by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I written about this before, but all signs point to the United States, much like the late 1850s, is tearing itself into two different nations. Many, but thankfully not all, of the signs that were there before the Civil War are beginning to pop up in the modern America of the 2020s.
One really fucked up symptom of how the country is tearing itself apart is how we can’t even laugh at the same things. I’m well aware that much of this siloing is happening because the MAGA Right thinks all comics are members of the “woke cancel culture mob” and, as such, out of sheer desperation they watch Gutfeld! even though the man is objectively not fucking funny. I’ve heard dad jokes that are funnier than anything Gutfeld utters.
As an aside — I continue to be amazed at how MAGA Republicans have embraced Dave Chappelle for his anti-trans statements. What’s telling is, even when I tell them that for all the attempts to “cancel” him, Chappelle remains as popular as he ever was….they simply don’t listen. It’s usually at this point in the conversation when I totally lose their attention. They’re so busy getting angry about the “woke cancel culture mob” and how it wants to turn everyone gay…they just don’t listen to anything else I have to say about Chappelle.
Anyway, the inability of Red and Blue to laugh at the same thing is yet another macro indication that the country is fucked and we face the existential choice of autocracy, civil war or military junta between now and, say, January 2025. I have no idea what the ultimate endgame to this clusterfuck is, but I do know we all had better buckle up — especially if the fucking MAGA fascist cocksuckers take one or both houses of Congress in a few days.
