Tag: Autocrats Never Lose

I Just Don’t See Republicans Allowing A Free & Fair Election In 2026

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

People keep talking about how Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” may cost Republicans the House in 2026 and I just don’t see it. Republicans will do everything in their power to make it nearly impossible to vote next year and so they will be protected from any consequences of their vicious, hateful Big Beautiful Bill.

And that will be that.

Once Republicans pull that fast one, they will be embolden. I suspect they will go through with efforts to replace the income tax with a VAT at some point in the near future.

A lot of macro things are going wrong at the same time and I think this is it — the USA now an autocracy and there’s little, if anything we can do about it outside of — gulp — a revolution. Since I would prefer not to live through a revolution, I guess my next best hope is somehow I find the means to bounce out of the country and never look back.

I Have A Bad Feeling About Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems on a macro basis, Republicans have gotten a little too cocky for their own good. Their plan seems to be to do a huge wealth redistribution with their “Big Beautiful Bill,” then do everything in their power to make it impossible to vote the out of office.

This is not a recipe for stability long-term.

I know, I know I talk about this all the time and then nothing happens, but my “you go bankrupt gradually then all at once” o-meter is flashing red because of the Big Beautiful Bill.

This macro plot by the Republicans seems like just the one-two punch that would push us unto chaos at some point in the next few years. Republicans have gotten really cocky and at the moment, people are too interested in watching Tik-Tok videos to do anything about it.

But when our already perilous income inequality gets even worse — much worse — who knows what historical consequences their may be. Maybe not now, but eventually the chickens will come home to roost.

Something Weird Is Going On With The Late Show

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As a long-time observer of Stephen Colbert, I know that when he is being brave he gets nervous and makes mistakes — this is what happened with the one time he was the comic at the White House Correspondence Dinner.

So, when he not only started acting weird the last few shows but also kept joking about being “canceled” I started to wonder — is he getting a lot of pressure from the brass to tone it down about Trump and he’s kind of telling them, “fuck you” with all this talk about being canceled?

I just don’t know. But I’m kind of on edge and won’t be too surprised if we wake up on morning to learn The Late Show has been canceled or Colbert has been fired for refusing to suck up to Trump.

All of this is happening in the context of SkyDance trying to buy Paramount, the owner of CBS….there is a LOT of money at stake, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Well, That Was Curious

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Last night on The Late Show, something curious happened — out of the blue, Stephen Colbert told a joke that resulted in his show “being canceled.” Now, given how aggressive Colbert is towards the fucking Trumplandia fascists….it’s not beyond reason to fear such a thing might happen.

This, especially in the context of Paramount trying to get merge with SkyDance under the watchful eye of Trump.

So, I could totally see Colbert being canceled as part of quid-pro-quo to get the deal done.

It’s all very curious, regardless.

We Live In Screwy Times

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems as though the other shoe will have to drop at some point on our autocracy — as it stands, we have an autocracy and yet still have a free media. I keep expecting there to be a late night comedy purge.

And, yet, for the time being, that hasn’t happened.

But form follows function. So it’s inevitable that the late night TV shows will be forced to bend a knee to Trump sooner or later. Or, if it’s not Trump it will be his equally fascist successor.

(I just don’t ever see us having another free-and-fair election in my lifetime.)

Anyway, when it happens, it may be pretty dramatic.

This *May* Be The Summer Of Our Discontent

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s possible — especially if store shelves go bare — that this summer could be quite dramatic. Or not. Americans have let me down so much that I’m beginning to believe that, lulz, meh….people just refuse to risk anything in the real world because of Trump.

So, it definitely seems, at least as of now, that we’re going to drift for a few years until a crisis happens in late 2028 when Trump tries to run for a third term somehow. I really do think Trump is going to run for an illegal third term and THAT could be when the country finally buckles.

Or, maybe not.

I had all these scenarios that I wrote for years about a civil war because of Trump winning in 2024 and…nothing happened. So, we’ll see.

If I Have To Register With The Government Because I’m Bonkers Someone’s Going To Hear About It

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have been very careful to hold my tongue, as it were, as Trump pushes us further and further into regular old autocracy. But with the news that JFK Jr. is floating the idea of “registering” autistic people…I’m given pause for thought.

I’m not autistic, but I am clinically bonkers.

As such, as we lurch farther and father into autocracy, it doesn’t seem like too much a stretch to think one day bonkers people like me will have to register with the government. Why this would be the case, but if they’re going to come after autistic people, then bonkers people sure as hell will be next.

I’m going to cause a ruckus every way I can if I have to register with the government. I’m not going to shut up and it could be the refusing to register could be my first actual real world “resistance.” Of course, I say this now and then I just turn around and do it anyway because I will feel pressure to do so by my far more normal relatives.

And what happens if there is criminal liability for not registering? Then what am I going to do? I guess I can at least get really angry on social media — I do that already — and continue to work on my novel.

Hopefully — hopefully — things won’t get that bad. Hopefully I won’t have to register with the government and I can finish my novel in peace.

Chaos Is The Point

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems to me that all the chaos Trump is creating of late is the point — he wants us to be weak enough that we can be attacked so he can consolidate power as “war president.”

I will admit that I’m giving Trump way more long term, abstract reasoning abilities than he actually has, but that would be the end game. No matter what. Trump is going to make us so weak and poor that when we inevitably get attacked for his dumb behavior specifically, people will look to him as some sort of savior.

That could give him the cover he needs to cancel elections, or whatever else he wants to do. I just don’t think we’re ever going to have free-and-fair Federal elections again, at least in my lifetime.

Anyway, good luck, folks. You’ll need it.

My Suggestion For The Democratic Party: Bank Left On The Economy, Bank Right On Social Issues

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There is clearly an interest in progressive politics when it comes to the economy. But at the same time, the Democratic Party’s fixation on Trans Rights is alienating and unpopular. I’m not suggesting abandoning support for Trans Right, just maybe….modulate it.

If the Democratic Party could pull away some of the poorer people from the MAGA coalition of the poor, the wealthy and the religious by appealing to their pocket book instead of their racism and misogyny, maybe Blues could start to win elections again.

And if Democrats simply cooled it with Trans Rights being a “pressure point” for them and were a bit more mainstream in their views on the matter, then maybe those two combined would be enough to swing elections back their way. (Not that there will ever be any more free and fair Federal elections again, mind you. That’s just a thing of the past now that we’re an autocracy.)

The issue of “gender affirming care” for minors is something that is kind of absurd since I don’t think it even is necessary that much. And, yet, both sides use it as something of a political football, with Blues using their fixation on the matter as virtual signaling and Reds using their hate of it to make the faithful fall in line.

But I’m serious about no more free and fair elections. All of this is moot. American democracy is over. The only way we get it back is a revolution and I neither want that nor see it happening.

The Fear Of The ‘Woke Cancel Culture Mob’ Remains a Potent Force With Some Conservatives

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I was talking to a conservative relative recently when he went on a long tirade about, essentially the “woke cancel culture mob” and how this swarm of woke people can ruin a person’s life.

So, that is evidence that long after everyone else has moved on, the fear of the “woke cancel culture mob” continues to linger with a lot of people.

The key issue to me is there is something of an orthodoxy about certain elements of society that the “woke cancel culture mob” simply can not comprehend someone not adhering to. They are so potent within the Blue alliance that they really alienate people with their unpopular agenda.

There is a reason why fucking Hitler-Trump presses the pressure point of the transgender movement in such a gratuitous manner — he knows he got a lot of votes from people who should know better because they’re afraid of being “canceled” when they get someone’s pronouns wrong.

Blues need to do some introspection. But, in a sense, it’s too late. We’re an autocracy now and we’re never — or at least as long as I’m alone — going to have another free-and-fair Federal election again. Good luck.