Category: Trumplandia

Foresight Is 20/20 – The 2020 Election & Trump: Will Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart Save Us?

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I have to agree with Roger Stone that there is a real risk of political violence in the next four to eight years. I suspect what is going to happen is that 2020 will be the most consequential presidential election since 1860 and just as messy. I have a feeling that the two parties are going to split into four for similar reasons. The Trump base of the Republican Party will force the Romney establishment of the Republican Party out of the party altogether. Meanwhile, the Zuckerburg center-left of the Democratic Party will split from the progressive base of that party.

I still think that that someone like Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart will throw their hat into the ring change everything. But that’s just me daydreaming. The video below goes into great length about what I’m talking about.

Talk To Me Internet: Joe Arpaio, Hope Hicks & #Writing A Short Story & #Lyrics

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I am feeling creatively restless, so I’m going to try to do some creative things today and tomorrow. But we’ll see. Anything could happen, I guess.

Some Thoughts On Roger Stone & The Possibility of Civil War

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I consider myself an amateur historian and it definitely seems as though the United States is hurdling towards some sort of armed domestic conflict because of Trump. What’s going on in the United State is much like what — after the fact — was obvious about the late 1850s — America is tearing itself apart.

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out. Things could get pretty hot over the next 10 years

Trump & The Summer of Hate

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

In 1967, we had the Summer of Love. People were wearing flowers in their hair, running around naked and having lots of unprotected sex. Flash forward to today and and what do we have? The Summer of Hate. People hurting each other, a president who’s criminally unable to do his job and general hatred and nastiness all over.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Talk To Me Internet: #Trump #DPRK #Charlottesville

by Sheltonn Bumgarner
@bumgarls

If it weren’t for the fact that I have to go to work today, would be heading to Charlottesville which is just up the road from here in Richmond. But, alas, I have to work, so I’m stuck doing a Talk To Me Internet about what’s going down. I have a feeling that there could be real violence today in Charlottesville as people in the greater Virginia area learn of the right-wing nutjob protest there.

Meanwhile, while I’m nervous, I’m not really all that concerned — yet — about Trump and the DPRK. Right now it’s all talk. But we’ll see as the month progresses what happens.

Will Gen. Kelly Become Trump’s ‘Regent?’

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

The question right now at the forefront of my mind is are we entering a significant new phase in the Trump Administration where its malevolence is no longer tempered by incompetence. Is it possible that by naming Gen. John Kelly as Chief of Staff, Donald Trump will right the ship of state by effectively naming Gen. Kelly the “regent” for the mad king?

This is one of those things that we just won’t know the answer to until Gen. Kelly actually stars the job. It could go either way. Either this fish will continue to rot from its head, or Kelly will crackdown on all the craziness and things will start to get done. I worry that by “start to get done” that will mean “America becomes a fascist state as Trump’s vision becomes reality.”

The really weird thing about Trump’s Administration so far it simply can’t seem to stay focused on what made it so popular with the base in the first place. I mean, if Trump had some focus and really, really pushed for a wall in conjunction with mass amnesty for the 20 million illegal aliens who are already here, then such a massive public works effort is something I might ironically be willing to get behind. Though were all the workers to do such a job would come from remains a mystery.

I do think there is a decent chance that Gen. Kelly could “fix” the Trump Administration to such an extent that though it will continue to be loathsome, at least the trains will run on time. We may all look back on his appointment as the moment when everything turned around for Trump. His administration got focus, and all was well again in realm.

One unnerving thing is this could all be a set up. Maybe Trump knows something we don’t know? Maybe we’re headed toward a major war with North Korea and Trump wants a general effectively in charge by his side to make sure that war is managed properly? Regardless, we’re entering a potentially much more dangerous stage of the Trump Administration for no other reason than they can now actually implement their odious vision for America.

Stay tuned.

Apocalypse 9/11 Redux: The Moment War Starts In Korea, Everything Changes

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

For those of us who were alive and politically active on that Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, we remember what was going on when we opened our eyes that morning before the towers were struck. The Bush Administration was coasting on fumes as was the economy. It seemed as though we were about to enter a recession and Bush would get blamed for it.

Then everything changed.

We woke up eight years later and realized we had been in a waking dream, a nightmare we couldn’t escape.

Now, about 20 years later, we find ourselves on the cusp of a horrific war with the DPRK (North Korea.) Estimates are that 500,000 people would die the first month of such a war and who know how many could die if the war became protracted. And that’s working on the assumption that WMD aren’t used at some point. The DPRK has made it clear that they don’t even consider chemical and biological weapons WMD in the first place, so if they felt cornered they probably would use both gratuitously not just on South Korea but on Japan as well.

What makes all of this really scary is the United States has an unhinged president looking for an opportunity to fire Bob Muller, who may finally get to Trump’s tax returns. So, given how batshit insane the political calculus of the Trump Administration is, it wouldn’t take a lot to think they wouldn’t blink an eye at a cost of life and property needed to have the cover to fire Mueller and assure not only keeping Congress Republican, but come within shouting distance of winning re-election in 2020.

But, really, who knows.

It could go either way. But Trump’s behavior is sufficiently unhinged that it’s enough worry about. It’s enough to think seriously about a monumental wag the dog situation that would be a tragedy of unprecedented levels.

We Have To Take Trump’s CNN GIF Tweet Seriously

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I am hearing some people say that Trump’s faux GIF of him beating up the CNN logo in a WWE match is something silly that we shouldn’t take seriously. I totally disagree. The point is that he’s the President of the United States and he’s signaling to his mouth breathing supporters that he not-so-tacitly advocates violence towards the press.

It is probably only a matter of time before something tragic happens to a news organization because of Trump’s anti-press Tweeting. Something really tragic and memorable may happen that we will all — including even Trump, maybe — may regret. I feel as though we’re hurdling towards something that in hindsight will seem very obvious.

We have to take this tweeting by the president seriously. There have to be, at last, consquences. Someone, somewhere, needs to stand up to the president in a meaningful manner. We are slip-sliding towards a classic fascist situation that may be difficult to snap out of.

Remember, the fascists of the 1930s did not start off by being the evil, sinister people that we think of them as now. They started off as a joke. They were comical and entertaining to the masses. It wasn’t until later that things grew dark. So, we need to collectively stand up NOW, while we still can.

This is something of a joke now, but it won’t be a joke when real lives are in danger — or worse.

Korean War 2.0: DPRK, TrumpRussia, Ukraine & A Possible WWIII

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Something’s up. My spidy senses are tingling. I have grown very jaded and cynical about anything having to do with North Korea, but the curious statements coming out of the Trump Administration the last few days about the DPRK make me scratch my head a little bit.

I see the North Korea situation as a major gimme for Trump. It’s his huge backup fail safe should the TrumpRussia problem finally go China Syndrome and look like it’s going to end his administration. It may very well be that nothing happens. It could be that Trump will leave office in four to eight years and the DPRK will still be there and this long-term problem we have with them will be kicked down the road for another long bit.

Or…the Trump Administration is singling that they’re going to strike the DPRK in some way and let the chips fall where they will. Now, remember, the DPRK is very unpredictable and they very much want to survive, so the States might do some limited bombing and, well, nothing might happen.

Or, all hell will break loose and 500,000 people in Seoul and beyond might die in the first month of the conflict. Such an enormous regional war would have a dynamic all its own and some pretty amazing things might happen. It doesn’t take too much to think maybe Trump might use the DPRK to wag the dog. He might attack the North Koreans, sit back for them to freak out and in the ensuing chaos use pardon the hell out of people left and right and maybe even fire Bob Mueller along the way. There simply would be so much going on in Washington D.C. and beyond that the press wouldn’t be able to keep up. Add to this the possibility that Trump doing this might be seen by Russia as a green light to attack Ukraine in a big way — not to mention whatever Iran might cook up — and you have the makings of something that would be marketed by the American press as WWIII.

Or not. I am so jaded that I have a feeling the whole kick-the-can-down-the-alley option is what is going to happen with the DPRK. It would be so callus, so transparent if Trump wagged the dog with the DPRK at this point that, well, I don’t quite know what to think of that prospect. That Trump would use the potential death of half a million people — at least — as political cover to save his own presidency kind of blows my mind. But it would make a lot of sense. By the time the States finally got around to winning the war in three to six months, TrumpRussia would be a forgotten scandal and Trump would be in a strong position to win the mid-terms and potentially a second term.

But so much could go wrong with a war with the DPRK that I just don’t know. I just don’t know if I’m reading too much into all of this or what. I can’t get a handle on it. I think everything is going to work itself out and nothing is going to happen. The alternative is to horrible and bloody to brood on for too long. I mean, the Chinese and the Russians could get involved, the DPRK could attempt to bomb Japan. Or they could attempt to nuke Seoul in some sort of blackmail situation. Wars are easily started and difficult to end as the old adage goes and Korean War 2.0 would be no different.

Only time will tell, I guess.

Ok, Intelligence Community: You Say, ‘Time To Buy Popcorn’….But Why?

By Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

So, all these people seemingly in the know are atwitter on Twitter about Something Big about to come out. Something big enough that we should all buy some popcorn to enjoy it with. It seems a lot of people know about it from a wide spectrum of types of people because people on both the Left and the Right are kinda beginning to freak out.

That makes me believe that either there’s something floating around in secret that’s about to pop out, the intelligence community knows something we don’t, or some reporters are about to break a big, big story. What this super-secret information could be, however, remains a mystery.

I’m thinking it has something to do with TrumpRussia. If I got way too excited, I would go so far as to say it was the notorious “pee tape.” But, more likely it’s something that can easily be rationalized out of existence by the Sean Hannnity’s of the world. Or not even rationalized out of existence, just spun so hard that they will collectively shrug their shoulders and tell us it’s both fake news and no big deal even if it was true.

Regardless, it seems as though both sides know about it and are prepping their respective audiences for it to drop and drop soon. I have no idea how “soon” it is or how big it is. But it’s coming. It will be interesting to see how entertaining and important it actually turns out to be.