, he frantically demands a National Divorce. A lot — A LOT — would depend on, say, Texas in this scenario. There is a greater-than-zero chance that Texas could very well call up a Secessionist Convention if Trump demanded a National Divorce. This would, in turn, cause a civil war.
  3. Too Close to call (1876 / 2000 endgame)
    If this happens, then, holy shit are we in trouble. The country would collapse into civil war and revolution. If we just didn’t know who the next president was going to be…whoa buddy. Chaos. Violence. Collapse. Fourth Turning.
  4. Biden Loses — It’s a Lulz
    If Biden loses and 1 million smug Twitter liberals leave the country ASAP, then, lulz, we turn into an autocracy and that’s that. We wake up in a few years and President-for-Life Trump is invading Canada for some dumb reason.
  5. Biden Loses — Glorious Revolution
    In this scenario, Trump wins but goes full Tyrant in such a way that Blues stand their ground and organize things like a General Strike and or a Women’s Strike. The U.S. Military, rather than being Trump’s SA goons, stands down and maybe uses the guise of the 14th Amendment to overthrow Trump and we have President James Mattis for a few months until a Constitutional Convention can be called up.
  6. The 1872 Election Endgame
    Look it up. It’s bad.

Could The US Have A Military Coup In 2025?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The key thing to remember about Trump is he is so fucking stupid and lazy that he a one man stress test of the traditional American Constitutional order. As such, even though — EVEN THOUGH — America is spread eagle, ready and willing to get fucked by an autocrat, Trump is sooooo stupid and lazy that he could fuck things up.

America collectively ready on a political basis to slob the knob of an autocrat, but Trump is such a ham-handed lover that she might pull away because the vibes are all wrong. What I mean by that is, even with Agenda47 and other fascist ideas, Trump could push the average American to the point where they might be willing to participate in a General Strike or Women’s Strike, even though that would go against two centuries of American political and labor history.

But that would only happen if things grew REALLY EXTREME. Trump would have to be snatching the Clintons and Obamas off the street in a really conspicuous way for such things to happen. Whatever the Second Trump Administration was doing, it would have to be something so fucking tyrannical that your typical Traditionalist who just wants brown children in cages again would actually sit up and take notice.

That’s the great irony. If ANY OTHER Republican became president in 2025, they would be smart enough to be a “light touch” autocrat until they were powerful enough to finally strangle what’s left of American democracy. But Trump is soooooo stupid and lazy, he could very well cause Traditionalists to turn into Radical Moderates who will at least accept his overthrow at the hands of the U.S. Military.

But A LOT of things would have to go wrong for us to get to that point. Trump would really have to push the otherwise pretty laid back American population to a breaking point. He would literally have to “lock her up” in such a way that the average American woman simply decides not to go to work for a few days until she’s released — at a minium.

At the moment — I just don’t see that happening. Americans just don’t have it in them. But, who knows?

A Now We Wait: A Hot Take On A Potential New Pandemic

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

From conversations with my far more conservative relatives, I just don’t see there being any political will for the type of lockdowns we saw in 2020 if whatever this epizootic in China turns out to be another pandemic. It apparently affects children as a type of walking pneumonia so unless, lulz, we’re fucked, folks.

Millions of young children could be totally knocked out, our health care infrastructure could collapse and conservatives would STILL be re-litigating the excesses of 2020. So, there you go, we just wait and see now. It could be that this is not at all what we think it is — it’s not another pandemic — and, as such, we just cruise towards a Tyrant Trump military dictatorship in early 2025.

If it is something to worry about, we’ll know one way or another around Christmas. That would give this new potential pandemic time to reach the US after some incubation.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Reading the above, I’m growing even more alarmed with our fate should Trump get re-elected. And, before I write any more, let me be clear — I’M NOT ADVOCATING ANYTHING!!! I’m just making my abstract fears concrete then thinking about in a general way, what might happen.

Please, any ATF people reading this blog post — chill the fuck out. I hate violence. I hate guns. I really fucking hate guns.

Ok, back to the point — what the fuck are we going to do if Trump goes full tyrant in early 2025? Now, remember, at this point, Trump will have two ways to knock heads — the Insurrection Act and a weaponization of the existing ICE infrastructure. At the moment, at least, Tyrant Trump would not have an paramilitary MAGA SA to browbeat the average Blue into either allowing him to establish a military dictatorship or to flee the country to avoid being put in an ICE camp.

One possible way that the freedom-loving American populace could remind Tyrant Trump that he can’t just turn us into an autocratic state without some consequences might be a Women’s Strike or General Strike. But that would be so unpreceded that I just don’t see them happening. But if they did and the American economy ground to a halt, that might be enough to get the U.S. Military at a minimum to stand down.

At best the U.S. Military might topple Trump using the guise of the 14th Amendment — stranger things have happened. But it could be that Trump succeeds despite himself, like he always does.

About 1 million smug, wealthy liberals will leave the country starting the moment it’s clear that Trump will be POTUS again and we Poors will just have to fend for ourselves. I will get snatched off the street by an ICE agent because I kept calling Tyrant Trump a “fucking cocksucker” on this blog over the years.

If so, so be it. I’d rather die on my feet than live my life on my knees a slave.

The Key Thing That Will Make The Beginning Of Trump’s Second Term Different: People Will Leave The Country In Droves

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If malignant ding-dong Trump manages to get re-elected in 2024, the thing that will make everyone in the Unites States take notice will be the sheer number of people who will flee the country. And it could be more than just the usual loudmouth Twitter liberals.

It could be some really notable people in American culture who bounce. To the point that it could begin to be compared to what happened when Hitler took over Germany in 1933. And, if it gets bad enough, it will be referred to as an “American Brain Drain.”

To put another way — the moment it’s clear that Trump has won the 2024 Election, there will be mass chaos in the United States that will either end with the establishment of a military dictatorship or…..?

I AM NOT ADVOCATING ANYTHING.

I’m just pointing out the obvious — Trump may very well push average American to unprecedented extremes. It’s one thing for a lot of well meaning Traditionalists to kick out 10 million undocumented people and a whole different matter when their crank liberal-progressive relative (that would be me) gets sent to a camp.

The United States of 2025 is not Germany 1933. And while there will be PLENTY of “Good Germans” if things get as bad as I fear, the Untied States is so diverse and decentralized — and Trump doesn’t have an SA to be his goons — if, say, a weaponized ICE infrastructure dragnet puts people like me in a camp…who knows what might happen.

I’M NOT ADVOCATING ANYTHING.

Trump Has A Lot of Slack If He Decides To Go Full Tyrant In 2025

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Talking to my REALLY conservative Traditionalist relatives, it is clear that Trump has a huge amount of slack ahead of him if he decides to go full tyrant before this very important segment of the political body politic cares. They will cheer if Trump crushes BLM or Antifa in Blue State cities using the Insurrection Act. They will cheer if ICE is weaponized and turned into a Gestapo that forces 10 million undocumented people out of the country.

It won’t be until Trump starts to go after the free press and or snatches people they care about — like ME — that they might sit up and take notice. Or maybe they won’t. They might just become Good Germans and keep their head down and when I call Trump a “fucking cocksucker” at a bar somewhere and get picked up by an ICE agent, they may just shrug and say I had it coming. I love my conservative relatives dearly, but I sometimes fear they aren’t taking the threat from Trump seriously.

Of course, it could be that none of this is going to happen. It could be that Trump loses the election and simply wanders off without a peep other than vague threats of a National Divorce. That is a very real possibility. If that is the case, then we punt our problems down the road another four years.

That’s what I HOPE will happen. I WANT to be wrong. I really do. Anyway. if I’m right, then oh boy, are we in serious fucking trouble.