There are so many reasons why we need to indict Trump at this point. But, as is always the case with Trump, there is a huge complication — by definition, to indict Trump is to make him a MAGA martyr that is 100% assured to play the victim card all the way to the 2024 Republican nomination.
So, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s a bad situation either way. I suppose what is going to happen is the Biden Administration will name a Special Prosecutor then walk away. This will, in a way, slice the boil when it comes to what to do about Trump.
Sometimes, you can’t make this shit up. One of the major slogans of the 2016 campaign on the part of Republicans was “fuck your feelings.” It was meant to convey that MAGA was done being “PC” and just wanted to be “left alone.” Flash forward to today and now it seems that all that MAGA Republicans do is whine about how they’re doubling down on fascism because…they’re getting their fee-fees hurt?
I obviously find this extremely disingenuous. It says more about how the two sides misunderstand each other than it does about how mean people like me are to MAGA. Or, put another way, it says more about how insecure MAGA is growing that it’s at least possible that their transformation of the United States into a white Christian ethno state may, at least, not go in a straight line. (Even though it definitely seems like it’s going to happen — or we have a civil war / miliary junta.)
I have to admit, of course, that the entire Western World continues to careen towards something pretty dark. Call it The Fourth Turning or the Great Reset. But it’s dark. We — and especially the USA — can’t keep punting our problems down the road forever.
Now, let me be clear — I’m probably wrong. I’m always wrong. Or, what might happen is, in the end, our drift into autocracy is initially so subtle that it’s a lulz…until it’s not.
I’m no fortune teller, but when you’re dealing with a man who was willing to destroy American democracy for the sake of his own ego, well, if you don’t give him what he wants you’re playing with fire.
I’m speaking, of course, of Donald Trump and the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. There are two outcomes to the growing “Never Trump” sentiment within mainstream Republican ranks — either it fizzles and Trump grows even stronger, putting us on a course that includes civil war or military junta, or it doesn’t and Trump bounces for the Patriot Party.
Barring something unexpected, those are the two options for the Republican Party — either give Trump what he wants, or risk destruction at his hands. Or, if not destruction, at least the lost of the 2024 presidential cycle. If we have fascist version of TD’s Bull Moose Party, then all bets are off. Trump could single-handedly destroy the Republican Party by cleaving it away from its base.
No matter what happens, we’re in for some pretty surreal times in the coming days.
I’m just not prepared to count dingus Trump out politically yet. And, yet, given how poorly the 2022 midterms have gone for Republicans, the case could be made that Trump just isn’t the political juggernaut that we thought he was. In fact, it’s at least possible that Trump, once he won in 2016, was all smoke and mirrors.
He simply used the Bully Pulpit to further his agenda, without really having any broad-based support. Sure, a lot of Traditional conservatives winced and went along with the ride for young hack MAGA judges and tax cuts…but in a pinch…the number of people who hated Trump simply was greater than those willing to vote for him.
As such, things really began to accelerate downward for him once he lost the 2020 election.
And now, here we are.
But the very concept of autocracy is based on no democracy, so there’s every reason to believe that Trump can come roaring back because of that. Most autocrats are…just…popular enough to stay in office. And Trump would be no different once he secured the nomination and got into office again because Republicans cheat so much.
While I’m reluctant to get too excited, there is a chance that now that the Republicans have massively screwed up the 2022 midterms that SOMETHING akin to normal American politics may reappear. For a little while.
There are a lot of problems with having too much glee about the prospect that Trump was some sort of “fluke” that we’re now recovering from. The biggest issue is the core, the base of the Republican Party continues to be enamored with fascism. That’s not gone anywhere.
What might be fading is Trump’s personal, specific brand of fascism. The type that makes it difficult for the more cultured elements of the Republican Party to support the rise of American Fascism. If this is the case, then we can expect pretty much the entire #NeverTrump movement to collapse and things really will snap back into place, to a certain extent.
All the neocons who have become liberal darlings will “come home” to the Republican Party and that will be that. There might some quibbling with the darker, more violent aspects of the post-Trump fascist movement that former #NeverTrumpers might have, but on a strict ideological level they’ll flock back to the GOP.
It will be interesting to see what happens next, all things considered. It could go either way. But one thing is for sure — the rise of American fascism isn’t going anywhere. By definition, to be a Republican is to be a fascist and Trump has simply served his political and historical purpose to the furtherance of that end. The issue if Trump is done would simply be — do we punt our problems down the road one more election cycle, or does someone like DeSantis finally strangle American democracy once and for all?
What does it mean? Anything? It’s one of those things that might go either way. Trump is such a loudmouth dingus that he could very well be admitting to a very, very serious crime…or not. And, lulz, what would it matter, anyway. He’s above the law to the point that he can admit to any crime and nothing would come of it.
For the time being, I think Trump is just making shit up to prove a point — vote for him, not the upstart DeSantis. But time will tell, I guess.
There are two possible outcomes to what’s going on between lazy dingus Trump and would-be American autocrat DeSantis.
Trump Politically Cockblocks DeSantis In this scenario, there is a huge battle royale between the two men for the soul of the Republican Party and, ultimately, Trump wins. In the end, DeSantis has to settle for being Trump’s 2024 veep and that’s that. We all wait until fat tub of lard Trump shuffles off this mortal coil and DeSantis becomes our first autocrat that way.
The Bull Moose Endgame In this scenario, Trump gets fed up with the struggle of trying to get the nomination and he takes his marbles to the Patriot Party. Then we have the very real possibility that the Republican vote is split and we manage to punt our existential problems down the road at least one more presidential cycle.
But remember, there is the Independent Legislature doctrine to be decided by SCOTUS, which might lead to the end of American democracy no matter how fucked up Republican politics might become otherwise. Or, to put it another way — macro trends as such that the United States is fucked, fucked, fucked. Something truly amazing would have to happen between now and Election Day 2024 for me not to feel pretty confident that all my hysterical, doom-and-gloom predictions for late 2024, early 2025 are spot on.
And, yet, I’m always wrong, so only time will tell.
If Trump will just get out of his way, Ron DeSantis will become president and, as such, become America’s first true autocrat. It will be, as they say, all over but the shouting for American democracy. But for Trump being a narcissistic ding-dong who doesn’t realize he’s served his political and historical purpose, DeSantis being our autocrat in waiting would now be an immutable fact of psychohistory.
Ron DeSantis
But.
There is the issue of Trump. The man has proven that not only is he lazy and stupid, but he always, always does the wrong thing. So, there’s every reason to believe that Trump either politically cockblock DeSantis or he will leave the Republican Party for the Patriot Party.
If the former happens, then the other two choices we face — civil war or military junta — continue to be very real possibilities. And if Trump bounces to the Patriot Party because he loses to DeSantis, he will split the Republican vote and we punt our existential problems down the road another presidential cycle.
Now, let me be clear — I want to be wrong. If somehow Republicans stop being fascists and we pull ourselves out this death spiral we’re in at the moment, great. But at the moment, the only way that happens is space aliens land on the White House front lawn.
Anyway, the point is — things are not quite sorted out yet. But should DeSantis end Trump politically, the United States is going to slip peacefully into autocracy.
It’s easy to look at how poorly MAGA Republicans did on Election Night and make some conclusions about Trump that are inaccurate. Two key things stick out — one, Trump remains unusually popular for being such a ding-dong and two, he’s not going anywhere.
This is not to say that Trump won’t begin to feel pressure to step aside so Ron DeSantis can finish the slide into autocracy that Trump began. He will. But say what you will about Trump, he’s a fighter and he would rather destroy the Republican Party than let DeSantis become POTUS.
At least without being Trump’s veep first.
But all of this does raise the question — was Trump a fluke? Was it inevitable that he would win in 2016, given how much losing he’s done since then? I think someone like Trump was inevitable between 2016 and, say, 2024 for a variety of reasons ranging from demographics to America’s fading empire.
The issue is, of course, that all things being equal, the person who would shepard America through the final transition into autocracy would be DeSantis. He would become POTUS in 2025 and, well, that would be that. He will be POTUS for the rest of my life. In 20 years, he will invade Canada for some reason, probably because Florida is finally sinking into the ocean.
There is a chance, of course, that Trump and DeSantis will go head to head in 2024 for the Republican nomination and if Trump should lose, he will bounce for the Patriot Party, splitting the Republican vote and potentially punting our massive political problems down the road for one more election cycle.
Or not. Everything is up in the air at the moment. Buckle up.
To be “Red Pilled” is the idea that one “wakes up” to the nefarious plot on the part of the “woke cancel culture mob” of POC, the LGBTQ+ community and wymxn to terrorize the hard working white CIS Christian community into “grooming” their children into being transgender.
Or some sort of similar bullshit.
And, really, if you really think about it, what DeSantis wants to is frame any political debate going forward in such a way that he can “Red Pill” the entire United States in 2024…and become America’s first Very American Autocrat. He knows that the abstract fear of being “canceled” plays very, very well with the that passionate, organized people who want a white Christian ethnostate.
Ranting about killing off “wokeness” is a dog whistle for autocratic fascism. It gives DeSantis — who wants to be America’s first autocrat — a way to talk about that without saying it outright.
I’m not saying there aren’t “woke” excesses. There are plenty. And I’ve really gotten upset when woke Twitter users come at me from the Left. They’re the worst. And, what’s more, I’m not perfect and there’s ever reason to believe that if I manage to sell this six novel project I’m working on that I’m going to be promptly canceled for this or that transgression I’ve committed over the years.
But I just don’t want to live in a white Christian ethnostate. And, yet, that definitely seems where we’re headed. Though, there is a curious quirk to the to what happened election night– DeSantis is now the Republican standard bearer…but Trump is such a fucking fighter that it’s highly unlikely that he won’t go after DeSantis rather than let him cruz to the nomination and by extension the presidency.
It would be one of the greatest shocks of my adult life if Trump did what was right for the Republican Party and stepped aside so DeSantis could be the historical figure to transition the United States into autocracy. If it’s DeSantis, not Trump, who is the 2024 Republican nominee then we become an autocracy, rather than have a civil war or a military junta.
DeSantis will be America’s Putin and that will be that. Some 20 years from now we’ll wake up to the news that President DeSantis has invaded a big chunk of Canada for some reason and we’ll all be expected to toe the party line on why this is a good idea.
Anyway. The next few days will be interesting. I think once the shock wears off, Trump is going to go back to exactly what he was going to do before last night’s results — run for president. The only question now is, of course — does Trump run as a Republican or as the leader of the Patriot Party?
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