Category: Tsar-A-Largo

The Crown Prince Don Jr. Conundrum


by Shelt Garenr
@sheltgarner

It is well known that Crown Prince Don Jr. is a major goober. Even his father, allegedly, has suggested the Crown Prince has the worst judgement of the family and that’s saying something.

But having said all that, he presents something of a conundrum for House Trump.

Macro trends would suggest that House Trump has formally been established. They are now a ruling family. And only American self-perception prevents House Trump from going full imperial on us. Though, to be honest, Trump’s control over the Republican Party is absolute he could, in fact, declare himself Emperor Trump I and the GOP would agree to the idea with great gusto.

Anyway, the point is, what to do with Don Jr.

On one hand, there are some pretty vicious fascists — like Mike Pompeo and Tom Cotton — waiting in the wings who are more than willing to cut a bitch to become president. And, yet, the devotion of the Republican Party to House Trump is now such a Singularity of Fascism that it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where the Crown Prince won’t endup as either president or veep in 2024. (Though, we have to note at this point that Trump himself will probably demand a Constitutional Convention in his stolen second term and turn himself into something of a cross between Caligula, King George III and Brezhnev for the remainder of his days. )

The last time I checked, Trump isn’t actually God, so he is at some point down the road not going to be physically able to serve as president. Though I wouldn’t put it past the Republicans to make Trump “eternal president” as the North Koreans have done in a similar situation.

So, the point is, will the Crown Prince become president by default, or will there been some sort of existential power struggle whereby he becomes the kingmaker and simply gets some sort of cushy job running one of the military districts that will replace Blue States soon enough.

My guess is the Crown Prince will become president and because he’s such a fucking doofus, that the actual power behind the throne will be someone like Cotton or Pompeo.

But, long term, I think we’re in for a succession of Trumps as president. My guess just about when Barron Trump is up to take his turn, AOC will be release from prison like Nelson Mandela and a Second Republic will (mabye) be established.

The Russians Are Going To Hack Directly Into Our Election Systems As Part of a Quid Pro Quo With House Trump


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I am obsessed with my Webstats. I check them all the time. Very, very few people look at this blog and it is very addictive to see who comes to this site and from where.

I noticed something interesting a few days ago — a whole slew of people using Google Proxy looked at this site. A few of those people were from Russia, of all places. This reminds me of the advice I gave the Russians on this blog about when they inevitably hack into our election systems because Trump has removed 1/3 of our troops from Germany — don’t get greedy. (If that doesn’t work, Trump is going to beg Putin do this when they meet up in person in September.)

This causes me some existential angst. If those hits from Europe and Russia really were Russians interested in my theory they were going to hack into our election systems, did I give them advice they will actually use to hide their tracks? Should I have just kept that observation to myself?

While that sounds rather delusional, stranger things have happened.

I don’t think people really appreciate how craven House Trump is when it comes to staying in power. They are going to throw everything at the election to steal it — fucking with elections is their jam, after all — and so it’s painfully clear that one of their strategies to steal the election will work.

So, it is very easy to imagine that mysteriously Trump squeaks out a win just like he did before and we’ll just chalk it up to “shy Trump voters” or the power of Trump voters on boats. It is going to be interesting if we ever figure out the whole hacking situation in time to pressure Electors to not vote for Trump.

I seriously doubt it.

If it’s not Trump fucking with the postal service, it will be the Durham Investigation. If it’s not the Durham investigation, it will be the Russian hackers. The list goes on.

As such, darkness is here.

I keep saying I wish I was smart enough to tell you how to manage the new reality of Trumplandia, but I’m not. I have no idea. You’re own your own.

I guess maybe see if you can survive for about 40 years until AOC is let out of prison so she can serve as our Nelson Mandela or something.

We Have To Be Willing To Risk Things In The Real World Now


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I hate to sound so dark and dystopian. I wish I could give you “hope” that somehow, some way House Trump will be defeated in the fall and we can go back to “normal.” Sadly, there’s no metric I can point to that suggests that. Everything points to a spectrum of autocratic rule.

On one end, House Trump “wins” reasonably easily. If that’s the case, then we will continue or gradual drift towards an autocratic managed democracy. We’ll look back, rightly, at Trump’s acquittal by the Senate as the end of the First Republic. On the other end of the spectrum there’s a civil war of some sort. The more difficult it is for House Trump and its enablers to maintain power, the more radical they will become for no other reason than they’ll be desperate and won’t care what they have to break to keep power.

I continue to talk to liberals who are completely delusional about all of this. They scoff that Trump has it in him to do anything so drastic. What they miss is while Trump is a criminally incompetent autocrat, he’s still an autocrat that has a personality cult to back him up and absolutely no institution with the power to check his craven need to protect his own hide.

We have to begin to think about some pretty basic concepts about what it means to be American. Just like how the Roman Empire gradually declined and then fell really, really fast, so, too, will the First Republic go. Americans are simply too divided and / or apathetic to do anything, in real terms, about House Trump. The logic necessary for House Trump and MAGA to run roughshod over the Constitution in an effort to stay in power is already there.

As such, there’s going to come a point when the milquetoast “resistance” on social media is going to be faced with some very real world decisions. I’m a man of peace, a man of ideas, but I’m absolutely never fucking shutting up about the tyranny of House Trump. If that means I get snatched off the street or pushed out a window by ICE or Little Green Men, so be it.

The cold, hard reality that America is now nothing more than a fascist state does give one pause for thought. The simple act of not shutting up, no matter what, about House Trump’s tyranny will soon enough be a radical act. The whole thing is rather unexpectedly existential. I mean, all I want to do is exercise my 1st Amendment right to free speech.

Once House Trump purges the media of all the “fake news,” then lulz, I’m going to be in serious, serious trouble. How is anyone going to know that people are being pushed out of windows if there’s no press to report it?

I keep thinking about the original “V” miniseries about lizard people aliens taking over the world. There was an old woman who fought back in her own personal way as it became clear who the “visitors” really were. And, I guess that’s my fate if the worst happens. I’ll figure out some way to do my part to help whatever meager “resistance” there may be to the tyranny of House Trump in the coming years.

It will definitely be interesting to see how, exactly, things shake out. I guess in the end there will be some sort of alliance with Russia as the United States pulls out of NATO. That will be interesting.

But, if anything, I’m a survivor.

The Twilight Of The First American Republic



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The First American Republican is now in its final days, its twilight. House Trump has been established and there’s nothing to stop its final consolidation of power. The coming 2020 election won’t even be a speed bump to this inevitability. At this point, the only issue is on what end of the spectrum will House Trump’s victory be.

Will it on Election Day or soon there after, or will it be a few months later when House Trump forces the issue via a civil war. I guess if you wanted to be extremely optimistic, you might suggest that there’s a chance House Trump might lose such a civil war, but I seriously doubt it. House Trump always wins no matter what, so why should a civil war be any different?

The easier it is for House Trump to win the 2020 Election, the longer this final twilight period in the First Republic’s existence will linger. In the end result will be the same, however — America will be an autocratic managed democracy and a vassal state of Russia, to boot.

The media is going to be purged. People across the country will simply vanish. And those opponents of House Trump who don’t vanish will be pushed out a window. The only way any one living in the Trumplandia will know this happened is because of reports from the BBC and others. The once vibrant press in the former United States will be dead.

A Constitutional Convention will be convened and House Trump vision of America will be codified once and for all. All of this will last for about 40 years until long-term demographic trends are simply too powerful for House Trump and it becomes possible that some sort of Second Republic may struggle out of the rubble of the First. But even that is iffy.

In the 2021-2022 timeframe, Trumplandia will leave NATO and sign an alliance with Russia. Ironically, this will allow the peaceful long-term ascent of China on the world stage as Trumplandia gradually begins to pull its forces back to the homeland. America First, after all.

This is our future. The details my be wrong, but in general, all that is America’s future. We just can’t see it because it’s on the macro historical scale. I’m not saying I have any sort of reveled truth, but it seems pretty obvious to me America is a fascist state.

I simply don’t see anything possibly stopping House Trump from consolidating power at a rapid clip.

Prove me wrong.

The Curious Case Of Joe Rogan


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The United States is one stolen election away from formally becoming an autocratic “managed democracy” like they have in Russia. One of the more curious media phenomena in this politically overheated moment in our history is Joe Rogan.

Now, let make it absolutely clear that this “media commentary’ on my part is cursory and breezy. I’m just using what I feel I know off the top of my head, so I’m going to be rather fuzzy about some details.

But, anyway, in general, it seems as though Rogan wants it both ways. He was main stream acceptability, while at the same time refusing to pick a side in the political division America finds itself in. He wants to, with a wink and a nod, support MAGA without coming out and saying it. He hides behinds a facade of masculine earnestness, which is why he has earned the nickname “Oprah for Dudes.”

He knows that if he can have a thin veneer of main stream credibility, his cultural relevance will be significantly greater. But it seems to me that this whole thing is a massive cop-out. There simply is no credible reason not to pick a side and this point. Besides, we all know if push comes to shove Rogan is MAGA.

Which raises an interesting question.

Now that the United States is a fascist state, is it possible that Rogan is playing the long game? He’s a young guy, if he plays his cards right he could very well find himself in line to be far, far close to the Oval Office than any of us could possibly otherwise imagine.

It might be a decade or so before House Trump allows anyone other than a Trump to be president, but the possibility is very real. Things will be so dark by then, of course, that Rogan may be one of the few independent voices left in the media, period.

Anyway, Rogan is a reasonably good interviewer. The only real problem I have with him is he’s kind of a media gateway drug to the Alt Right and Qanon.

Trump’s October Surprise: The Durham Investigation




by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It is an immutable law of nature that one of the many ways Trump is going to steal the 2020 Election is the outcome of the bullshit Durham investigation into the origins of the Mueller investigation.

Really, the only question at this point is how close are they going to get to Biden himself?

Given how deranged Trump is, I would probably guess they’ll do something a tick or two more potent than the Second Comey Letter. Something whereby at just the right moment, they can plant a seed of doubt in the minds of the electorate so Trump wins.

And, by the way, if you’re reading this because you’re a MAGA piece of shit stroking one off to the idea of this very thing happening — eat shit you fucking fascist.

But maybe I’m not looking at this right. Maybe Trump will be so desperate by October that he’ll indict Biden himself. That would probably be enough to end Biden’s campaign and Trump would actually “win” the election even without his fucking with the post office or getting Russians to directly hack into our election systems.

It won’t matter that the entire thing is bullshit and we’ll figure it out eventually. All that will matter Trump is he “won” the election and he can go in for the final consolidation of power. That’s it. That’s all he will care about. You can protest all you like. You can rant about it all you want to on Facebook and Twitter. But Trump will still be in power and fuck you.

The darkness is here politically. House Trump has established Trumplandia. The Thousand Year Trump is the be all end and end all of American politics.

Absolutely nothing indicates to me that I’m wrong. Durham may not indict Biden directly, but somehow, someway, the Durham investigation is going to help Trump “win” the election.

The Politics Of Fascist America



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The United States is now fascist. This started the moment Trump was aquitted by the Senate. Trump is going to brazenly and successfully steal the 2020 Election in rather astonishing fashion.

In fact, his theft of the 2020 Election may be so staggering in its autocratic nature that it, in itself, may lead to another impeachment. But, obviously, American politics is now so broken that even if we all know Trump stole the election that there simply will not be the political will necessary to do anything about it.

So, that leads to an interesting question: what will the politics of Trump’s stolen, fascist term be like?

This is all very nebulous for a number of reasons. We know general trends, but the specifics of this absolute certain future remain difficult to predict. Once Trump is successfully in his stolen second term, it would make sense that he goes after the last institution that has any ability to check him: the press.

Once he uses his “German Industrialist” allies to buy up and the purge the free press, House Trump’s consolidation of power will accelerate considerably. He obviously is going to start ranting about the need for a Constitutional Convention and without a free press to slow him down, he’ll get it.

This leads to another, more specific question: how bad are things going to get?

Well, there’s a real chance that things could get far, far worse than any of us can possibly imagine. I say this because of Qanon. Once Qanon is the central tenant of the Republican Party, there’s every reason to believe House Trump will use this darkly vicious loony idea to use ICE to round up any and everyone they don’t like and put them in a camp — or push them out a window.

Remember, history is very, very strange at times. So, I would go so far as to suggest that Trump “unbound” will mean there are American Killing Fields. Using the support of the now completely Qanonized Republican Party, House Trump will murder in cold blood any and everyone they disagree with in a rather breathtaking fashion.

Given the momentum involved and the size of the population, I would estimate the death toll could begin to creep up to 10 million, maybe more. This is our future, this is going to happen. We might pause it now and again, but the conditions for this nightmare to happen are locked in.

Now, I will admit that sounds rather hysterical. But I simply can’t imagine any possible scenario where Trump in his second term doesn’t burn everything to the ground. The forces that he has unleashed are far more powerful than his ability to control them and, as such, watch out.

There is also a chance that a number of Blue States will be converted to military districts and Congress (and the courts) will be purged of anyone seen as not loyal to House Trump.

I could be wrong. I hope I am. If Trump doesn’t do all that and we simply drift into a quasi-autocrat situation, I could see the center-Left radicalizing much the way the center-Right in America did during Obama’s second term. So much so that by 2024, someone like Jon Stewart might run for office.

But it’s extremely difficult to sketch out anything that far out. All I know is, all signs point to House Trump ruling Trumplandia for around 40 or more years and then demographics being such that a new nation of some sort arising from the rubble of the United States.

It probably will be far smaller than the United States and the Blue States will hunker down to a Singularity of MAGA.

I hope I’m wrong with the dystopian nightmare I predict above. I really do. Something pretty spectacular that I simply can’t predict would have to happen, however. The macro trends are simply too powerful at this point for that not to be the case.

Life After COVID19: A New Era Is About To Begin (One Way Or Another)



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Since the end of WWII there have been a number of major eras in the United States. They go something like this:

1945-1963
1963-1974
1974-1981
1981-1991
1991-2001
2001-????

The argument could be made a new era started either in 2009 with the Obama Administration or 2017 with the Trump Administration. And, yet, several of those post-war eras ended or began with a rather dramatic extra-political event that happened totally out of the blue without warning.

As such, a pretty strong argument could be made that no matter what else happens in the near future, the COVID19 pandemic, in itself, marks the delination between eras. And, yet, given the political instability in the United States right now, you could also make the argument that not until we finally figure out who POTUS is will the actual new era begin. No matter what happens with the election, we’re in for a new era.

If Trump wins (which he will by brazenly stealing the election), then we’re REALLY in a new era because, lulz, any and all pretense of America being a “free” country will end. We’re going to be nothing more than a managed democracy like they have in Russia and a new, darker era will have begun. Or, actually, if you wanted to be more technical about it, in hindsight, we’ll say that the “new era” began when Trump was acquitted by the Senate and everything else was simply us catching up to what happened.

Things grow far more complicated if Biden somehow miraculously wins despite Trump throwing everything including the kitchen sink at the election to steal it.

I say this because then the macro trends that have led to us finding ourselves in this clusterfuck to begin with will be momentarily paused, or at least become less obvious while we all sigh a huge sigh of relief. We’ll probably have a few months to enjoy a return to “normal” before House Trump strikes back in some way and fucks everything up again.

When, exactly, the over due “new era” begins will thus be far more muddled and difficult to pinpoint at the time. We’ll mark the “before times” of before the pandemic, but it won’t be until House Trump comes roaring back in some way that the thing that was going to happen anyway — fascist America — happens.

I still contend that the only way House Trump doesn’t formally establish Trumplandia is something so unexpected and tragic that no one, regardless of political point of view, will be very happy about it. Whatever it is would have to be jaw dropping. Something along the lines of President Ivanka screwing up a war with the DPRK and being blamed for millions of deaths. (That may very well happen with her dad in his stolen second term, but, lulz.)

Anyway, the point of all of this is America is a fascist state and we’re deluding ourselves for a few months while we wait for Trump to steal the 2020 Election.

Most of my posts to this blog these days begin with hope then simply return back to a very dark reality — the moment Trump was acquitted by the Senate, he attained absolute political power in the United States and there’s not a goddamn thing we can do about it.

I say this in the context of knowing Trump is a huge self-own artist and he’s literally the only person who could somehow screw up the absolute certainty that the United States becomes little more than a vassal state of Russia.

Fascist America: Of Trump’s Taxes



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have come to believe that on a political level, at least, there’s absolutely nothing stopping from Trump from his final consolidation of power. The great irony is, of course, that Trump is extremely bad at being an autocrat. This leads to a lot of people lulzing the process of America becoming an managed democracy like Russia.

But let’s talk about Trump’s taxes in this context.

There are a number of ways to look at all of this. On one hand, you could definitely posit that the whole thing is a sham. It’s not that there’s anything all that scandalous in them, it’s just Trump doesn’t want to release them and he’s willing to fight until the end of time to do it. Under this theory, the worst thing we might find in them is that Trump simply isn’t a very “liquid” billionaire. The whole thing is a facade. Some people think that would be a mortal political blow for House Trump, but now that we have Qanon people running around, I doubt this very much.

The other theory is that something REALLY BAD is in his taxes. Like, something that would prove something criminal or implicate Trump in having a fiduciary reason for loving Putin so much.

But, really, even that would be a lulz at this point.

I don’t think people appreciate how dark things are on an existential level in the United States. We’re a fascist state and have been since Trump was acquitted by the Senate. The usual political rules of a liberal democracy simply don’t exist anymore and Trump is going to brazenly steal the 2020 election no matter what, so lulz.

In a sense, you could even argue that if Trump really was the political genius that Maggie Haberman says he is, that he would release his taxes on his own and then laugh in everyone’s face as nothing, absolutely nothing, happen, no matter what is in them.

We’re simply too divided and too much of the electorate too apathetic for anyone’s minds to be changed by anything that happens between now and election day. The battle lines are drawn and Trump is going to use everything in his power to steal the election, anyway, so the entire thing is moot.

Everything is moot. Nothing matters. We’re a fascist state.

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.