Tag: Weimar America

‘Vichy America,’ Or: I Know Way Too Many Fucking Fascists



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarer

Repeatedly over the last few days, I’ve found myself talking to people who were American fascists. Such fascists make a point of establishing that the United States is a “constitutional republic” and not a democracy. To me, this seems a pretty obvious setup to crowing when Trump steals the election in the fall and somehow magically remains president after, on a democratic level, he loses.

Another interesting thing is how absolute these fucking fascists are in their support for Trump. They crow that we should expect “36 years” of Trump rule. They say this nearly in the same breath as the one they just used to talk about the United States not being a democracy but a “constitutional republic.” Having a family stay in power that long definitely doesn’t sound like a republic to me.

Of course, I guess these shithead fascists would would bob and weave when I pointed out that under their definition of a “constitutional republic.” Russia is one, too. Which, of course, is what they want. What I see as a tragedy, the see as “making America great again.” They want the very nightmare of a fascist America that I desperately hope to avoid.

The even greater irony is these very same people are extremely delusional (at least relative to what I find demonstrable) by saying things like I’m going to “have to learn Russian and Chinese” if Biden wins. Given what a fucking suckup Trump to both President Putin and President Xi, this seems a dubious suggestion to say the least.

But the whole point is, not since Vichy France has a democracy so willingly allowed itself to slip into tyranny. I read a lot of people talking about how the Republican Party needs to be burned to the ground after Trump (should this ever happen), but this is extremely clueless.

Trump is the Republican Party and the Republican Party is Trump. Even under the best of scenarios, neither he nor the Republican Party are going anywhere and he’s likely to continue use his absolute control over the GOP to destroy what’s left of any form of liberal democracy in the States. Instead of living in a dream world, we need to start to figure out how we’re going to survive in fascist America for the next 20 to 40 years.

The Republican Party has a bloodlust for absolute power that, to date, has been mitigated by how bonkers and incompetent The Dear Leader is. There are about a dozen would-be successors to Trump who are younger, more focused and a lot less incompetently bonkers who are comping at the bit to finish the process Trump began.

As I’ve said before, someone like Trump was bound to become president at some point between 2016 and 2024 for demographic reasons, if nothing else. Something about Obama’s second term turned the Republican Party into fascists and Trump was the vessel for our decent into fascism.

In real terms, a lot of this fascism is simply the modern equivalent of the Roman Republic becoming the Roman Empire. So, in a sense, the only thing stopping House Trump — or whomever the fuck else — from simply going full Darth Vader on us is what kept the Roman Empire from never actually having a “king” — it goes against America’s collective self-perception too much.

While it is inevitable that the 1st and 4th Amendments will be…uhh…radically reinterpreted in Trump’s stolen second term, even if he does, somehow leave office, then that very same reinterpretation will happen under a President Pompeo or President Cotton. All Trump did was slice the seal on tyranny.

On a macro demographic level we are all very much fucked and there’s nothing we can do about it but either get out of the country or think about what we’re going to say when the Little Green Men finally come for us.

The Durham Investigation, My #Novel & The Need To Do Political Triage


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As suspected, if you want to get the attention of fucking MAGA cocksucking fascists, put the “Durham Investigation” in the title of a Webpost. So, with that in mind, I’d like to tell any MAGA person reading this to please fuck off and eat shit you fucking racist, misogynistic piece of shit.

Anyway, I could spend all day simply putting the “Durham Investigation” in the title of Web posts and screaming at MAGA people or, I could be productive and work on my novel. In the interest of not coming off like a lunatic, I’m going to work on my novel.

But the Durham Investigation pretty much sums up why we live in a fascist state now. There are people who actually WANT the entire Obama Administrator to be frogwalked to Gitmo because they’re fucking racist, misogynistic fucktards. The Durham Investigation is one of about a dozen ways Trump is going to steal the election in a rather brazen, bold way. If he doesn’t indict Biden himself, he’ll indict Hunter Biden. If he doesn’t do that, he’ll use his Little Green Men to prevent any necessary recounts. The list goes on.

And the fucking dipshit shitheads who coo at this point about America is a “constitutional republic” not a democracy can go to hell. Since 1800 we’ve had the peaceful transition of power under that constitution and suddenly you think being a “constitutional republic” is a catch-all that lets you own the moment. What you’re really saying is you don’t believe in democracy now that Trump is in power and you WANT the very thing everyone else is afraid of — a fascist “managed democracy” like they have in Russia.

It’s this kind of thing that makes one realize people who ACTUALLY love America when it was “great” need to stop worrying about what fucking fascists think. The entire system has collapsed because of the ineffectual “resistance” on the part of the center-Left in the United States and so we move to triage –what can we save?

I doubt very much.

You’re not going to change any MAGA fascists mind. You need to start thinking about either leaving the country or doing something in the real world to at least, I don’t know, make the world a better place? I’m working on a novel that pretty much is just me using all the powerless frustration I feel about the rise of fascism in the United States to tell a great yarn.

But I’m assuming I’m going to die in an ICE camp at this point.

America As Fascist State



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of MAGA’s favorite talking points these days is that United States is “a constitutional republic not a democracy.” They can get quite snotty about it, in fact.

Laying aside why they wouldn’t WANT to live in a democracy, this is their way of establishing the groundwork for why it’s “totally cool and totally legal” that Trump brazenly, in an astonishing fashion, steals the election in the fall. When it happens, they can shout at the top of their lungs that we rubes are fools for being enraged that American democracy is dead. “Buht America’s a constitutional republic,” they’ll crow.

As usual, this is MAGA tactically owning the moment in the short term to deflect what fucking fascists they are. Them being soooooo absolute about this conflation of terminology either gets you upset and the conversation devolves into screaming or you waste way too much time trying to explain something with, until recently, was simply assumed — there are “norms” that we all follow that make sure the while, yes, we are a “constitutional republic” we all agree that there should be free and fair elections and it’s like a bloodthirsty fight simply to get the ruling party to accept defeat in an election.

But that’s just the beginning of the clusterfuckery.

The issue of Trump’s goons snatching people off the streets of Portland to make campaign videos for the Trump campaign is another, more important issue. In general, I’ve come to believe that you can pretty much figure out if someone is a fascist by their response to this Authoritarian turn for the worse. The further they are away from “Oh my GOD, what’s happening?” they are, the more, well, fascist they are. If they’re quibbling about stupid shit how the people snatched are let go after a little while or that these Little Green Men have “police” on them, then, well, you’re talking to a fascist.

Everyone involved would be better off if MAGA simply embraced their fascism. Then we’d all be on the same page. Of course, I guess, in a sense, they will at some point down the road when MAGA pivots from any argument at all about Trump to whispering in harsh tones that people like me “should shut up if you know what’s good for you.” The implication being, of course, that Little Green Men will come for YOU now.

I would prefer if I was able to finish and sell my novel before Trump finally comes after people like me for good.

America As Trumplandia: Living In A Fascist State


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of the talking points of fucking cocksucker MAGA shitheads whenever people like me begin ranting about how Trump is a threat to democracy is that the United States is really a “constitutional republic.” This helps them “own the moment” because instead of talk about people being snatched off the street in Portland, suddenly you’re fighting over what it means to be American and the exact meaning of “democracy” and “constitutional republic.”

If you really wanted to get technical about it, Russia is a “constitutional republic,” and people getting pushed out of windows there.

It’s when you have to fight over such stupid shit that it one should take a deep breath and realize that if you’re arguing with a MAGA person, you’re arguing with a fascist. Because of a number of demographic, social and economic macro problems in the United States, we are now a fascist state.

What this means in practical terms is while in “the before times” Biden would likely win in a landslide in the fall, that’s simply not going to happen this time. MAGA fascists, when Trump uses all the levers of power at his disposal to steal the election in a rather brazen fashion, will snort and say, “but we’re a constitutional republic.”

There comes a point when you have to realize that MAGA shitheads WANT the very things you’re afraid will happen. They wants a “managed democracy” like there is in Russia. That’s what they want. It’s not like you can in any way make them care about traditional American democracy values because, well, they don’t believe in them.

All the MAGA people I talk to in my life are so absolute in their abstract fears about what progressives MIGHT do, that they won’t answer you when you asked them direct questions about our decent into tyranny. The great irony is Trump is his own worst enemy, so the only way we’re ever getting him out of office — ever — is he, himself somehow screws things up so badly that he leaves.

That could be because he finally loses his mind, or, I don’t know, raises taxes.

The point of all of this is — there’s no one to save us. The only way fascists are gotten rid of is if they lose a war. So it definitely seems we have 20 to 40 years of fascist rule ahead of us until the demographics of the Graying of America crosses that of the Browning of America.

Of The Durham Investigation


by Shelt Garner
@Sheltgarner

Now, I know how the world works, so if you’ve stumbled across the post because you’re some fucking Qanon shithead fucktard, please eat shit.

The current lingering “Durham Investigation” is only one of a host of ways the Trump Administration is going to steal the election in the fall. The Durham Investigation is looking into the origins of the investigation into Trump and Russia and given the overheated rhetoric it generates on the Right, it definitely seems as though they expect the entire Obama Administration to be frogwalked to Gitmo.

There is so much agitation about this, that I’ve come to believe that’s pretty much what’s going to happen. At some point between now and, say, mid-October, there will be bullshit criminal referrals for Joe Biden and President Obama. While Biden being charged is an obvious “duh,” Obama being charged would have a more subtle point to it: Trump would want to show what would happen if HE got charged in a sort of, “Well, if you think Obama being charged was bad, just wait until you try to charge ME.”

This is yet another concrete sign that the United States is now a fascist state. The sooner people like me acknowledge and accept it, the better. What this means in practical terms is Trump is never, ever leaving office for any reason and we need to begin making plans for what we’re going to do in Trump’s ill-gotten second term when people start getting pushed out of windows.

All I got is a novel I’m working on. Hopefully, I have a window of opportunity before freedom of speech is finally squelched for good.

#Art, The #Trump Era & My #Novel


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I feel less inclined to talk about this novel as I grow more serious and more confident that it will be as good as I hoped for two years ago. I’d rather be using my time to develop, read and write than write about writing.

And, yet, I do continue to pay for this Website, so I here I am.

One thing that is interesting is two different macro trends are rushing towards each other. On one hand, under the traditional norms of American politics, Biden is cruising towards a possible blowout win. Meanwhile, the rise of fascism in the United States indicates that lulz, that doesn’t matter. Trump is going to rather brazenly steal the election, leaving 60% of the electorate apoplectic.

The question is, of course, how is art going to address this. First, we’re all going to have to accept that there’s going to be a crackdown in the arts in Trump’s second term. The late night hosts will be purged first and foremost. Gradually, people will begin to be pushed out of windows like they are in Russia. Lulz!

But I believe there should be a window of opportunity for a novel such as mine between when Trump steals the election and when, well, things get so bad that Little Green Men snatch people like me off the street.

I have a lot to say about the Trump Era and that’s what my novel is about. My white hot rage against the Trump Administration is the source of the energy necessary to finish this novel (actually one story, two novels.) Hopefully, however, my rage against the vile policies of the Trump won’t come across as preaching in the text itself. I hope to diffuse my rage so much that you can read this novel as simply an interesting thriller and that will be that.

As I keep saying, there are some existential aspects to this story that will be a tip off to my political views, but I can’t help that. From the very beginning of this process, there have been some elements to this story that I wanted to use and I’ve worked very hard to make them organic. So they’re not going anywhere.

And, really, in the end, I believe a lot of other people will be seething with rage about the Trump Era when this novel comes out and some of the more obvious ranting in the novel will find a receptive audience.

The Demise Of The Republic & The #Novel I’m Developing & #Writing



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I feel rather powerless these days. It seems virtually everyone I know is willfully accepting the rise of tyranny in the United States. It definitively seems as though my worse nightmares from Election Night 2016 are coming true. As such, I have a lot of bent up frustration in me that needs to go somewhere. So it’s going into the novel I’m developing and writing.

The last time I was this focused on something was in 2006 – 2007 when I was working on ROKon magazine. It totally consumed me and ultimately pretty much destroyed me. What makes this different is it’s just me. I don’t have a “tribe” I have to “feed” by publishing the magazine each month. I only have to worry about myself. I keep trying to move forward with development and churning out copy.

My focus grows more intense every day when I have mind-boggling conversations with people who make “Good Germans” like progressives. They have either stopped believing in democracy or they are so short sighted they are indifferent to the red lights blinking that Trump isn’t going to allow free and fair elections in the fall.

As I’ve said before, it seems as though after Trump has brazenly stolen the 2020 election, there will be a lot of people who will want to read about the Trump Era in the form that I have come up with. Though events in Portland involving American Little Green Men make some of the previously outrageous parts of the novel I’m working on seem almost real. (Or maybe eventually real for sooner than you might have expected.)

The point is — I’m working so hard not to make this simply Resistance fanfiction and reality is changing so dramatically that for the worse that I’m feeling a lot better about the scenario I’ve come up with.

Well, At Least This #Novel May Be More Popular As Fascism Arrives In The United States


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As America lurches more rapidly into fascism, at least I can take solace in the fact that there’s a good chance this will aid in my novel’s ultimate success. I’m a very abstract, allegorical personal in general and my novel is no exception. I couldn’t help myself — I constructed the canon of this novel in such a way that a lot of the abstract issues of the Trump Era are made concrete.

The thriller part of the plot is simply an excuse to have people run around the allegorical universe I’ve constructed.

That’s the thing about developing a novel — you’re pretty much just rushing into the void. You have no idea what the world will look like when you try to sell it.

Anyway, this novel definitely is, well, ME. It’s very much a reflection of my personal history and personality. I’m trying to make it difficult — at least in the text –to figure out what my politics are, but it’s really tough sometimes. The best I can do at this point is to put all my unpopular opinions, the ones that don’t fit the narrative — in the mouths of the bad guys.

But I am honestly trying to make this story (two novels, one story) a critique of the entirety of the Trump Era, not just the parts I don’t like. I think the center-Left is pathetic in the United States because too often it’s more interested in scoring points on Twitter than doing anything about the rise of fascism in the country.

Fascism has come to America and the real question — at least for me — is how much will I be allowed to get away with in this novel. Freedom of speech will likely be the last thing to go in the United States and maybe I’ll be able to publish this thing in the window of opportunity that will exist in the early months of Trump’s ill-gotten second term.

Choreographing A Scene #AmWriting


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While the nation I love is being burned to the ground by a bunch of fucking incompetent idiots, I find myself working on a more complex scene in the novel I’m working on.

All I can say is it’s times like this when the white hot rage I feel towards the Trump Administration comes in handy. I have a scene I’m working on that requires a lot of work because it has one or two extra people in it. It’s an important scene because a lot of information is being conveyed within it meant to push the plot forward.

I have come up with a unique way to address the #MeToo movement that I think a lot of men will enjoy. The point of telling a story with a message is that, like, people actually enjoy enough to consume it. That was the big problem with the movie Booksmart — I hated that movie, even though I was empathetic to its message because it insulted me.

With the novel I’m working on, I want everyone (expect maybe fucking shithead MAGA people) to have a good time. If you’re just a regular old conservative, I really hope you’ll find something to hang your hat on. I want my protagonist to be more conservative than I am, but it’s a struggle. It’s difficult — given how fetid MAGA has made the conservative movement — for me to figure out how square the circle on that one. But I’m trying, at least.

One thing about this novel, at least in the first draft, is it’s not dark and scary. It’s no Gone Girl. It’s no The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I’m just not that type of person. But it’s the first draft still. The point of this draft is to just get the story down. In the second draft I’m going to work on tone more. I think having a dark and scary prologue will do a lot to set the tone of the novel from the beginning.

But anyway. I have a huge amount of work to do on this scene. My rage against the Trump Administration is dragging me by the collar. I’m absolutely focused — obsessed, if you will — with using what little talent I have to lay out an indictment of this fucked up moment in our nation’s history.

My Prediction For The Republican Party In A Post-Trump America


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The issue when thinking about the extremely unlikely possibility that we’ll actually physically get Trump out of the White House (no matter the outcome in the fall) is people think anything matters.

MAGA Republicans have gotten what they have wanted for 20 years — a big tax cut and a massive influx of young, hack MAGA judges on the Federal bench for 20 to 40 years. So, really, that’s what they’re going to focus about Trump going forward. That’s what they’ll pivot to.

Remember, we have about 20 years before the Graying of America crosses the Browning of America. As such, House Trump — even if somehow the lying, cheating and stealing they plan to do in the fall isn’t enough to keep them in power — will probably bounce back quite quickly. Trump will still have a Twitter account and a Rolodex of powerful people he can use after four years in office. He will, in effect, continue to be a one man Republican primary process.

And, remember, it was only six years from Nixon leaving office in 1974 to the Reagan Revolution of 1980. Six years. So, it seems pretty logical that MAGA is here to stay on a macro level, no matter what happens. When one of a democracy’s major parties doesn’t believe in democracy, well, that’s not something that is helpful to a liberal democracy at all.

Also, lurking in the darkness is a long-term goal on the part of the far Right to call up a Constitutional Convention so they can fuck everything up for good. It’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of details at this point. Either it happens in Trump’s second term, or it happens during Tucker Carlson’s first term. Or whomever.

My absolute certainty as to how doomed we are — and my absolute inability to do anything about it — is the source of the energy needed for me to develop and write a novel about how fucked up everything is right now.