Category: The Resistance

Life During Cold Civil War Time

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

When I was a young man, I was completely obsessed with the Reagan Era Iran-contra scandal and I think there’s a real chance that the clusterfuck that is the Trump Administration will go that way,

In fact, I will go so far as to say that unless some outside force happens that we can’t really predict at this point, all this talk about impeaching Trump is going to fade into talk about if he is able to preserve his “legacy” in 2024. I just don’t see any endgame at this point, but whenever I struggle to see one, the least likely scenario is one where Trump is actually removed from office.

I would go so far as to say that unless No Deal Brexit really does cause a historic global economic slowdown, there is literally nothing politically a this point that will prevent him from leaving office Jan. 20th, 2025. I say this because the only historical political event I can equate modern America to (or at least the center-Right part of it) is Vichy France.

What I mean by this is Vichy France was a really strange situation where otherwise honorable people hated their political opponents so much that they acted in a really weird way. And, I think if you keep that in the back of your head along with what happened with Iran-contra, the idea that Trump will never face any real political consequences makes a lot of sense.

It seems pretty clear to me that unless No Deal Brexit crashes the global economy in some meaningful way AND we manage to get Trump’s impeachment into the Senate by August 2019, Trump’s going to be on the campaign trail in 2024 for whatever young, passionate, competent ideologically-based would-be tyrant he manages to pick to succeed him.

In general, I have no faith in the American political system to correct itself in any meaningful way and sketching out the next 20 years, I would say that not only is it unlikely a center-Left presidential candidate will win, if they do it will likely be a fluke AND there will be, by that time, a real MAGA deep state that will do everything in its power to undercut them.

That doesn’t even begin to address the fact that we’re long overdue for a real crisis, as opposed to the long string of self-owns that the Trump Administration seems to generate.

It seems as though the only thing standing between America and a pretty dark dystopia is Trump is old and incompetent along with the general unpredictability of the macro “dead hand of history.” Clinton winning in 1992 was a fluke if you look at general trends. It seems as though it takes 8 years for the opposition party to develop an effective leader to have a real chance of flipping the White House. And that only works because the seat is open.

America is no longer either a “republic” or a “constitutional democratic republic.” It is a plutocracy that only doesn’t slide into a Roman Empire situation because of the general temperament of its populace. I’ve come to believe that there’s a real possibility that Gen. Mattis might have to step in at some point to resort order during a period of unprecedented instability in American government.

I say this because the American Military is not only so well respected but is also the sole institution existing that has an absolute belief in the traditional American concept of the rule of law. As such, if there happened to be any real crisis as to who was running the country, I could see a consensus developing for Gen. Mattis to act as something of a caretaker while things got sorted out.

And that’s one of the happier scenarios.

The United States is zooming towards a Second American Civil War for no other reason than the Right’s rhetoric is so surreal that there might come a point where they believe if they lose the presidency for any reason that that, in itself, is enough reason to attack the center-Left is a violent manner. At that point, I would again note that the American Military probably would have to step in until civian rule could again be established.

The American constitutional system is so rotting and corrupt that there are some existential issues that it simply can’t address. These massive issues put together are, in my view, equal to slavery in the 19th Century.

I have no easy answers, folks. This is all going to go down within the next 20 years, if not much, much sooner. In fact, the argument could be made that Trump, by definition, is preventing the Right from killing people in the streets. Or not. I don’t know. I’m just nervous.

The Great Political Conundrum Of 2019

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

We’ve officially entered that strange twilight period in the Trump Era when on the face of it, we know Trump faces some existential threats to his administration, and yet the Democratic leadership of the House is sitting on its hands for various reasons.

The divide between what we know and what Democrats in the House are willing to do politically is beginning to grow so deep and large that whenever things snap back into place, it could be pretty astonishing.

What I mean by this is — while the House Democratic leadership is beginning to look into the vast amounts of crimes and abuses of power on the part of Trump, they continue to wait for the ostensibly “objective” Mueller Report to “force their hand” on the matter of impeachment. For various macro reasons, they feel as though only after the Mueller Report is released can they actively move to impeach Trump.

Alas, I fear that’s going to be quickly seen as quaint thinking soon enough. I have long believed that the moment the House begins to do its job, the political momentum for impeachment will race out the gate. The issue, of course, is about 37% of the electorate — the people who elect Republicans and vote for them in primaries — is so cult-like in their support for Trump that it would be some outside force, not anything that Trump may have done that would ultimately lead to his impeachment and potential conviction in the Senate.

Ultimately, it will be the economy. If No Deal Brexit happens and the consequences of it are as bad as we fear, then that, no anything Mueller may report to Congress, will be what drives Trump out of office.

And that doesn’t even begin to address the cold hard political fact that if Trump’s fate isn’t actively being decided in the Senate by August 2019, we’re going to have to wait for “the people to decide” in 2020. And, as we all know, America is now a corrupt autocratic plutocracy, not a democratic constitutional republic and as such, Trump is likely to cruise to a fairly easy re-election.

If Trump is re-elected in 2020 (which as of now looks like a political absolute certainty) he will likely go full autocrat and pardon everyone he needs to pardon and get his proxies on TV to say, “the people have spoken, they don’t care, let’s move on. Besides, shouldn’t we be at work with Iran by now?”

And, yet, there may come a point between now and August 2019 when a tipping point occurs and there simply is no escaping the absolute need to impeach Trump in the House. The worst case scenario in the Senate being, of course, that they will punt the whole thing and not even take up the articles of impeachment against Trump in the first place.

So there’s a very real possibility that the absolute worst case scenario for all involved is Trump eludes conviction in the Senate, he gets re-elected and then the economy tanks in a massive way…and even though his approval rates drop down to the flat earthers, Qanon believers and anti-Vaxxers, there simply will be no political will to do anything about it and the entire country will grind to a halt for about three years until we start fighting over Trump’s “legacy” in 2024.

What’s worse, should the good guys “win” and Trump be somehow miraculously convicted in the Senate, I believe Trump won’t physically leave the Oval Office without the “assistance” of Federal Marshals. In that case, it would be the most devastating domestic event in American history since 9/11.

I guess what I’m saying is I have no idea what the endgame to all of this is and there are a lot of real nasty ones you can think up. It could be that all things considered our best bet is some sort of extreme version of Iran-contra whereby we all know Trump should be impeached and convicted and somehow that is enough to maybe, just maybe allow a progressive liberal to be elected in 2024. (If we still have elections at that point.)

But if you literally use that as political history roadmap, it’s not exactly all that encouraging — Bush won in 1988 and Clinton only won because of the dead hand of history. Given that the youngest of the Baby Boomers won’t start to die for another 20 years, there’s a good chance it won’t be Trump who finally pushes until to a “managed democracy” like Russia, but his younger, more competent and indological successor.

Idle Mulling On Why We’re Probably Never Getting Rid Of Trump

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

People who are opposed to Trump often times miss some basic facts about modern American political life, chief among them being that as it stands it is nearly impossible to hurt Trump politically in any traditional sense.

In other words, Trump has a base of about 35% and it’s not going anywhere.

Ever.

Trump is so obsessed with placating the CPAC base that what was once MAGA ideology is now bordering on a theology. The distance between Trump literally being an American Fuhrer for that base is, well, pretty finite at this point.

So, I saying that if you sketch out the future given what we have on hand now, we aren’t going to be fighting over impeachment in 2019, we’re going to be fighting over Trump’s “legacy” in 2024.

There’s a pretty good chance that in the end, the whole thing is value free. It’ll be as if Trump never existed. He, of course, is likely to damage basic political discourse in America for the rest of my life, but should a progressive liberal win the presidency in 2024, the now-MAGA “deep state” will do everything in its power to destroy him or her while at the same time former MAGA Republicans will act like everything they did in defense of Trump is “old news and they were just trying to get elected.”

As long as the economy continues the way it is, Trump is a king, an emperor, and elected dictator. For about 35% of the electorate, Trump could literally declare himself God King of the United States and all people like me would get from MAGA is cry-laugh emojis.

The only possible existential threat the Trump Administration faces at this point is something like No Deal Brexit will be sufficient shock to the global economy that Trump will go from a base of 35% to maybe 20%. But even then, Trump’s not going anywhere.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that all our worst fears about Trump could be proven absolutely right AND the economy could collapse and the only way he leaves office before 2025 is Republicans in Congress begin to believe they would have a better chance keeping the executive if Pence was the incumbent.

That’s it. That’s all I got.

Trump’s combination of zero shame, an absolute craven desire to put self-interest ahead of the needs of the nation and the religious devotion of his base is more than enough to keep him in office even if he strangled someone, anyone, in Times Square, married Ivanka, gave the nuclear codes to anyone interested, whatever, you name it.

Trump. Is. Not. Going. Anywhere.

All I can say is I hope the political fates prove me wrong. I really do. But Trump is such an absolute avatar for the feeling of disenfranchisement for a lot of white America that, well, the only reason why I stay angry is I can’t help myself.

Some Wholly Unsolicited Advice For AOC

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I hate to break it to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but she’s hurtling towards a unique position in modern American political history which lies at the confluence of politics, celebrity and, alas, gender politics.

And, as such, I feel like — for no other reason than no one reads this blog — make a few gentle suggestions about what she should do next.

First, I think she needs to accept that her old life is over. She’s no longer simply a House Representative, she’s a cultural figure. She now lives under the rules of a modern celebrity, not that of a lowly freshmen in Congress. The tipping point is rushing towards us where some pretty basic issues about her private life are going to come into focus.

Chief among them being, her romantic status. Apparently she has a long-term boyfriend, which would account for the lack of sizzling bikini pictures being leaked of her. If she had a string of boyfriends in her romantic wake, one of the would have been a big enough dick to release a sexxxy snap or two of her by this point.

But, thankfully, that hasn’t happened yet and maybe never will.

As an aside, it’s amusing that when she wore white for the State of the Union address for political reasons, the white pretty much made it clear she’s a stunning woman. She usually wears dark colors in an effort to hide how drop dead gorgeous she is. The white, however, especially at such a public event, may be looked back upon as one of several tipping points in her career.

And, yet, the issue of how hot she is remains and she’s going to have to simply do some triage on that front rather than ignore it altogether. There’s going to come a point where people are going to want to know her boyfriend’s name, when — and if — they’re getting married and if they plan to have children. (And how many!)

If I were her, I would get way ahead of this issue by getting her PR people to setup a value-free, vacuous profile of her and her boyfriend for, say People Magazine. A huge amount of pressure would be eased once a lot of people on both sides of the political spectrum knew off the top of their head who she was involved with.

As it stands, a lot of horny old Boomer Men are watching FOX News to learn about her because in a very Jungian (Freudian?) way, they are lusting after her because they believe she may be sexually available.

But it’s established she’s dating someone and has been for some time, that will dodge a huge issue for her down the road. Her physical attractiveness is something that is, to date, unprecedented in American politics because she’s of an age where a lot of MAGA Masters of The Universe in NYC could honestly imagine they could play a Mr. Big role in her life, given the opportunity.

As I said, no one reads this blog and I feel reasonably comfortable I can give this advice and no one will listen to me. I mean, they don’t listen to me about anything else, do they?

On My Gestating Novel

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I’m going to start writing the first draft of the thriller I’m developing about March 1st, no matter where I am in development because I feel I can do both development and writing now that I have the universe down pat.

The only thing about the “normal” world that I’ve created is either it’s going to be seen as genius or completely ridiculous. Though, to be fair, it is meant to be a guilty political thriller (of sorts) pleasure for Park Slope moms who would otherwise read The New Yorker. I don’t have a wife or girlfriend to give me any context as to what I’ve thought up, so really I’m writing this because it’s something I, personally, want to read.

I want to read a cathartic novel about the Trump Era that’s breezy and fun and you don’t even realize how deep it is until a few days after you’ve finished reading it. If I achieve my goal, it will, on its surface, be a good enough beach read that there will be a sizable minority of people who might even simply see it as a thriller with an unusual conceit, but that’s doubtful.

The “normal” world of this novel is constructed in such a way that you’d have to be brain dead and living under a rock the last few years not to notice what I’m doing with it. In a sense, I guess I want this to be, for my own reading pleasure, a story in the tradition of Apocalypse Now. As you know, that movie wasn’t so much a movie about people going up the Mekong River as it was an extended metaphor about America’s involvement in Vietnam.

And, as such, that’s pretty much what’s going on with this novel at this point, at least the first draft will be that way. As I grow as a storyteller, I may be able to soften the obvious allegory to such an extent that it won’t be quite as obvious or out of place. But the story has been built from the ground up so that one character — the main character, if you will — is believable and interesting.

The thriller aspect of it is really just an excuse to have this interesting universe be put through its paces. I have some really fun scenes I want to write in my head, but I haven’t gotten to them yet. At this point, I’m barely near the end of the first act.

I’ve given myself 200,000 words to play with and as such I have plenty of words to spare whereby I can slip in my personal political views. Of course, one big problem is, well, me.

I’m a white male.

And, given how identity politics has fucked things up so much, a lot of people who might otherwise be interested in this novel, should I miraculously sell it, will click off the moment they do a Google search for my name and see what I look like.

So, like I said, this story is for me, personally at this point. And, let me be clear — this is no Cat Person. This is strictly a spec novel written by a “failed reporter” who a lot of people dismiss as a Internet crank who posts song lyrics that will never be produced.

And, since I like hot chicks and go to strip clubs on occasion, I have a “problematic” background for some, no matter how empathetic I might want to be for various people who might otherwise be interested in this tale.

But, again, this story is for me. It’s a novel I want to write so I can read it and honestly, if I manage to actually write it and flesh it out in the manner I hope, more than a few people who know me — and have no respect for me — might at least wince at how badly they misjudged me.

Or not.

I do, in fact, have to actually write something.

V-Log: Trump As Political Avatar

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Some thoughts.

V-Log: My Hot Take On The Fate Of The #MuellerReport

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I don’t believe we’ll ever see the Mueller Report, and if we do, it will be politically moot by that point. In fact, the way things are going, Trump is going to survive and prosper the next 5 or so years and, what’s worse, he is going to lay the groundwork for an even worst Republican president down the road.

Of course, there are some potential curve balls that I simply can’t account for, the chief among them being No Deal Brexit. If that happens and there is a significant shock to the global economy because of it, then there’s at least a chance Trump’s popularity sink down to the 20% of the population who think the world is flat.

But, in a sense, I think Trump will be looked back upon by many in the Republican Party as something of a bizzaro Ronald Reagan in the sense that his “legacy” will be to shift the political center of the country to the Right in a pretty significant manner.

V-Log: Trust Your Creativity

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Some thoughts.

The Vision Thing — A #Startup Codenamed ‘Irredenta’

By Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Gab is this insane cesspool of hate frequented by alt-Right mouthbreathers. But it does fill a niche. And as, such, I suggest that there are a lot — a lot — of Twitter users who, if they were given a viable option would at least try it out.


I’m old enough to remember the TV show America Held Hostage, which would turn into Nightline. I’m saying we’re in a similar crisis and, as such, have a similar opportunity. But there’s more to the story than just that.

A lot of different things are happening right now and I suggest that a new app could address than all in one fell swoop. People want a viable option to Twitter. A growing number of people, given the opportunity, would be interested in an app that would help facilitate massive protests against the Trump Administration to end it once and for all. And, lastly, the online news business is suffering a historic contraction.

So, the app I propose, which goes under the codename Irredenta, would address all those issues. The app would be designed in such a way that you would, essentially, pay a core group of users to break news using it. But, get this, much like the Usenet of yore, you have inline editing of that content so the comments are actually inside full page posts using groups. Or, put another way, that’s what you work towards. That’s what you grow into.

The basic app would be a lot like Crooked Media’s Vote Save The People but with a news service of sorts attached to it. It really isn’t that hard to imagine. You just need just the basic vision and resources to pull it off.  I have the vision, I just don’t have anything else.

So, unless I get some traction on this, I’m probably going to shut up about it soon enough.


Trump’s Loss Of The Mandate of Heaven & A Radical Resistance #Startup Code-Named ‘Irredenta’

By Shelton bumgarner
@bumgarls

Trump’s defeat at the ends of Nancy Pelosi today jiggles things in more ways that one. In a sense, the jig is finally up for Trump. He’s always been one of those bullshit artists who get way, way, farther than they should because they’re so devoted to, and so good at, “owning the moment.”

Given that Trump could very well face a challenge from the Right on immigration — I’m looking at you Rep. Steve King — our perception of Trump has enter a new phase. Trump’s neo-Reagan mystique has been popped, shattered, ended, however you want to couch it. Trump now enters his Jimmy Carter II phase. But it’s doubtful it’s going to last too long, unless, of course, the “resistance” becomes the Radical Resistance.

The Radical Resistance is more focused, more organized and more ideological than the “resistance.” As I keep saying, it seems to me that we could get a core group of people to go all 300 on Trump in defense of the Republic, then we could, on a political level, end this surreal tragic nightmare once and for all.


We design an app, one that I would code name “Irredenta,” that on one level is a Radical Resistance response to Gab, on another a “Twitter Killer,” on another a way of mobilizing and informing the Radical Resistance and on yet another way disrupt the news business online. This is such an obvious solution to a number of problems that is kind of bothers me that nothing will ever be done about it because, well, no one listens to me. Also, I have no money, can’t code and don’t want to learn.

The irredenta app I’m thinking of would be marked as both a Radical Resistance version of Gab and means to organize and inform the Radical Resistance should the opportunity arise when people are willing to, actually, like, take to the streets on a regular basis to get rid of this tyrant. I honestly don’t believe this would happen for no other reason than it takes time to design an app and if we don’t do it now, we won’t be ready when the opportunity arises.

A lot depends on how long Trump lasts. If he survives into 2021 and beyond, then the protest app becomes very much more possible. Though, as I keep saying, MX (AR / VR) is hurtling towards us so there is a very narrow window of opportunity for the Irredenta app. By the end the next recession MX will reset the media equation online and, well, then we’ll be talking about that.

This is one of this times when I come up with something really cool and interesting and because I’m little more than a rando Internet crank relative to, say, the bluecheck liberals of Crooked Media, no one will listen to me or if they do they’ll steal the idea and not give me any credit.

But fuck those guy. This is a cool, timely idea.

I just wish someone would listen to me.