Trump Selling State Secrets Would Be The Dumbest, Darkest Timeline

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m not prepared to seriously suggest that Trump would be so dumb as to get caught selling state secrets to, say, the DPRK or Russia. But it’s one of those things where we know the conditions at least exist for such a thing to happen. So, you’re left pondering something very dark and very dumb as being a very real possibility.

The Darkest Timeline.

Now, some context.

I don’t think Trump would really process what he was doing as “selling state secrets to the highest bidder.” He probably would see it more along the lines of “doing a buddy a solid” or something like that. While the most obvious person Trump would be selling access to state secrets to would be Russia, the DPRK is also definitely an option.

I say this because Trump loves Kim Jung Un (ick) and the whole DPRK régime is so weird that it’s at least possible that they might lean into personal relationship that Trump has with Kim to see if they can nab some state secrets from their good buddy and pal Trump.

And, given that the US is still technically at war with the DPRK because of the Korean War…well, that really does add an interesting complication to the problem at hand. And, honestly, that’s the thing that is so interesting about what is going on — why what happened for the FBI to strike now? Did they learn something? Did Trump do something so egregious that they had to move in to stop him from continuing to do it?

But the thing we have to contemplate tonight is this — there is a greater-than-zero chance that a former president of the United States has been caught selling state secrets to our most absolute sworn geopolitical enemies. And, what’s more, even if we politically neutralize him, there are a dozen other would be-autocrats who will be the ones to finally end American democracy.

What’s more likely to happen, of course, is Trump will announce his 2024 bid and there just won’t be the political will to do anything about him, ever. Good luck. Get out the country while you still can, I guess.

No, We’re Not Having A Second American Civil War Because The FBI Raided Mar-A-Lago

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Unless you’re prepared to explain to me how MAGA plans to find the leadership necessary to start a civil war, I’m going to take the excited Google search that led you to this site with a grain of salt. You’re going to have to actually risk death, not just talk about it, if you want a civil war because the fee-fees of your Dear Leader were hurt tonight.

I do think that Trump is going to announce his run for office in 2024 a lot sooner now, but for there to be a “civil war,” Trump would have to go transactional immediately. He would have to tell Red States to begin the formal process of leaving the Union.

He’s so deranged and dumb that I will admit that that, in fact, is a real possibility. It would be a monumental unforced error on the part of MAGA, but we are talking about Trump. I say “unforced error” because, lulz, the entire system has bent a knee to Trump and he’s well on his way to becoming our first true autocrat.

No need for a “National Divorce” or civil war.

And we still have a ways to go before Trump is charged. And Trump always has the…trump card…(excuse the pun) of announcing he’s running for POTUS in 2024. Which, I think is probably going to happen very, very soon now. Though, if Trump panicked and announced his run now instead of the day after the 2022 mid-terms….that would be pretty funny.

Anyway. Calm down. There will be no civil war tonight. Maybe in 2023 if Speaker Trump demands it….but not tonight. Though I do believe Trump is probably going to announce for POTUS very, very soon.

An Idle Summer Daydream About Why The FBI Raided Mar-A-Lago

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I love to run scenarios. So, here’s a dumb (?) one that is mildly fun to think about on a warm summer evening.

For something to meet the Constitutional definition of treason, there has to be a state of war and a few witnesses. Ok, well, the DPRK is definitely still at war with the UN (and, as such the US) and so if when the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago tonight, it’s possible that, in some way, the legal definition of “treason” was met if Trump was selling Top Secret documents to his “lover” in the DPRK.

I’m not saying this happened. I’m not “just asking questions.” I just like to run a scenario and this is interesting to think about. Or, put another way, I suspect that it’s at least possible that there’s more to come on this matter in the coming days.

Who knows.

Is Tucker Carlson Running For President?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Everyone’s favorite bowtie fascist Tucker Carlson went to Iowa recently and makes one think — is he running? I can tell you from empirical evidence that he is EXTREMELY POPULAR with Traditionalists who are Good Germans but who are uneasy with Trump.

So it’s very logical for Carlson to at least ponder seriously the idea of running for POTUS. In a sense, Carlson is more Trump than Trump because he’s smarter and better educated so he can be even more white nationalist in an overt manner than Trump but say it in such a way that he can get away with it.

Now, some context.

Trump is such an idiot and something of a Frankenstein’s Monster that he refuses to retire and let DeSantis or whomever fight it out with Carlson to see who will be the fascist that makes America officially an autocratic state. So, there are two options.

One, Trump simply wades back into the race for president and politically cockblocks everyone else. The other option is there is a massive pitched battle between Trump, DeSantis and a few other would be autocrats like Tucker Carlson. Then, it’s a very last man (or woman) standing situation. To the point that there MIGHT be a brokered Republican convention which would be more about who would be Trump’s veep than anything else.

I don’t think enough people appreciate how important Trump’s selection of veep will be. Trump is old and fat and so out of shape that it’s doubtful he will make it through his second term. As such, if Trump goes nuts and picks, say, someone like Mike Flynn to be his veep — something I’ve been told on Twitter will never, ever happen — then we could really be up shit creek without a paddle.

Anyway, don’t sleep on Tucker Carlson. Even with Trump running around running for POTUS during the 2024 cycle, Carlson is SO popular that he still has a pretty decent chance of winning the nomination and, as such, the presidency. I mean, we’re never going to have another free and fair election unless there’s a civil war so, lulz, if you win the Republican nomination you’re POTUS.

Ugh.

Is Something Up On The Novorossiya Front?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I watch my Webstats like a hawk throughout the day because I have no life and something curious has come up: I’m beginning to get the occasional ping on my writing about Novorossiya.

My hunch is that more clued-in people know something about Russian’s intentions in Ukraine. Like, maybe Russia is about to declare the creation of Novorossiya and declare “victory?”

Or, maybe they’re hearing from people on the ground in south eastern Ukraine that Novorossiya is the ultimate goal of the pitched battle that the Russians and Ukrainians are fighting at the moment?

I just don’t know. I’m notorious for using a microscopic amount of information to draw very, very wrong conclusions. But, we’ll see, I guess.

Uncle Shelton’s Tales: ‘Don The Evil Dingus’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I once upon a time wrote children’s stories in South Korea for young Koreans learning English. I did a pretty good job. The news that some dingus from the bowels of the Trump Administration has written a children’s book defending idiot Trump has prompted me to write my own story.

Uncle Shelton was reading a history book when his black cat Midnight jumped into his lap.

“Whatcha reading, Uncle Shelton?”

“A history book of the recent past.”

“What’s it about?” Midnight asked.

“Well, it’s about…”

Once upon a time, there was merchant named Don. He was very dumb and always said the wrong thing. He was evil as they come and loved
to read a poem about a snake. Don was part stake, according to the legends of yore. One day, there was an election for King of The Land.
Because the merchant was very evil and corrupt, he worked with the king of another land to steal the election.

But many people, including the writer known as Patel would not believe the dumb Merchant stole the election, but rather believed
the merchants lies long, long after it was moot and made them look like a fool. Patel, who should have known better, even wrote a book for
children accusing Hillary Queenton and Keeper Komey of things that were not true.

No one knows what will happen because of Patel and his lies, but there is now a darkness across the land. And the history of the future
may be of a great nation torn apart because people like Patel — who should have known better — kept repeating lies against people who
just wanted to keep their kingdom great.

Here’s a better example of my ability to write a children’s story:

When I was in South Korea teaching English, there was this cute little kid who completely mixed up the New Testament with the movie “Constantine.” It was so cute and surreal that I used it once when I was writing EduTimes fairy tales for this or that surreal little story. So, with that in mind, here’s my effort to explain to a child how fucked up Jeff Sessions’ efforts on the border are. And, as an added bonus, we get to use gennies as a symbolic warning — they’re a poor man’s alarm system as I understand it.

Uncle Shelton’s Tales’ Presents:
Naborat Jeebus & The Gennies

Uncle Shelton took Midnight a farm one day and the moment they got there, there was a horrible noise! Birds were running around everywhere, squawking and causing trouble.

“What are those, Uncle Shelton?” Midnight asked.

“Those are gennies!” Uncle Shelton said. “They make a lot of noise, they warn you when you’re in trouble. One time they saved the land from a horrible orange troll!”

One upon a time, an evil orange troll named Little Hands overthrew the lion as the king of the land. He had become friends with the birds who tweeted his commands down on the animal kingdom. Little Hands had promised so many things to the animal kingdom using the birds’ tweets and for a while there was peace in the land as he grew in power. One day, the Little Hands awoke to a horrible noise! The kingdom was being invaded by gennies! They are a very loud birds and they made it so Little Hands couldn’t sleep. He was very lazy and liked to sleep all day long!

Little Hands decided to use magic to get rid of the gennies. He summoned an evil elf. He told the elf to do whatever it took to get rid of the brown, noisy gennies.

“Yes sir Little Hands!” the evil little elf said. “Right away sir!”

Using his magic powers, he summoned the most powerful magical creature he knew of, Naborat Jeebus! Naborat Jeebus was very old and long ago had left the land to live with his father. The evil little elf told Naborat Jeebus many lies about the gennies, so many lies that Naborat Jeebas cast the gennies into a big pin! He even tore genny familes apart!

The noise of all those gennies being moved into a big pen was ever so loud. Loud enough that Naborat Jeebus took note. He paused for a moment and asked a genny why they were making so much noise.

“We’re just gennies!” one said. “It’s our job in the animal kingdom to make noise, to product people from danger! We meant no harm!”

Naborat Jeebus looked at the evil little elf and got angry.

“How dare you summon me to hurt the innocent!” Naborat Jeebus yelled.

And with that, Naborat Jeebus freed the gennies and turned both the evil little elf and Little Hands into toads and went back to be with his father.

The End.

“See,” Uncle Shelton said. “Sometimes, the good guys win!”

“I know,” Midnight said. “But not always, right?”

“No, Midnight, not always. But if you make enough noise like the gennies, you’re more likely to do so.”

The Republican Trump Problem


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There’s a memorable Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode where we learn that Bart Simpson had a “bad twin” that the family kept up in the attic. At the end of the episode, we learn that the wrong twin was put in the attic, so they switch them. At the very end, we learn that living up in the attic has driven the “good twin” bonkers.

I often think about this when it comes to how desperate the Republican Establishment is to move the fuck past Trump. They love, love, love Ron DeSantis. They know, on a basic level, that DeSantis is Trump without Trump and if they can only squeeze that motherfucker past ding-dong Trump that he can become America’s Putin.

Then Republicans can transform the US into an autocratic white Christian ethno state of blood and soil run by minority whites.

We’ll wake up 20 years from now and there will be talk by the BBC about “Generation DeSantis” and America will be poor, inward looking and politically identical to Putin’s Russia of 2022.

But Republicans have to get past Trump first to make this nightmare a reality.

There are plenty — PLENTY — of reasons to believe Trump will somehow not be the Republican nominee in 2024. He is old and growing more and more deranged each and every day.

And, yet, only the good die young. He could very well politically cockblock DeSantis (or the dozen other would-be autocrats, for that matter) simply by refusing to walk into that dark political night. As such, there are two options for Establishment Republicans.

Either there is something of a political death match between Trump and DeSantis or Trump names DeSantis his veep and DeSantis gets to (eventually) play America’s Putin that way.

But if Trump is the nominee around 2024 – 2025 and Bannon’s “administrative coup” works…oh boy. Trump loves to say “the quiet part out loud” so much that he could, single handedly, unto himself, cause a civil war in the United States. He could rile up the base of the Democratic Party so much in Blue States that there is real, significant political violence in the US which leads to ding-dong Trump striking back, which leads to a secession crisis which leads to civil war.

And then you have people like DeSantis having to make a regular Sophie’s Choice of which side they finally, at last, are going to be on. Though, come to think of it, if it’s Blue States that leave, lulz, DeSantis will be right there, comping at the bit for his chance to wreak vengeance on the prodigal Blue States.

‘The Undertoad’

Tell me about it

By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This definitely seems like the Before Times. I don’t know what the future brings — no one does — but as I keep saying, either the United States implodes into autocracy or it explodes into a civil war. Call it the Great Reset or the Fourth Turning or whatever the fuck you like — but it’s coming.

A number of macro trends are all coming to a head in late 2024, early 2025. One way or another, we’re headed for a catastrophe in the United States. Either we simply lulz the end of our democratic republic or we bomb ourselves into the Stone Age in the process of figuring out who gets the USA “brand.”

But let me be clear — I can’t predict the future. Maybe we’ll just punt our problems down the road another presidential cycle. And, in fact, even if MAGA seizes control of the country in 2025 things aren’t going to change overnight. There will be a false sense of relief until, of course, it begins to dawn on us that things are beginning to change.

And, before you know it, one a political basis, the United States and Russia will be one and the same. Which, of course, is what the MAGA New Right screams at the top of their lungs right now that they want. It’s not like they’re hiding it. Republicans have a soft spot for autocrats and they desperately want white Christian minority rule.

So, either we have white Christian minority rule or we have a civil war. At the moment, it just doesn’t seem as though the center-Left has the grit to challenge the rise of autocracy in the United States long term. Twitter liberals are already talking about getting a second passport and fleeing the country rather than doing anything constructive in the real world to stop our slide into autocracy.

And, remember, once we’re an autocracy, that’s it. Republicans will be able to destroy the social safety net, cut taxes for the plutocrats and raise taxes on the poor. They will probably finally seize control permanently with a Constitutional Convention.

Then loud mouth cranks like me, who have had the luxury of living in a Western liberal democracy are just going to be fucked. We’ll die in a camp. Or be sentence to long prison terms. But our lives won’t be the same. And then all the Good Germans in our lives who have been waiting with baited breath for the arrival of white Christian minority rule will finally have reached their red line — ME.

Anyway, either you realize how dire things are at the moment or you don’t. Either you’re realistic and understand we’re careening towards a very dark choice of autocracy or civil war, or you think people like me are “terribly negative” for simply pointing out the truth.

Of Putin, May 9th & Novorossiya


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If my Webstats are any indication, the Powers that Be believe something is up with the concept of Novorossiya. I monitor my Webstats like a hawk and, for some reason, a few people from New York City are interested in my speculation about Novorossiya.

May 9th, the big military holiday in Russia, is coming up fast and it would make a lot of sense for Putin declare “victory” in Ukraine by saying Novorossiya has been established and fuck you.

Or something like that.

Or, he might declare formal war on Ukraine by saying Novorossiya is going to be officially established that way.

The point is — something’s up.

What We Have Here Is, A Dead Shark


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We have to stop thinking of the United States as a democracy. At best, we’re an anocracy and probably now something closer to a pre-fascist state. Occasionally, I will toy with the idea that maybe we’re going down the high risk, I rereward path of civil war…then I dismiss this idea out of hand.

Blue Check liberals are fucking cowards and when the time comes in late 2024 – early 2025, they’re going to head for the doors. The bent-up rage of the MAGA New Right is so potent — and anti-MAGA forces so weak-willed — that, lulz, the fight will be over before it begins.

And you have to look no further than what’s going on with abortion rights at the moment. That particular debate is over — and the “pro-Life” forces have won. The only thing that’s undecided at the moment is if there is a simple overturn of Roe V. Wade, or if SCOTUS completely flips things so it’s impossible to get a legal abortion in the United States.

That particular datapoint has yet to be determined.

While the center-Left is fighting amongst itself over who is the most woke, or which pronouns to use, or how extreme they can be about transgender rights, the MAGA New Right is slowly but surely collecting real power that it’s using as a bludgeon against what’s left of our democracy.

We’re already a white, autocratic Christian ethnostate, but for one thing — Republicans don’t control the White House or Capitol Hill. Once they changes, which it surely will eventually, that’s it. We’ll go from being an autocracy without an autocrat to just an autocracy.

And I still think by no later than 2040 the United States and Russia will be politically identical. And loudmouth cranks like me will be long dead at the hands of ICE.

So, if you have the means to get out of the country, do so. God speed.