Category: Cold Civil War

Countdown To American Fascism: Republicans Don’t Believe In Democracy



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Since 1800, Americans have enjoyed the peaceful transfer of power. That tradition will end with the 2020 election. In the end, we may have the first instance in American history where brute force determines the presidency, not the will of the people.

But a lot — A LOT — has to go wrong for Republicans for that to be an issue. Trump and his Republican enablers have assembled about a dozen different ways, in conjunction, that will make impossible for Biden to win. There won’t be one single thing that we can point to that we can get upset with, but a variety of things that make sure House Trump stays in power.

If it’s not slowing the mail down, it’s going to be the Durham Investigation. If it’s not the Durham Investigation, it will be the Russians hacking directly into our election systems. The list goes on and on and on and on and on and on. The point is, of course, that Republicans no longer believe in democracy. It’s surreal that Twitter liberals aren’t more alarmed by this.

What Republicans want is to pull a fast one on us all, so different people think different things were responsible for Biden’s loss. They want no consensus to form so while we’re all fighting over how it happened, they’re busy pushing people out of windows. Or purging late night hosts, or whatever. The point is they want if not absolute power, something akin to what is found in modern day Russia.

And, sad to say, the macro trends simply are not going to American democracy’s favor. Not until the Graying of American crosses the Browning of America will things begin to go back to “normal,” but even then it’s debatable. It could be that this is it — America will finally cross the Rubicon into tyranny in 2020.

This is how I could see it happening — a series of things go wrong for House Trump and their last battle is the 9/10ths of the law rule — I’m in the White House and I’m not leaving. I could see a scenario whereby MAGA supporters stage coups on the state and local level and hold those governments hostage. They say — unless you keep Trump president, we’re going to start murdering people, or start a civil war.

In the end, the center-Left buckles and Trump, lulz, stays in power. In quick succession House Trump consolidates power and for the next few decades a succession of either Trumps or fucking cocksucker fascists tight with House Trump accrue more and more power. ICE becomes the state police and the QAnon fucktards finally get their wish of any number of prominent Obama Administration simply going poof!

Now, remember, if we’ve gotten this far down the road towards tyranny, any “victory” over House Trump is going to be painfully short lived. The macro trends that led to the rise of House Trump aren’t going anywhere. There are at least a dozen would-be younger, more focused Trumps lurking in the political darkness who are prepared to finish the job Trump started. Some of them, like Sen. Tom Cotton, are rather giddy at the prospect of how much power they will be able to obtain once in power.

Now, there are a few wildcards that I can’t predict. One, the most important one, is Trump himself. He’s a massive self-own artist and there’s a reasonable chance that all of his plans to “flood the zone” with ratfucking won’t work because of his own political stupidity. If that happened, the country could be on the cusp of either revolution or civil war and finally his MAGA enablers in the Senate might finally tell him he needs to obey the Constitution and leave office. Though, who am I kidding –that will never happen. Maybe the revolution or civil war will happen and we’ll all have to pick sides in the Real World instead of trying score points on Twitter.

Another wildcard I can’t predict is the military. It might come down to who the military supports. But the military itself might be divided at that point between officers and enlisted so they aren’t very effective in keeping the peace. There is the slight possibility that there might, MIGHT be some sort of “Unity Government” whereby Biden is allowed to become president only under the condition that his Veep is Pence (or whomever) and Trump gets a full pardon. I could see House Trump indicting Biden at some point and if that doesn’t work, they demand Trump get off scot free in exchange for dropping the charges against him.

The point of all of this is Republicans no longer believe in democracy and they would rather have bloodshed that follow the will of the people. And they’re going to win because the center-Left simply is too clueless to realize what they’re up against.

House Trump isn’t going anywhere — ever. They are going to turn the United States in to a first-world Venezuela and we just have to start figuring out real-world contingency plans. And, remember, things would have to go wrong for House Trump on a pretty spectacular fashion for us to even get to the point where they weren’t able to brazenly steal the election.

So, I generally believe the likelihood of Trump leaving office for any reason is equal to the likelihood that the Senate would convict him: 0.

Countdown To American Fascism: Ode To Roy (Cohen)



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Apparently TODAY is 96 days until the election. Anyway. Something I’ve long predicted is shaping up to be our future: Trump is never leaving office. Now, I say that with some qualifications. What I mean is, he’s never leaving office willingly.

It seems as though should it become clear that Republicans, sated on a huge tax cut and 1/3 of the Federal bench being young, hack MAGA judges, have finally decided to turn their back on him — he’s still never physically leaving the White House.

And, remember, him actually getting to the point where we all agree that he’s lost and has to be removed one way or another would be the culmination of about three months of legal struggle. Every aspect of the election will be litigated and fought over in an extremely dramatic fashion. We simply won’t know who the president will be until the Electors themselves vote. Who can be a voting Elector will be up in the air to such an extent that there may even be competing Electors voting. And that doesn’t include the doxxing and threatening of individual human Electors that Trump is likely to do on Twitter.

This it the point where we make some observations. One is, Trump is his own worst enemy. He could very well be on his way to “legally” stealing the election, only to do some sort of massive self-own. Though, we have to note that should it begin to sink in to House Trump that there may be an Interregnum, there’s going to be some seriously surreal things that take place. A number of MAGA lowlifes will be appointed to positions with terms that last well into the Biden Administration. (This is DL already happening.) I could see a least two Republican SCOTUS seats rather abruptly opening up as well. Trump might also try to start a war with either the DPRK or Iran. Anything and everything is on the table.

And don’t forget that Trump is probably going to pardon as many people as he possibly can — including himself! — even if holds up in the Oval Office thinking he is still president.

As of right now, the only thing stopping Trump from lulzing the whole thing and simply staying in office no matter what is American self-perception. It’s not even a “norm” or a “tradition.” It’s about who we are as a nation, how we view ourselves. Just like how the Romans may have had an empire but never a king, having elections and the peaceful transfer of power is so much a part of who we are that we don’t even think that it’s possible it might not happen.

So, in a sense, should the absolute worst happen — which would be not really a civil war but rather rolling political violence in support of Trump’s claim to the presidency — we really would be crossing the Rubicon. Whatever the outcome, it would mark the end of the United States as we know it. Once you cut the seal on a violent transfer of power, it’s likely to happen again.

Literally the only thing stopping Trump from pulling all this off is he’s a moron. He’s not a political mastermind and, to date, he’s benefited greatly from some existential macro trends in American political culture. The violence might occur when he presses things to their absolute to such an extent that people will have to take a side, no matter what.

Then the issue will be what the military will do.

America As Fascist State



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Twitter liberals are so clueless. They clutch their pearls whenever Trump zooms past some norm and then come up with elaborate fever dreams as to how this is going to “bring down” Trump.

Trump is never going anywhere. Never.

MAGA wants the very nightmare that people like me fear. They crave it. They lust for it. That’s the whole appeal of the Qanon fucktard conspiracy theory. It gives them a framework for what they want — everyone who disagrees with them in jail or dead.

It’s because of this that darkness has officially fallen. It really happened the moment Trump was acquitted by the Senate. The pandemic kind of momentarily made it seem as though there was a chance for a free-and-fair election, but lulz, that’s over with.

Trump is a tyrant and we’re never fucking getting rid of him. Early in 2021, he’s going to consolidate power in any number of different ways. By about 2023, people — like me! — getting pushed out of windows will become common place and accepted part of life.

The only unknown is Trump himself. Trump is such a massive self-own artist that one could come up with any number of different ways might massively self-own.

But even if he did, it would be nothing more than a pause. The macro trends simply don’t point towards the United States being a liberal democracy anymore.

Maybe in about 40 years, once the last of the Baby Boomers are dead, then, maybe, we may gradually begin to drift back towards the America I grew up in. But, generally, we’re very much fucked.

MAGA As American Fascism



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing about fascism is they don’t play by the rules of democracy. Or, if they do, they use the rules for their ultimate goal — to win. So, it seems as though 100 days before the 2020 election there are two macro trends happening at the same time.

On one hand, we have about 240 years of liberal democratic tradition all pointing towards Biden having a decent shot at winning a major victory against Trump in the fall.

Meanwhile, we have the “new rules” of the fucking fascist MAGA movement, which means, lulz, fuck you Trump’s never leaving office.

So, what I guess I’m saying is, when the dust settles, Trump is going to still be in office come Jan. 20, 2021. He’s simply never leaving office. I say this with the likelihood that he’s going to demand a Constitutional Convention at some point in his stole second term in the back of my mind. He’s going to be around for the next 10-15 years being more and more crazy and more and more criminal. Then we’re going to have a series of Trumps for the next few decades until the Graying of America crosses the Browning of America and AOC, I don’t know, manages to overthrow the government about 2050.

I can’t predict the future — I don’t know exactly how this is all going to work out — but that’s definitely where the macro political trends in the United States are pointing right now. The center-Left is so busy scoring density politics points on Twitter, that they’re completely oblivious to how they might need to address the fascist infection in real life.

Real “resistance” is hard work. You have to risk things that are important to you. There’s no assurance that you will live. There’s no assurance that you won’t be anymore than a number. And, really, the actual number of people who will resist MAGA tyranny is probably going to be pretty small.

It’s kooks and cranks like me who will have to take up the burden because I have principles and will refuse — absolutely — to shut up when everyone around me tells me I had better do so “for my own good.” I’m a man of peace. A man of ideas. And I’m not going to be violent. That’s just not me. But will note that sometimes you can have a shit tone of guns and not do jack squat.

For instance, when Napoleon escaped from Elba in 1815, he famously stood before a huge army and told them to shoot “their emperor” if felt so inclined. They had all those weapons. They could have killed him on the spot. But they didn’t they made him their leader and they rode to Paris, starting the 100 Days.

I’m not comparing myself to Napoleon — that would be pretty bonkers — but I am saying that history is made by people with nothing to lose. For me — a bonkers loser in the middle of nowhere — to be of note in anyway, things would have had to have grown extremely dire.

So, hopefully, while things are obviously going to get REALLY BAD in Trump’s stolen second term, they won’t get SO BAD that I have to use my native skillset for anything other than developing and writing a novel.

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.