Category: Cold Civil War

Apocalypse America: Why A Civil War Is The Ultimate Endgame Of The 2020 Election



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As I keep saying, autocrats never lose. The reason for this is they fight dirty and don’t give a shit about what you think. All they care about is still having power when the sun sets.

The issue is, Democrats are STILL delusional about the lengths House Trump will go to to stay in power. So, it’s painfully clear that a civil war or military coup is in America’s near future.

Get used to it.

Let me put this in context.

It could very well be that for various reasons, House Trump cruises to an easy victory. We know election night or soon there after that House Trump is victorious and that’s that. The final consolidation of power will take place at a fast clip, only slowed by Trump’s innate incompetence. America’s final decent into tyranny will be gradual, culminating in a Constitutional Convention after House Trump has purged the media of all opposition voices.

But suppose that doesn’t happen.

Suppose things aren’t settled — then what happens?

Well, because House Trump controls the levers of power, they will win. If it takes Interior Minister Bill Barr really pulling some crazy legal interpretations out of his ass to do it, it will happen. And, really, in the end, if all else fails, House Trump will force the issue and start a civil war of some sort. This will happen because both sides will believe absolutely their their guy won the election and then people will start killing each other.

Then there is the absolute last moment before total darkness falls — what will the U.S. Military do?

I honestly don’t know. But there’s a chance that in a desperate last gasp effort to keep the tradition of peaceful transitions of power, there might be some sort of Unity Government forced upon us by a reluctant American Military.

But, as I’ve said, that’s probably wishful thinking.

More likely what will happen is the U.S. Military will follow Trump’s orders because there is, in their eyes, some legal justification for it. Depending on how bad things get, I could see a number of major Blue States being turned into military districts such as we had during Reconstruction.

Then things that were going to happen anyway, will still happen a lot quicker and in a far more jarring manner.

The whole point of this is, barring something completely unexpected that I can’t predict, the bad guys have won. On a macro level, House Trump has been established. The moment Trump is sworn into his stolen second term, he will have served his purpose.

Some younger, more focused fascist like Tom Cotton or Mike Pompeo will proceed to snatch people off the street, push them out of windows or send them to American Killing Fields.

This is our future.

This does make one wonder how long this dystopian hellscape will last.

I honestly don’t know. But it does seem that House Trump will have power for a solid 40 years. Once the last of the Baby Boomers drop dead, they’re demographic control over the country will begin to diminish. As things grow more unstable for them, it’s likely House Trump will grow ever more radical.

Then, really, it’s a matter of history simply being history and things like the Great Man theory kick in, or a fluke, or things I simply can’t predict.

The reason why I keep ranting about this is I want people to take our fate seriously. Stop trying to score points on Twitter and realize that for decades to come, your “resistance” to House Trump is going to involve risking things that are important to you in the real world, like your life, your family and your career.

Night has fallen on America. Our Republic is no more.

Struggling To Imagine A House Trump ‘Interregnum’



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There’s only one thing that might, temporarily, end the reign of House Trump — Donald Trump. That’s it. I say this because there’s entire industry of sycophantic enablers, namely the Republican Party, that are all-in on defending and protecting the rule of The Thousand Year Trump. The Republican Party isn’t going anywhere, no matter how radical or insane it becomes. If anything, if Trump screws up and somehow is miraculously removed from office at some point, the party is going to grow even more radical and bonkers as a result.

But,simply to have some fun, let’s imagine there’s a House Trump Interregnum. What would it be like?

A lot depends, of course, on how it happens.

I’ve written about this before, but given how difficult it will be to ever remove Trump for office for any reason, we’re going to have to assume House Trump loses a short, but violent civil war of some sort. Or, something. Something I can’t predict would have to happen. But, the point is, House Trump will have taken a pound of flesh out of America’s psyche on its way out the door.

As an aside, the more I think about this subject, the more I realize how even contemplating this scenario is a ridiculous waste of time — House Trump has been established and is never going anywhere for any reason. America is Russia and Russia is America. We live in Trumplandia, not America.

But, let’s continue. I’ve gotten this far, I might as well finish the idea.

One of the many things Twitter Liberals are delusional about is the idea that somehow the Republican Party is going to “die” or deny Trump was ever president. This is crazytalk. The Republican Party is far more likely to embrace Trump as its new Ronald Reagan than anything else.

Remember, the base of the Republican Party is made up of a bunch of fucking fascists who see Trump as the Dear Leader. As such, even if the main stream media doesn’t cover Trump’s ranting as much because he’s not president, the party faithful will continue to listen to all his batshit insane rantings and act accordingly.

Remember, for the base, Trump gave them two things that they absolutely wanted — a plutocrat tax cut and 30% of the Federal bench being young, hack MAGA judges. That’s not going anywhere.

As such, after the shock of Trump being physically removed from the Oval Office wears off, there’s going to be some reflection on the part of the Republicans. Some will see MAGA as “the lost cause” that was foiled only because of the COVID19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, most of the others will see the Biden Administration as illegitimate. They will see the Biden Era as simply a House Trump Interregnum. A pause in the reign in the rightful rulers of Trumplandia, House Trump.

One darkly amusing thing about any possible Biden Administration is because America has been so inward looking during the reign of Mad King Trump I, when the Biden Administration begins to re-engage with the world in a normal manner, the rest of the world is going to look at us like we’re crazy. It’s been proven that the world can function quite well without America and so we’re going to have to get used to no longer being viewed as the “indispensable nation.”

Or, put another way, any House Trump Interregnum is going to be extremely surreal for a number of reasons.

But none of this is going to happen. Trump would rather burn everything to the ground and establish himself as a military dictator than ever leave office. Autocrats never lose, not even criminally incompetent ones like Trump.

The Problem With Star Wars


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I beginning the process of writing a screenplay as something of a creative “Plan B” and I am using the original Star Wars screenplay as my “textbook.” The interesting thing is, I find myself worrying if I can use its character concepts and structure beat-for-beat now or not. Is it even possible to have a traditional Hero-saves-the-princess type story in the modern media environment?

This gets me thinking about the clusterfuck that is the state of the Star Wars franchise. Now, let me begin by saying, I honestly don’t know how much of this problem is “real” and how much of it is the Russians testing out new ratfucking strategies. I say this because I’m not really the fanbase of the franchise. I love the first two original movies and all the rest of them I can take or leave.

It is easy to accept the narrative that the Star Wars fanbase is male and the executives at Disney — specifically Kathleen Kennedy — are all woke feminists who want to cram their ideology down the throats of the misogynistic fanboys.

I simply don’t think things are that cut and dried.

The whole thing, in fact, is extremely murky and and open to a whole lot of different interpretations. The reason for this is Star Wars is such a potent cultural force — and a lucrative one to boot — that the whole thing is being torn in a number of different directions for a number of different reasons.

I’m not going to play Joe Rogan and try to square the circle in some hyper masculine, yet earnest way. Sometimes, you have to actually have an opinion and own it.

With that in mind, I would say, the problem with Star Wars is, at its core, an issue with storytelling. If Disney would simply go back to storytelling basics, then a lot of the problems the franchise has would be solved. Of course, even the “basics” of storytelling are loaded in this era of Woke Hollywood. I’m of the opinion that if you simply tell a good story, the audience will follow.

As such, maybe Disney needs to lay off trying to sell toys or use the culture significance of Star Wars to change the world. Maybe start a new Star Wars trilogy that is all fan service.

Though, I will note that the more I think about it, the more there’s one specific issue that is causing all these problems for Disney when it comes to Star Wars — they don’t have one, specific visionary to guide it into the future. They have J.J. Abrams, but he just doesn’t seem like a fan of the series.

If I could wave a magic wand, I would give Kevin Smith a three picture deal to fix Star Wars. He’s a huge fan and probably has a good sense of what the fanbase is looking for.

Anyway, I don’t really have any skin in this battle. Star Wars has always suffered from a problem with a consistency of tone. It’s just sad that the problems — be they real or not — are apparently intractable and unlikely to be solved any time soon, if ever.

Russians Are Going To Hack Directly Into Our Election Systems, Now What



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know for a fact that this is going to happen, but all signs point towards it — the Russians are going to hack directly into our election systems at the behest of the Trump campaign.

The reason why I say this is two fold.

One, Trump has removed 1/3 of our troops from Germany. It’s a direct quid pro quo. Two, Trump is absolutely desperate to meet Putin in person before the election. It definitely sounds as though if they haven’t agreed to such a quid pro quo, Trump is going to beg in person to make it a reality.

It’s easy to imagine a situation where, much to our surprise, Trump wins on Election Night in pretty much the same way he did in 2016 — he loses the popular vote, but wins the Electoral College. There might be some isolated protests and a lot of gnashing of teeth, but we’ll all begin to process that American democracy has been murdered.

Then, gradually, after a few weeks, we start to hear rumblings about how some of the voter numbers don’t make any sense. Of course, Trump will do everything in his power to obstruct any investigation until after the Electors vote, so, lulz.

And that will be that.

I guess there are a few ways this pretty much perfect plot might go wrong for those involved. They might get greedy and fuck with the results in New York State in such a way that it begins to raise questions. Or Trump, who absolutely can’t keep a secret, might begin to allude to things that while they don’t make any sense because we don’t know the context, gradually people realize he’s confessing to stealing the election.

But there are some things to keep in mind, even if we realize the plot exists. One, autocrats always win. They don’t care about anything but power, so fuck you. No amount of protesting or pressure on social media will change the verdict. Also, there would be a pretty tight deadline for any of it to matter. Even if we found absolute proof that it happened, the same mechanisms that have saved Trump to date will be used yet again.

Really, the only teeny-tiny obstacle to Trump’s success in stealing the election this way is the Electors. And, even then, a lot of things would have to go wrong for House Trump in quick succession for that even to be an issue. And, as we all know, that never happens. Any problems Trump ever gets into are of his own making. There are no institutions strong enough to stop him at this point.

Of course, there is one last thing that might be an obstacle to House Trump’s final consolidation of power — a civil war. I don’t know how it would all work out, but we had absolute proof that Trump got the Russians to hack into our election systems, pretty much the only way it would matter is if there was significant violence. Not only would it have to be severe violence across the country, the U.S. Military would have to, in essence, stage a coup of sorts. I’m not in any way advocating that, I’m simply stating a cold hard fact. Also, there’s every reason to believe that if the American military was forced to get involved, they would take House Trump’s side.

A million people could protest peacefully for weeks across America and, just like the protests associated with the Women’s March and BLM, after the initial shock wore off, the protests would not get much media attention. And what media attention they did get would be about how Trump’s Little Green Men were beating the shit out of people.

So, in short, we’re doomed. It’s over. America is nothing more than a Russian vassal state at this point. America is Russia. Russia is America.

If I was a Blue Check Liberal writing for Vox, I would at this point tell you some woke way that you, as an individual could fix this problem and, lulz, who am I kidding. There’s no hope, only Zuul.

‘Crown Princess Ivanka’ –Mike Pence Remaining On House Trump’s Ticket Makes No Sense


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It is growing more and more apparent that it just makes no sense politically for Mike Pence to stay as Trump’s veep for his stolen second term. While I know Nikki Haley thinks if she just sucks up to House Trump enough she’ll get the job, I am reluctant to agree with her.

Given how deranged Mad King Trump is and how everything revolves around House Trump maintaining power, it would make so much more sense if Crown Princess Ivanka was Trump’s second term veep.

I have said repeatedly that Ivanka makes so much sense because she’s a moderate Jewish woman who’s a Trump. Trump would to “keep it in the family,” if you will. Since the entire point of House Trump is to “own the libs,” what better way to do it than to throw everything up in the air by naming Ivanka as veep?

I guess Ms. Haley could serve the same purpose — she HAS been sucking up to House Trump to a surreal level — but if there’s one thing House Trump has shown us is no matter how much you suck up to them, you’ll never be a Trump.

And what better way to square the circle of succession than to have Ivanka as veep, so should something happen to Trump himself, she could name Tom Cotton or Mike Pompeo as HER veep. Either one of those would-be strong men could rule behind the throne in her name. They would be in a position to serve eight years in that position and then rule in their own name another eight years. This is how autocrats think — just look at what Putin did for much of his reign before he changed the Russian Constitutions.

Anyway, it definitely seems as though Pence isn’t going anywhere. Trump can’t keep a secret, so we would have heard rumblings of his replacement by this point.

The Consequences of House Trump Stealing The 2020 Election



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Autocrats never lose. As such, let’s think about the consequences of House Trump stealing — in a rather brazen fashion — the 2020 Election. The key thing we simply don’t know is how difficult it will be for them to seal the deal.

It could be that the economy is going to come roaring back in the fall and Trump will get what he wants — he loses the popular vote, but wins the Electoral College. If that happens, then we will continue to drift into a more conspicuous form of autocracy. And, really, the only thing stopping House Trump from totally consolidating power is Trump himself. He’s a complete goober when it comes to actual politics and, as such, he is likely to keep crashing through norms in fits and starts.

If this happens, we also have to consider how Trump apparently thinks he can run for a third term because of the “Russia Hoax” that deprived him of being able to destroy the country in his first term in peace. Or something.

This is a very curious thing.

For Trump to simply run for a third term because, lulz, he’s Trump, would be so outrageous to most Republican member of the Senate that it would not be happening in the America we know today. The only way he could pull something like that off is either he’s completely purged the media of anyone he doesn’t like or there’s be a Constitutional Convention that has passed, among other things, a change to the Constitution that allows him to run for as many terms as he likes.

Either one of those is a very real possibility at this point.

But all that is working under the assumption Trump stays within the bounds of the Constitutions to steal the election. The more he has to force the issue, the more likely he and his supporters are going to do some pretty radical things. Or, put another way, the more likely Trump being a complete idiot will, without thinking about it, radically change our form of government simply because he doesn’t want to go to jail.

So, if after everything Trump STILL doesn’t manage to steal the election, he may simply say fuck it, I’m burning everything down. He holds up in the White House and says he’s still president, fuck you. And Barr will have pulled just enough of a legal justification for this out of his butt to the extent that both sides will think their guy is president and then the U.S.. Military has to pick a side.

I honestly can’t tell you what they will decide.

But, again, autocrats never lose, so I believe House Trump will end up on top.

In this scenario, House Trump’s consolidation of power will happen in days and weeks, not years. After a brief, violent civil war, Trump will rule as a military dictator and make vague promises about new elections. He will demand a Constitutional Convention and he’ll get it.

Then people like Tom Cotton and Mike Pompeo will have to figure out a way to ingratiate their way into the good graces of House Trump to the extent that they can maybe be a veep for Crown Princess Ivanka or Crown Prince Don Jr. Or, if you really wanted to be ironic, Trump could turn on both Cotton and Pompeo because he sees them as threats and they endup in an ICE camp like me.

Lulz!

Nancy Pelosi & America As A MAGA Fascist State



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Macro economic and societal trends indicate that no matter what the results of the 2020 election, MAGA is going to grow more extreme. Qanon will be mainstream Republicanism soon enough. It’s simply not possible to maintain a traditional liberal democratic-republic if one of your two major parties sees the democratic process solely as a means to and — getting and maintaining power.

So, to that extent, America has fallen. The America I knew in my youth is no more. We have at least a sold 40 years of tyranny ahead of us, of autocratic managed democracy like they have in Russia. And, really, in the end whatever arises from the ashes of the late great America probably won’t be called the USA. A new nation will be cobbled together.

And, in a sense, we need to stop seeing this failure to defend democracy entirely through the lens of identity politics. Nancy Pelosi failed us all. She’s not a mind reader, she did not know that Trump was going to self-own right after the Mueller testimony. She was very, very lucky. As such, given how dire things have become, the fact that she did not show the leadership necessary to make life hell for Trump the moment the House flipped is all her fault. We can’t hide that simply because we want to praise her as a woman. She fucked up.

Anyway, that’s kind of a moot point now.

What’s probably going to happen is House Trump will consolidate power — possibly after a brief civil war — and then we suffer under the House Trump jackboot for about 40 years. Then, after dead hand of the actuary tables does its work, there’s a good chance that at some point Gen-X and Zoomers will figure out a way to bring back freedom to whatever USA successor state arises when the last Baby Boomer drops dead.

What I’m try to convey is how serious all of this is. Because we thought someone was gong to save us, or that some cool meme was going to “bring down” House Trump, we’re now in a fascist state. At some point, we’re going to have to risk our “lives and sacred honors” in the real world.

But for the time being, we’re fucked.

How Trump Lost(?)



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I only even write this because, lulz, why not. Trump is an autocrat and, as such, will never lose. He’ll cheat or commit treason to win. (Why else is he so desperate to talk to Putin in person before the election?)

But for purely entertainment’s sake, here’s a few events and aspects of the 2020 election that might at least allow us to delude ourselves a bit into thinking Trump might lose.

Trump Is An Extremely Incompetent, Barely Functioning Autocrat
In this respect, the only thing stopping Trump from his final consolidation of power is, well, Trump. And, really, he would have to self-own to a staggering level, even for him, for his sheer incompetence at autocracy to make any difference. Under this rubric can be added his chronic mental instability, which appears to be slowly getting worse. If his cheating and treason somehow seems not to be working, even for a few days, he might finally snap mentally and go so insane that it puts a real spanner in the works. But this is wishful thinking. Trump could actually finally go completely insane and his support to so absolute that it would be a lulz.

Electors Revolt
I’ve spent so much time assuming Trump would successfully bully the actual humans that are Electors into voting for him, that I’ve not given much thought to the opposite. This is REALLY grasping at straws. But should it become clear that Trump committed treason to win by begging the Russians to directly hack into our election systems, then there’s at least a minor chance that the Electors might revolt. Remember, Electors are by far the weakest element of the Constitution. This may be the last election cycle where we don’t know off the top of our heads who the individual electors are going into the campaign. Things might really grow that surreal this year.

Trump Loses A Civil War
Of all the possible ways Trump might be forced from office, this is probably the most realistic. I continue to believe something that may be marketed as a “civil war” in the press will happen between November and January and, really, this is our best bet to get rid of House Trump for one election cycle. The only reason why this is even possible is once you leave the realm of politics and into war, the usual rules don’t apply. While bloodthirsty MAGA people will likely inflict a lot of death and destruction, if the U.S. Military sides with Biden, there’s a good chance they will be defeated. The first 100 days of any Biden Administration may be simply trying to calm the country down enough to govern it.

But, again, let me stress that America is dead. House Trump has won. I’m going either be snatched off the street by ICE or pushed out a window. The Constitutional Convention will happen. Darkness has fallen. It will be 40 or more years before any type of real resistance to tyranny gets any traction for no other reason than fucking Baby Boomers will finally be dead. By then, of course, whatever arises from the rubble may not even be called the United States anymore.

‘Gradually, Then All At Once’ — House Trump & The Fall Of The American Republic



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Things are growing so tragic in the United States that really, there’s little you can do but tune out and wait to get pushed out a window by an ICE agent. The crazy thing about Trump is he’s definitely going to be seen as a Julius Caesar in the sense that he’s the guy that ends the Republic.

As I may have said before, it’s kind of obvious, now, how all of this was going to end. That statement Trump said about how he could murder someone on 5th Avenue and not lose a vote wasn’t a joke — and, as such, Trump has destroyed the United States that we once knew. Ernest Hemingway said people go bankrupt, “gradually, then all at once.” And that’s what’s happening to the United States. The fall of our Republic happened gradually, then all at once and Trump was the guy who pulled the trigger.

While I guess there’s a greater-than-zero-chance that somehow there may be a House Trump Interregnum because of some unpredictable fluke no one can predict, it would just be a pause.

America is now Trumplandia.

And, really, the issue at this point is, will there be a civil war or not and if there is, which side will the U. S. Military pick? Either side the chose will prompt bloodshed on an unprecedented scale. Or, put another way, if it’s this difficult to get rid of someone as demonstrably moronic and criminally incompetent as Trump, the, well, lulz. That’s really all you need to know about the state of democracy in the United States — it’s dead.

The only “change” that needs to happen is the 240-year self-perception Americans have of living in a “free” country. There may be significant bloodshed when a lot of people who “don’t have time for politics” wake up to realize they have a real risk of being snatched off the street — or pushed out a window — by one of Trump’s Little Green Men.

Once House Trump finally gets past that speed bump, then, while there might be a lot of protests now and then — just as there are in Russia — in the end it will be a lulz. House Trump will grow more and more powerful, more and more wealthy and fuck you.

Really, the last step will be Trump demanding we have a Constitutional Convention. That’s going to happen far, far sooner than any of us realize. He’s already demanding a “do over” for his first four years in office because he was “spied upon” by the Obama Administration. The logic is already there, folks. He’s going to push for a third term (a whole host of other Enabling Acts) and nothing is going to happen, just like always.

In hindsight, the moment the House flipped and Nancy Pelosi didn’t cause the entire government to grind to a halt, America was dead. America is dead. We’re Trumplandia now. A fascist state.

America is Russia. Russia is America.

Trump As America’s Gorbachev



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I was alive and politically aware as the Soviet Union began to decline. I feel the same thing about the United States right now. Since America is too divided — and the average person too apathetic — it definitely seems as though the United States is about to buckle just like the USSR did in 1991.

The most logical outcome — if Trump doesn’t successfully steal the election far earlier than we might otherwise expect — is there will be a civil war because the two sides believe their guy won the presidency. It won’t be a fair fight, however. The center-Right is bloodthirsty and itching for a fight. They are looking for any excuse to murder people like me in cold blood — the rationale is there, if nothing else.

The after person is simply too busy raising their kids and paying their mortgage to care about politics. By the time they notice the tanks rolling through their town, it will be too late. MAGA is going to suckerpunch the center-Left. The Constitution will be destroyed and America — like the late Soviet Union — will be no more.

This is an absolute certainty at this point, the only thing up for debate is the degree. The more difficult it is for House Trump to steal the election, the more likely things will grow radical. Or, put another way, things House Trump will do one day anyway may happen a lot sooner because in the heat of the moment they feel they have no choice.

Once the U.S. Military sides with House Trump, then the rest will take care of itself. ICE and PACT will begin to snatch people off the street in earnest, throwing them into the already-existing ICE camps. And once the media is purged, they will start pushing people like me out of windows.

This is our future. It’s too late for us to do anything about it.

America is dead.

I wish I was smart enough to tell you what to do about this, how to prevent it or to make your life better, but I’m not smart enough. Either you put your head down and be a “Good German” or you don’t. No one is going to save us and we have waited too long to save ourselves.

The Constitutional Convention will happen soon enough and that will be that. The United States will leave NATO and sign a direct alliance with Russia. We will be Russia and Russia will be us.