Category: The Resistance

Contemplating Trump Using Nukes On Iran

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Trump’s power is you just never know what he’s going to do next, so you game out all these horrific scenarios only for most of the time nothing to happen. So, as Trump’s big deadline tonight at 8 p.m. approaches, we know one of two things will happen.

Either Trump TACOs in a big, beautiful way, or he actually does commit the war crimes of attacking bridges and powerplants.

But, as of right now, the afternoon leading up to that particular possibility, we just don’t know what is going to happen.

One issue that has started to bubble up into the forefront of my mind is the possibility that Trump might do something really nuts like order the use of, say, “baby” nukes on Iran in some way.

Makes you wonder what the reaction in the homeland would be to THAT. I don’t think Trump would do such a thing — would he? — but I am a little unnerved about the whole idea. I think if Trump used tactical nukes on Iran, it would be the closest possible time to Trump actually getting impeached by the Republicans.

But…that’s about it. He might, just MIGHT get impeached, but he still would never be convicted in the Senate.

So, to that extent, Trump is a king, an emperor, not a president and we’re no longer a republic. Oh well. Being a republic for about 250 years is about typical for such things.

Thinking The…Envitable

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of the looming political mysteries of the latter years of the 2020s is who will be Trump’s successor. I still think there is a good chance that Trump won’t leave power or will run for a third term, but let’s just work on the scenario that Trump shuffles off this mortal coil sooner rather than later.

Tucker Carlson

But before we do, we have to address what would happen with Trump very much alive but out of office. I think he would weld an incredible amount of power to the point that I could even see him trying to become Speaker of the House. But, it is still very debatable if Trump will ever leave office.

So, let’s think about the…inevitable. What if Trump was suddenly no more?

This is such a mystery because Trump’s death cult is so beholden to his specific quirks that there just isn’t anyone one person who would be able to take up his mantle. There might be something of a power vacuum while things sorted out.

The one person I could see becoming Trump 2.0 is Tucker Carlson. He would be perfect for the role. He’s young, articulate and actually not certifiably insane. But I just don’t know. Maybe it would be someone else.

Who knows.

But if Trump departed us while in office, J.D. Vance would probably be America’s Putin and just be in office for at least two terms, maybe more. I just don’t see us being a traditional liberal democracy if that happens.

And, I also think that, in general, our democracy is dead. MAGA is here to stay and there’s no going back to the good old days.

Trump Continues To Prove How Fucking Bonkers He Is With The Iran War

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

At this point, there’s not much more to say about Trump’s mental state in relation to the Iran War that he’s currently waging. The man is totally bonkers. And has been for some time.

I don’t think Trump will use nukes or anything. And I think there’s a pretty good chance that he will just randomly declare victory and walk away, no matter what the state of play on the ground.

With Trump, anything is fucking possible.

Anyway, I really haven’t commented on the Iran War because there just isn’t much to say at the moment. I’m very much in a wait and see type situation. If things really started to escalate, then I might start to write more about it all.

The SAVE Act Is America’s Enabling Acts

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Well, it looks like those motherfucking Republicans are going to cheat and use the reconciliation process to pass the SAVE Act. This is an example of why everything is horrible these days.

It’s also an example of why I really want to leave the country and never look back. I may be too fucking old to have much fun, but I can at least live in a country that values democracy and liberal order ideals.

But, alas, for the time being, I’m fucking stuck in the USA which seems to be circling the fascist drain.

So, there probably won’t be a free and fair election this year. A lot of people are going to be pissed when they can’t vote. It will be a fork in the road — either there’s something like a General Strike and something changes or…we just shrug and Trump continues to consolidate power.

I think Trump is going to consolidate power without nary a peep out of anyone but the usual suspects. And that will be that. The USA will become a “managed democracy” like they have in Russia, Turkey and Hungary.

Good luck.

I Need To Hurry Up With This Novel So I Can Sell It And Get The Fuck Out Of The USA

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems as though the SAVE Act is going to pass sooner rather than later. And when that happens, the US will become a “managed democracy” like they have in Hungary, Russia or Turkey.

That will be it.

Now, obviously, to even get a literary agent will be like winning the lottery, but a guy needs dreams. And if I happened to make any amount of money with this novel, I would probably seriously consider leaving the USA and never look back.

The USA is going to grow poorer (for the average person), more inward looking and just darker in general once the SAVE Act passes and no one can vote anymore. It’s just fucking sad.

Anyway. Good luck, folks.

The End Of Pax Americana

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems as though the old post-WW2 liberal order is…dying. It definitely seems as though we in a new era where anything is possible. I keep expecting that Trump will drop a MOAB or tactical nuke on Iran sometime soon.

I watch the little cartoon history videos called “History Matters” and it definitely seems like this would be the part of the video that was a precursor to Something Big. I don’t know what that Something Big is going to be, but it’s probably going to happen this year.

My fear, of course, is that there’s a major terrorist attack in the USA, or Trump uses some combination of the SAVE Act and a forced “nationalization” of elections to attempt to turn the USA into a “managed democracy.” And THAT, in turn causes a civil war or revolution.

But hopefully that’s not what’s going to happen.

And, yet, I do think this year is going to be far more turbulent that any of us could possibly expect otherwise.

The SAVE Act Is Bad News

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There’s a reason why Trump is so hysterical about passing the SAVE Act: he knows that’s how he can finally consolidate power. The SAVE Act is some serious Jim Crow bullshit.

It would be the worst piece of voter suppression, maybe in forever.

And, yet, here we are. It definitely seems like there is momentum for it to pass. And, as such, the USA is posed to become a zombie “managed” democracy like they have in Hungary, Turkey and Russia.

But we voted in Trump a second time, I guess that is what we should expect. It will be interesting to see if Trump uses the passage of the SAVE Act as a sign he can run for a third term without people really getting as nearly upset as they should.

Only time will tell on that one, I guess.

Fuck Trump, fuck ICE and fuck the SAVE Act.

It Will Probably Be A Dirty Bomb

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If Iran attacks the US in the homeland, it probably will with some sort of dirty bomb. They have the means, motive and potentially opportunity do do such a thing.

I know a dirty bomb is a plot point from Blade Runner 2049, but, lulz, it’s a real possibility.

It’s just the type of fucked up shit that Trump would need to declare martial law or to just in general doing something like cancel the 2026 elections.

That’s where all of this is going, I think. And when Trump does that, then we probably have a civil war and or revolution of some sort.

Good luck.

If Trump Cancels National Elections, There Will Be A Revolution Or Civil War

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t care what Trump thinks, barring something truly extraordinary like a few nukes blowing up across the USA, Trump simply can not cancel elections. Remember, the USA had elections during the middle of a civil war.

So, if Trump used what may be WW3 as a pretext to “cancel” elections, there will b hell to pay. I would even go so far as to say if Trump fucked with elections so they were clearly no longer free and fair, then, that, too might be enough to cause some sort of mass revolt on the part of the American people.

AND, something similar would happen if Trump ran for an illegal third term.

Anyway, I’ve frequently been accused of “hysterical doom shit” so maybe all of this is a lulz.

I am, however, unnerved by the prospect of some sort major terrorist attack in the USA sooner rather than later because of the dumb war Trump has started with Iran for seemingly no damn reason.

Potentially Watching the Opening Act of World War 3

I want to be clear: I don’t think we’re in World War 3 yet. But I do think we’ve entered one of the most genuinely destabilized moments in modern geopolitical history — and the distance between “very dangerous” and “catastrophic” is shrinking.

The two flashpoints I keep coming back to are Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula.

China’s posture toward Taiwan has grown increasingly assertive, and the window for a forced reunification attempt — whether through blockade, gray-zone pressure, or outright invasion — is a real strategic consideration among analysts, not just speculation. Xi Jinping has tied his legacy to the Taiwan question in ways that make backing down politically costly. If that move comes, it almost certainly draws in the United States, Japan, and potentially Australia, triggering a conflict that would dwarf anything we’ve seen since 1945.

Then there’s North Korea, which has gone conspicuously quiet. That’s not necessarily reassuring. The DPRK has spent the last several years dramatically advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities, and silence from Pyongyang sometimes precedes provocation rather than signaling restraint. A miscalculation on the Korean Peninsula — or a deliberate escalation — could ignite a second front almost simultaneously.

What would it mean if several of these regional conflicts metastasized at once? At some point, the international community would have to reckon with the label: World War 3.

And here’s the domestic question that keeps nagging at me. If that label became unavoidable — if the U.S. were actively drawn into multiple simultaneous conflicts — would it create the political conditions for something unthinkable at home? Emergency powers have been expanded and abused before, even in democracies. The scenario where a president uses wartime crisis as justification to delay or suspend elections is not fantasy; it’s a documented playbook from history, and one that American institutions have never actually been stress-tested against at this scale.

I’m hopeful we don’t get there. I genuinely am. But hope isn’t a strategy, and the architecture of the current moment deserves to be taken seriously.

Only time will tell — and lately, time hasn’t been especially reassuring.