Tag: A Very American Autocracy

Augustus Trump

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Say what you will about malignant ding-dong Trump, there is definitely going to be a “before” and “after” America when it comes to him. There are, of course, still a few lingering issues that I can’t game out.

The one that is zooming towards us is what will Blues do when Trump does something like declare a state of emergency so he can fuck with Federal elections. While I have a hunch he’s probably going to leave state and local elections largely enough, he’s totally going to everything his power to ensure there are not free and fair Federal elections.

There is something of a spectrum on the matter, I guess.

On one end of the spectrum, Trump fucks with elections and…nothing happens. There are protests, but no general direct action. Nothing that really catches the attention of the regime. We just grow accustomed to the idea that our votes won’t correctly be tallied and that will be that.

We will become a zombie democracy like Hungary and then the real issue is how far will MAGA tyranny go. Will we become, eventually, something akin to Russia or not? Will ICE inevitable mission creep into an SS-like organization take place and the next thing you know nobodies like me are rounded up for telling Trump to fuck off on blogs like this, or not?

That’s one end of things.

One the OTHER end of things is something akin to a civil war / revolution on the part of Blues. I just don’t see Blues wanting to leave the Union in some sort of National Divorce. I do, however, see the potential for rolling, massive uprisings, probably lead by the political leadership of California.

That is kind of scary and I don’t want that because even though I consider myself a “survivor,” I sure don’t like the idea of having to dodge bombs and bullets. I suppose, if things get bad enough, I won’t feel safe where I live and I’ll have to head north or something.

I really, really don’t want to have to do that.

But it will be interesting to see how much sand the MAGA Right can kick into the eyes of Blues before there is some sort of reaction.

How Could We Have Possibly Known Our Democracy Was So Fragile

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Jesus Christ. We continue to careen towards full blow autocracy and because of the MAGA death cult it’s a lulz. I continue to note that what people are oblivious to is that MAGA is actually pretty popular, all things considered.

It’s by no means the majority, but at about 37%, it’s enough to have a strangle hold on our politics now, and for the foreseeable future.

I continue t hope that maybe, just maybe Blues will get tired of getting political dirt kicked in their face and might actually begin to fight back in some meaningful way. I used to think that if Trump really fucked with Federal elections that that might be enough to stir the passions of Blues.

But, now, I don’t know.

I just don’t know. It could be that we’ll finally lurch into tyranny in such a way that it will be too late for anyone — especially the Blues — to do anything about it. I say this because Trump and his goons are really fucking with freedom of speech right now and…nada.

Blues are in a huff, but there are no calls for a General Strike or any other sort of national direct action. So, this could be it. This could really be it.

I could wake up one day and get thrown into the back of a truck with a hood on and wake up in a camp because I called Trump a cocksucker on this blog.

I Stand With Jimmy Kimmel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We live in fundamentally dumb times. I finally saw what Jimmy Kimmel actually said…and…? Nothing he said was offensive enough to get him taken off TV, which leads me to believe it was just His Time to be removed from the airwaves at the hand of the fucking autocrat.

What’s worse is, MAGA is really, really hysterical over the relatively anodyne comments that Kimmel made. You would think he pulled out a gun and threatened the audience or something.

Anyway, it’s all just very sad.

And it’s only going to get much, much worse. My only hope is I somehow manage to sell a novel and can get the fuck out of this sinking ship of a country before I get rounded up by ICE and shot to death in a ditch in some camp.

Because you know that’s where this is headed — kooky people are next. They’re going to murder all the Trans people then come after kooks like me. MAGA will lie and say we need to be in a camp “for our own good” or some such.

I am generally a survivor, though. So, I hope, somehow, I can I can extricate my self from this horrible situation before it’s too late.

Trans Rights Is Such A Political Clusterfuck

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Two things can be true at the same time. The “woke cancel culture mob” HAS been a little bit too touchy about certain elements of the Trans movement — especially the whole “protect trans kids” AND Trump is demagoguing the whole thing because the base demands it.

The MAGA base has a surreal fixation on Trans people to an absurd degree. Some of this comes, I think, from how they know the whole thing (especially the nearly-non existant “Trans kids”) is kind of the political clit of the woke Left.

Now, some context.

Just in the last few days it’s hit home that I have a vested interest in assuring Trans peoples some level of dignity — the moment MAGA rounds up Trans people and puts them in camps, guess who’s next: ME. And people like me.

So, as a member of the kook community, I really am growing nervous about my fate as it is grow more and more clear how dire things are growing for Trans people. I just don’t see how this doesn’t end with Trans people in camps. Maybe it will be the Trans issue that causes the inevitable mission creep for ICE.

Cause, you know that’s going to happen. Form follows function and soon enough ICE is going to become an American SS. They will start to round up any one considered either “an enemy of the state” or unworthy of life.

Now there is something else to consider. As it stands, the USA is in something of a political luminal space. We’re an “anocracy” to be exact. There is going to come a point when we go full-blown autocracy and then, well, all bets are off. The USA in 2025 is not Germany in 1933.

We’re far more diverse, decentralized and have a far stronger traditional of being a liberal democracy.

So, if we go full autocracy, there is going to — finally — be some sort of reaction on the part of Blues. And that’s when things will get messy. Very messy.

And, tragically, many, many people may die for no damn reason other than MAGA bigots are paranoid about the browning of America and a small sliver of the population that is Trans.

Ugh.

The Real Dangerous Element Of The Jimmy Kimmel Imbroglio

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

“You do it to yourself,” the old Radiohead lyric goes and that’s what’s going on with the United States. While, yes, the FCC did pressure Disney into getting rid of Jimmy Kimmel for the time being, it happened in conjunction with something far more insidious.

It was really the ABC affiliates balking continuing to air Kimmel that did him in, over and above the clear threat from the FCC.

As such, it is clear that the United States continues to be a house divided. The two sides continue to rush away from each other at an alarming rate. There is literally a solid 37% of the electorate or so that really, honestly wants my worst nightmare to happen.

They want a white Christian autocratic state and they’ve wanted it since Trump ran in 2016. So, lulz? It definitely seems as though we’re going to slide into autocratic rule for no other reason than Blues simply can not, will not get their act together.

I mean, if we had a proper opposition, there would be calls for a general strike. Or Blues would make life hell for Republicans in Congress to the best of their ability.

But, no. This is it. We’re on cruise control and we’re just going to drift into an autocratic state without even so much as a whimper.

Charlie Kirk Is A MAGA Martyr — Now What

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know what to tell you folks. Form follows function and MAGA, like Nazism, apparently craves a martyr and now it has one in the guise of Charlie Kirk.

The issue for me is I wish we wouldn’t do so much “who shot John” in regards to the motives of the shooter and just follow wherever the facts took us. But the MAGA Right has an established orthodoxy, an established narrative, and they have the political and media clout to make it the official story.

Ugh.

As I keep saying, the great irony of all of this is MAGA is ascendant. All they have to do is just be fucking patient and they will get the white, autocratic Christian ethnostate they are rabidly desiring.

If they don’t cool their heels for just a few short years, they really risk letting loose centrifugal forces that will tear the country apart. Or, if noting else, cause the two sides to actually go to war to figure out which vision of America will be used going forward.

I still have my doubts about Blues states wanting to leave the Union. That’s not their vibe. But a revolution on the other hand, yeah, maybe. That’s a possibility.

And that’s the crux of the crucial thing that MAGA is obvious to. The USA is not Germany in 1933 and it is not going to be nearly as easy to make America a Nazi state. The country is too diverse, has too strong a tradition of democracy and too decentralized for that to happen very easily.

MAGA is going to have to fight for it.

I’m Worried: ‘Blue Revolution’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I like to make my abstract fears concrete and after giving it some thought it seems as though here’s one possible scenario for Something Bad happening in the United States in the next few years.

Here’s what could happen — at some point around the 2026 or 2028 Federal elections Trump throws as many Red state National Guard members as he can at Blue state to fuck with free and fair elections. And this would happen in the context of general fuckery against Blue states on Trump’s part.

Someone gets a little too excited and a Molotov Cocktail gets thrown at National Guard unit and they live fire back. This causes a huge rush of uprisings in Blue states and a revolution — not a civil war — starts. I call it a revolution because the point would not be to leave the Union, but to topple Trump’s regime.

Weird propaganda from Twitter.

I do not want this to happen — I hate violence of any sorts, but it’s something to take into consideration. In some respects, our politics are so taunt at the moment, that one instance of Trump really fucking with Blues could be enough to ignite something akin to a revolution in Blue states.

Of course, the issue of what would happen to the U.S. Military is something to think about. A lot would depend on how big the attempted revolution was. If the U.S. Military found itself in the position of attacking a united front of Blue states in open rebellion, it could just collapse itself rather than having to do that.

Once that happened, then, of course, WW3 happens and about 1 billion people would die from the effects of a few limited nuclear exchanges — those would be deaths that would happen specifically because of Trump.

Anyway, I don’t really think any of this is going to happen. I think despite all the radical talk on the part of MAGA Republicans that, in the end, they know they’re politically ascendant and that they will get everything they want just by being patient.

No need for a National Divorce, or massive suppression of Blues.

Trans Rights: A Political Firebreak For Kook Rights

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I long said before Roe was overturned that abortion was a political firebreak for birth control in general and I’ve been proven right — the MAGA Right is itching to ban The Pill using any means necessary.

And, so, here we are, after the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk, talking about the place of Trans people in American society. While I have in the past made it clear that I thought the Left was a little bit too touchy about Trans rights, I now have re-evaluated that because, well, once they round up Trans people for being “terrorists” it’s just a brief jaunt to saying all kooks should be round up “for their own safety.”

That’s how tyrannical systems work. They don’t start with camps, but they sure do end with camps.

I just struggle to understand how far things have to go before Blues wake from their slumber and start to go mano-to-mano with the bloodthirsty cocksuckers of MAGA.

Now, this is the point where I say, I’m going to use my right to call MAGA “cocksuckers” as long as I can. I’m well aware that in this new, post Charlie Kirk as martyr era that I’m supposed to keep my head down and nod pleasantly when MAGA people tell me to go to hell.

But, fuck that. I’ve been a loudmouth crank my entire life, why stop now?

Anyway, can’t we all just get along? Can’t we stop going after Trans people just for being different and especially don’t lick our chops about putting kooks like me in a camp for being different as well.

And Now, We Argue Over Facts

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have at least one MAGA Facebook friend I keep around for various reasons, one of them being to keep tabs on what the current MAGA orthodoxy is. Well, it seems as though the narrative now when it comes to Charlie Kirk’s murderer is that he was a leftist and had a Trans partner.

While I’ve definitely heard those things suggested, I also know that a lot of evidence suggests that the murderer was a “groyper” (far Right) and that the “Trans” person involved not only could be just his roommate, there’s no definitive proof that he’s Trans at all.

But the MAGA Right has it’s “evidence” for what it wants to believe and so, lulz, here we are now, arguing over facts. And I really do fear that Trump is going to do something really weird and dumb because of what he *believes* is true, not what is actually going on.

As I keep saying — I have a vested interest in what happens with Trans people. They’re a firebreak for regular old kooks like me. Once ICE starts to round up Trans people and put them in camps…it doesn’t take much to see that kooks like me will soon join them.

And, as I keep saying, the MAGA Right is ascendant. They are growing in power while Blues continue to be rather blasé about the significance of this. And, again, if Trump was some sort of “great man of history” he would have already used the Kirk murder to send Enabling Acts to Congress to turn us into a full-on tyrannical state.

But Trump is such a lazy doofus that he just rides history and only rarely, like January 6th, actually directly influences it.

I Still Worry MAGA Is Going To Catch The Car When It Comes To Trans People

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have a very serious vested interest when it comes to the macro safety of Trans people. I think of them as something of a political firebreak between myself and MAGA coming after, well, kooky people like me.

As it stands, MAGA seems to want to blame every fucking thing wrong with the entire world on Trans people. I am the first to admit that the center-Left has done itself no favors by being so touchy about “Trans rights.” But since Charlie Kirk’s murder, I have been feeling a whole lot more empathy for Trans people because of how fucked up MAGA is about them.

What is the goal of MAGA by demonizing Trans people? What’s the endgame? Is it just form follows function and fascists gotta have some group of people to have their 2 minutes of hate dedicated to? The absolute white hot hatred that MAGA has for the tiny sliver of America known as Trans people is just fucking bizarre, surreal.

But, here we are, with MAGA’s hatred for Trans people growing and growing and growing. At some point, ding-dong Trump is going to do something really dumb, which is thing, and THEN things grow dark. I could see him either declaring all Trans people terrorists or putting them in camps “for their own safety.”

Something dumb and ultimately ill-advised like that.

And THEN, gradually, all kooks — including me — will be rounded up by ICE and thrown into the campus with the Trans people and then they put us gas chambers or shoot us in the back of the head.

I really need to sell a novel so I can escape America. Sigh.