Category: Cold Civil War

My Hot Take On The Clusterfuck Going On In The House of Representatives Right Now

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Just from what I can glean on Twitter, it seems as though the crux of the problem when it comes to electing a new Speaker is this: all the momentum is with the fascists, but the fascists don’t have the votes. So, you have a situation where a core group of MAGA fascists won’t be placated unless they elect an actual Nazi as Speaker.

But they don’t have the votes, there is some of a standoff going on between the fascists and the moderates how are queasy at the naming an actual fascist as speaker. It will be interesting who blinks first on this subject. I’m seeing a lot of chatter within far Right MAGA circles around Chip Roy. He makes Jim Jordan look like AOC and, as such, is perfect for what the dyed in the wool fascists want in a Speaker.

Really, what MAGA Republicans want is to cut out the middle man and have a Speaker Trump.

It could be that the House is going to give Trumplandia levels of “entertainment” when it comes to being out of control and generating vast sums of bullshit. Once they figure out who the Speaker is going to be, then the which hunts will be gin about “the Big Guy” and the border “crisis.” The number of people in the Biden Administration who are probably going to get impeached this year will be shocking.

And remember — we’re in for a moderate to severe recession this year and or next, which would be a perfect storm if you want to get the public behind successfully impeaching a president and or vice president for made up bullshit.

There Is A Temptation To Burn It All Down: ‘If You Talk About Destruction, You Can Count Me Out (In)’ {Not Really}

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I talk to my Traditionalist relatives and they are enraged, apoplectic about the soft power of the “woke cancel culture mob.” They really, really are interested in burning the entire system down so they can be “left alone” to believe being gay is a sin, rather than having to worry about pronouns or “woke” movies they believe are part of the homosexual agenda.

Ugh.

The crux of all this bullshit is, of course, our hyperpartisan political environment. And I have come to believe that what’s really going on income disparity in the United States has, at last, reached a critical mass. I say this because higher education is out of reach for a lot of young men from blue collar homes and, as such, they are more ripe for the picking for authoritarian fascism.

And income disparity is only going to get worse with the rise of chatbots that may wipe out what remaining high paying blue collar jobs continue to linger in the economy. And, what’s worse, a lot of creative jobs may also go poof as well.

But I have to say, a little part of me finds the idea of burning the system to the ground somewhat, mildly appealing. But I would becoming at it from a populist and Leftist point of view, rather than the Right wing populism of the MAGA New Right.

And, yet, I’m not really all that interested in any such thing. It is very annoying how fucked up the American economy is — I mean, why to billionaires even exist? — but, lulz, I’m a nobody in the middle of nowhere.

I have a novel to work on.

The Predicted 2023 Recession Could Reinvigorate The MAGA Republican Movement

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If history has taught us anything, it’s that economic hardship helps fascist movements. So, while MAGA Republicans are kind of on the backfoot at the moment with their ding-dong leader Trump selling ill-conceived NFTs of all things, it’s possible that a severe 2023 recession could seriously juice their political fortunes going into the 2024 election cycle.

So, it’s at least possible that a severe 2023 recession — especially in the context of a simultaneous chatbot revolution — could be enough to return has-been Trump into most powerful man in American politics. And as I have often said — if Trump is the 2024 Republican nominee the risk a Second American Civil War increases dramatically.

Either because of Trump’s radical second term policies or Trump is so brazen in how he steals the 2024 election that Blues decide the time is ripe for a National Divorce and, as such, a civil war.

A lot can happen in 18 months on a political basis and so this could very well be the quiet before storm. It’s highly likely we’re going to go through a few impeachments in 2023 – 2024, with the reasoning behind them being all very dumb.

Anyway, as I keep saying, I’m always, always wrong. But I am really uneasy about the political fate of the United States at the moment. We have some existential late-empire bullshit floating around our political system at the moment and there are no easy answers. An what answers that may exist we’re not prepared to use until it’s way, way, too late.

People In Oklahoma Really Have An Impending Second American Civil War On The Brain

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I vacillate wildly from day to day about the idea of the United States having a something akin to a Second Civil War, probably starting in late 2024 – early 2025. At the moment, I just don’t know if we’ll have a civil war, turn into an autocracy or simply somehow manage to punt our existential problems down the road one more election cycle.

But if my Webstats are any indication, one specific set of people are obsessed with the possibility of an impending Second American Civil War: Oklahomans. The last few months have seen a noticeable uptick in my Webstats of people from Red States — especially Oklahoma — looking all my dystopian scenarios gaming out exactly how a Second Civil War might happen.

I suppose it comes from how fucking conservative Oklahoma is. They really take the idea of a second civil war seriously and the idea of being able to kill libtards under the rules of war so they don’t go to jail is probably icing on the dystopian hellscape cake.

I still don’t know what’s going to happen on the potential Second American Civil War front. I have a pretty specific scenario gamed out….and yet….I’m always wrong. And it definitely seems as though while 2024 – 2025 is going to be very turbulent the way that Trump has faded politically indicates that maybe DeSantis is going to be the 2024 nominee and, as such, we’re just going to turn into some form of autocracy rather than descend into political violence.

Should America Ban Tik-Tok?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I really enjoy Tik-Tok, I am an Old and as such I lean towards supporting a ban of the service in the States. Some of the abuses I’ve heard on the part of the service, like tracking the individual locations of Forbes reporters of all things, only confirm my worst fears about Tik-Tok.

The only thing I don’t like about the idea of banning Tik-Tok is it sets a dangerous precedent in regards to the regulation of social media. Given that the United States is likely on the cusp of a final slide into autocracy I’m not thrilled will establishing the legal basis for our new autocrat President Ron DeSantis to fuck with social media just when we’re going to need it the most.

But I do have some real national security concerns about Tik-Tok. It’s spooky ability to figure out my internal monologue has been enough to get me thinking paranoid thoughts of maybe some sort of “digital telepathy” might be involved. That’s just bonkers, though. And probably the less I talk about that fear, the better.

I’ve mentioned my fear about Tik-Tok being able to read my mind while drunk at a bar and it did not go well.

I would just prefer someone as potent within America’s youth culture to be owned and operated by a company that was under the auspices of American law and ethnics. I don’t like the idea that the Chinese government is able to monitor — and influence — on an intimate basis the domestic social media activity of its chief geopolitical rival.

Only time will tell, I suppose.

The MAGA Slogan ‘Go Woke, Go Broke’ Is Performative Bullshit — It’s Hollywood’s Poor Storytelling That’s The Problem

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Conservatives of all stripes feel really, really put upon by the “woke cancel culture mob.” They to the point that they are willing to destroy American democracy so they can use the hard power of the government to end the “wokeness” they perceive is hurting their feelings.

One of the favorite slogans of the MAGA New Right is “woke woke, go broke.” This is bullshit. It’s bullshit because it fits the narrative of the greater MAGA New Right echochamber of podcasts and Fox News. The issue isn’t so much that Hollywood has “gone woke” as it is showbiz has lost sight of their power: telling a good story.

I could watch a pretty “woke” movie without blinking an eye if it told me a good story and the representation that it strove for was organic to the story. It’s when the story is lacking that I start to roll my eyes, check my watch and dwell upon how the movie is trying to browbeat me with a “woke” message.

If the story was good — I wouldn’t care because I would be so engrossed by the tale I was consuming.

The issue is, of course, that America is cleaving into two nations, one Red, one Blue. And the moment Blues get as angry as Reds — that’s it, the country will probably have a National Divorce and, as such a Second American Civil War. At the moment, Blues are pretty oblivious to the dangers they face when the ascendance of Reds because Reds are such cry babies that you wouldn’t believe that they are going to push majority Blues out of the country with their extreme policies once they’re in power again.

But, here we are. There’s a real risk that that very thing might happen.

It’s all very bonkers and, as such, 2023 – 2025 could be one of the most turbulent eras in American history since 1865.

The MAGA New Right Wants To Burn American Democracy To The Ground…Because They’re Getting Their Fee-Fees Hurt?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The interesting thing about the MAGA New Right is how upset they are about the soft power of smug, very online wealthy Twitter liberals. MAGA would do anything to be accepted by this tiny sliver of the American electorate. Anything. But because they can’t get the validation they crave, they are prepared to burn 250 years of American democracy to the ground because they’re getting their fee-fees hurt.

I’m not kidding.

I talk to my Traditionalist relatives and that’s the thing they keep bitching and moaning about — the soft power of the “woke cancel culture mob.” The “woke” nature of “cancel culture” makes them feel….uncomfortable. They “just want to be left alone” unless we’re dealing with female reproductive agency, then, sucks to be you, libtard.

As I’ve said before, the MAGA New Right not only has a huge fucking chip on its shoulder, but they love to conflate the soft power of the “woke cancel culture mob” with the hard power of the government. So, yeah, maybe there were some Twitter shinaignans…but that was soft power. It’s not like anyone was going to jail over that.

But, no, that’s not how the fucking MAGA New Right cocksuckers see it. They get REALLY worked up about the soft power of the center-Left to the point that they want America to be an “illiberal democracy” like Hungary rather than a bastion of traditional Western democracy.

It’s all very fucked up. Get ready, though — 2023 – 2025 is going to be lit.

Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The chatbot revolution is upon us and the Far Right is already staking out its talking points for the coming battle royale over the idea of chatbot “bias.” As chatbots grow more and more the center of human existence — because we’re all very lazy — the more people like malignant Canadian and faux-intellect Jordan Peterson will whine and complain about their “woke cancel culture mob” biases.

America’s era of hyper-partisanship has reached the point where even the very idea of equitable — if not objective — truth is considered an attack on one side or the other. To use the pet grievance of the fucking MAGA Nazi cocksuckers, if a chatbot doesn’t spit out a very narrow answer to “What is a woman?” then they scream bloody murder that they’re being “oppressed.”

All of this raises an interesting issue — it seems as though we’re in a sprint to see if we live in a Tech Bro dystopia or a government-mandated MAGA Nazi one. I totally validate the notion that members of the “woke cancel culture mob” don’t exactly help the cause of liberal democracy by having a very strict orthodoxy, but I’m of the general opinion that such abuses are the result of a very broken political system.

If we had the politics of a functioning liberal democracy the question of “what is a woman?” would be figured out pretty quick through consensus and we could go back to more important things like addressing income inequality.

But, no. It serves the overall aims of the MAGA Nazis for American politics to be completely broken and, as such, we’re fucked. Totally, completely fucked. We’re careening towards a very dark future where very soon “chatbot bias” will join “critical race theory” as something that is used as a political football whenever the MAGA Nazis need to juice the base before an election. The intellectual framework for this to happen is already all over Twitter. MAGA Nazis are coming for chatbots and their “bias” and it’s going to be a very nasty situation in the context of a potential “Petite Singularity” during the 2023 recession.

Anyway. I don’t write for Slate or VOX. I don’t know anything and don’t have a received English vocal fry in my videos.

On A Macro Basis, America Is Fucked

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Macro historical events are extremely difficult for the average person to process in real time. If you were living through WW2, you might have some general sense of the historical narrative happening around you but it wouldn’t be until it was all over that your mind could give any of it value.

The same with what’s happening with the United States at the moment.

We’re lurching towards some sort of climax around late 2024, early 2025 but at the moment none of us really know what that climax might be. Will we have a civil war or will we simply slip peacefully into autocracy? Or is even possible that we all may be punked by history and we manage to punt all of our macro problems down the road one more election cycle.

At this point, we’re too far out and I have no idea.

I have a hunch, but nothing set in stone that I really believe is going to happen one way or another. I say this because there remain way too many variables. Will Biden run again? Will DeSantis beat Trump? And if he does, will Trump bounce to the Patriot Party?

All of those things, and more, are very much up in the air at the moment. I generally believe at the moment that we’re going to slip peacefully into some sort of autocracy — be it Hungary-style or Nazi Germany style — and that will be that. Nothing will change at first, but soon enough the United States will no longer be a traditional Western democracy and millions of smug very online wealthy Twitter liberals who are the prime audience of Crooked Media podcasts will flee to the four corners of the globe.

Or not. I just don’t know yet. But I do think that the next 18 months or so could be very, very bumpy because of how many people the Republican House intends to impeach, if nothing else. Republicans just can’t govern and much of 2023 Republicans are going to do everything in their power to prove that they have no policy agenda other than riding the culture wars to ultimately seizing power and establishing permanent white Christian minority rule.

People Continue To Think We’re Going To Have Another Civil War

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If my Webstats are any indication, a lot of people have come to believe that the United States is ripe for another civil war. At the moment, I lean towards believing this is not the case, especially if Ron DeSantis — or someone like him — is the Republican nominee.

But as long as Trump is a viable political force, there is the chance he, unto himself, could provoke a civil war. It could be that his historical purpose is ultimately not to just wear down democratic norms to the point that someone like DeSantis can finish our transition into autocracy, but to be the individual that literally destroys the United States by causing its collapse into Red and Blue.

I know how hysterical that sounds, but given Trump’s tendency to say the quiet part out loud and his very radical proposed second term agenda anything is possible on that front. It could be that Trump won’t even have to cheat that much in 2024 — it will be very similar to 1860 in the sense that Blue States, rather than Slave States will feel that their political foes are so politically ascendant that they have no choice but to attempt to leave the Union.

I only suggest such a thing because in my personal life, within my own family, macro trends are beginning to interfere with my ability to have any sort of political debate with people I disagree with. There is a real rage within the Red movement and if Trump’s radical second term policies are enacted, the country could collapse into two warring states because Blues begin to equal the rage of Reds.

This is all very speculative. Again, a lot hinges on Trump. If he’s out of the picture for some reason, then well, lulz, the chances of a civil war are significantly lower — if none existant.

We still have a long time between now and when all of this might happen, which would be between Election Day 2024 and Certification Day 2025. Most of the Biden Administration may be impeached by a Republican House, which will only serve to enrage Blues and, as such, when the time comes they my be primed and ready for a “National Divorce.”