Tag: Autocrats Never Lose

The End Of Politics & The Looming Second American Civil War


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Most of the traffic this site gets now is from people nervous about the possibility of a Second American Civil War. They have every right to be. American politics isn’t functioning anymore and either, in the end, the United States becomes an autocracy or we implode into civil war / revolution. At least, that’s the macro trend as of March, 2021.

I’ve been reading as much as I can about the rise of Hitler and, in general, tyranny. It definitely seems as though the recent Capitol Insurrection is just a sign of things to come. Only because Trump is a fucking lazy idiot are we not, right now, either in a civil war or in the final stages of some sort of autocratic consolidation of power.

But, here we are.

We’ve punted the existential threat the GQP don’t the road maybe four years. All the conditions are there for the GQP to, at last, strangle American liberal democracy in 2024. Republicans will control Congress in 2024 and since they hate democracy as much as they hate brown people and women with sexual agency, when the exact same thing that happened in 2020 happens AGAIN, well, we’re just fucked.

We either have a civil war or we turn into a MAGA-Qanon themed autocracy. As I keep saying, get out while you still can. If there is a Second Civil War, you would be a fool to think WMD won’t be stolen at some point and used. We’re going to nuke ourselves out of existence. That’s how civil wars are — they’re nasty and sometimes go in directions you can’t expect.

So, for the time being, we’ve punted the specific crisis of a civil war down the road. But when the time comes — around 2024 – 2025 — we’re going to be faced with the same choice we were faced with in 2020: autocracy or civil war?

WW2 Saeculum: Our American Zombie Republic


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

When I’m not writing an allegorical thriller about the Trump Era, I’m reading. A lot of that reading has to do with the novel. But some of that reading is about something I’m very nervous about — how the United States is careening towards a second civil war.

Remember, that second civil war would have already happened but for one thing, or person: Donald Trump. All the conditions were there in 2020 and by only one metric did we not either slip into autocracy or have some sort of civil war — Donald fucking Trump is a fucking idiot.

He was so fucking lazy that the fate of the United States, in a sense, turned on a dime. We faced the precipice and, in an almost cartoonish fashion, we turned around and walked back into an era of democratic norms.

So, in a sense, all my hysterical ranting about Trump was right but for one thing — when push came to shove, Trump was such a lazy fucking moron he simply was not able to do what 99% of the people in the world would do in his position — knock some heads to stay in power.

As such, here we are: we’re a zombie repubic.

We’ve punted the question of “autocracy or civil war” down the road four years. The United States is, on a macro level, extremely unstable right now. There are two historical analogies I could point to. One is 1860.

Imagine if some of the last ditch efforts to stop the civil war worked and they simply punted the crisis down the road four years. That’s what’s going on now.

The other is 1933.

We’re kind of if Hitler lost the election in 1933, but vowed to try again and just kind of lurked around waiting for his opportunity .

But the key thing you have to remember is — there is no narrative to history as its happening. It’s very, very possible that the Bad Guys will win and a lot of people — like me! — will die because we won’t shut up about the tyranny of MAGA. We won’t be around to see the downfall of the GQP because of their excesses.

There is a broader macro geopolitical issue to worry about — a stable United States is the lynchpin of the post-World War 2 Pax America we’ve all come to enjoy for the last 70 years or so.

Should the US implode into civil war or simply become an inward looking MAGA autocracy, well, it won’t be just the United States that’s fucked. And, surreally enough, such a massive clusterfuck might happen just about 100 years from the end of WW2. (And, remember there were about 100 years from the Congress of Vienna to the outbreak of World 1.)

So, I’m thinking maybe no later than the 2036-37 timeframe. (That would be 100 years from when Japan invaded Manchuria.)

Or, put another way — we’re just one election of a Trump-like autocrat away from the end of the post-WW2 era. World War 3 could very well happen and everything will be re-arranged in a rather blood and dramatic fashion.

Good luck.

I May Start Using Big Tech’s ‘Digital Telepathy’ As My Informal Shrink


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have no idea if my suspicions about the ability of Big Tech to read my mind are true or not. But, Jesus, Tik-Tok specifically sure does do some fucking spooky things with its “algorithms.” So much so that either we need to break up and regulate Big Tech because they’re hiding a Soft Singularity from us, or we need to break up and regulate Big Tech because they’re rooting around in our minds using Digital Telepathy.

Well, maybe Big Tech can read our minds?

Let me explain.

I’m around my elderly father a lot and…for some reason, out of the blue, Tik-Tok pushes me videos about World War 2 a lot. So much so, that I’m like, “Any algorithm they may be using sure seems to be thinking about my dad, not me.” Remember, there was a point some time ago when YouTube was pushing me videos about lockboxes and the end of the world which totally made no sense for me at the time. (But did for my father, natch.)

But Tik-Tok has begun to push me weird, almost snarky, content as if it’s rooting around in my mind and wants to have some fun of some sort. The key issue is, of course, is I can’t really prove any of this. There are plenty — PLENTY — of other ways their “algorithm” could figure out most, but not all, of the shit about me that they are pushing. I’m sure they’re listening to me using my phone. I’m sure — somehow — these very words I’m writing right now are being monitored and throw into the maw of an “algorithm” somewhere to better sell me widges.

I get that. THAT, I understand.

It’s when Tik-Tok gets cocky and does a bankshot off some something only I know about my personal mental monologue that I go…hmmmm….weird. Why am I getting that if ONLY I KNOW ABOUT THAT REFERENCE. And, what’s more, some of the stuff Tik-Tok is pushing me is almost like it’s trying to help me with personal problems. Wow-we-wow.

If Big Tech has gone past simply knowing that I’m I have “CAT” on my mind all the time, but has figured out the more abstract things associated with WHY that term is on my mind all the time, then……oooooooooh boy. The national security implications of that are deep, deep, deep.

There are two I can think off the top of my head.

One is, if, say the United States really did slip into autocracy, I could see the NSA start to hunt down specific people whose minds their monitoring for “anti-MAGA thinking” (or somesuch.) Though, to be fair, I generally think that while they obviously abuse their power, in the war against MAGA, the NSA is probably the good guys for the time being. There’s a reason why MAGAQ-Trump hate “the Deep State” so much.

The other is, if a hot war broke out between China and the United States, it sure would be useful for China to have some sense of how open America’s youth would be to be, say, getting drafted. That’s some serious Soft Singularity intelligence there.

But no one listens to me. Absolutely no one listens to me.

Why ‘Second American Civil War’ Porn Is So Popular Right Now


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It all started with Ronald Reagan. It was Reagan who told the base that all their problems were caused by evil liberals. So, pretty much, it has been down hill from there.

So, here we are.

About half the American electorate is eagerly waiting a civil war where they are freed from the confines of “cancel culture” so they can murder evil liberals in cold blood without any consequences. I say this because most of this blog’s traffic comes from people in Red States obviously stroking one off in the middle of the night to the idea that if they could just murder liberals then they could provide for a family of five again even without a college education.

I look at my Webstats and it’s a steady flow of URLs from Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina who are very, very, VERY interested in some sort of Second American Civil War.

What is so nuts about all of this is if these people would just cool it and let politics take its course, they could get everything they ever wanted. But it definitely seems as though we’ve reached the game of …”but THEN what would happen” where the only logical conclusion is if “cancel culture” keeps going that good old boys in the South (and Mountain areas) will take it upon themselves to slaughter those evil, evil liberals in cold fucking blood.

This is the point where I say — if you’re on of those good old boys: eat shit and fuck off you cocksucker.

Anyway.

The point is, we are so totally fucked. Either there’s a civil war in about five years, or a strong man, a “man on a horse” takes over and strangles our fragile liberal democracy without firing a shot.

The National Security Implications Of Tik-Tok (Potentially) Reading The Minds Of America’s Youth


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Let me state for the record that I have no idea if Tik-Tok (or Big Tech for that matter) can read our minds. But if it’s happening, Tik-Tok abuses the technology the worst, given how of all the “Hey, are they reading my mind” abuses I find these days seem to be the most egregious on Tik-Tok.

The issue is — the connection between Tik-Tok and the Chinese government is probably pretty nebulous and difficult to pin down. And, obviously, I don’t know the nature of any putative mind reading technology that may be being used. Is it point-to-point? Is the information gleaned being stored somewhere that can be analyzed? Is this all part of a broader “Soft Singularity” that no one is telling us about? What gives?

What’s more, if private companies can rummage around in private citizens minds using electronics connected to the Internet, just imagine what the CIA, NSA and MI6 can do at this very moment.

But, again — I have no idea if my fears about any of this are real. All I have is a low-grade hunch that maybe, just maybe a Soft Singularity has happened within the bowels of Big Tech and they haven’t told us about it.

Yet, let’s assume that if not now, at some point in the future, “digital telepathy” might be weaponized by both sides as China grows in power and the United States is put on something of a back foot. (Remember, it’s very likely that the United States will become a MAGA autocracy in the 2024-2025 time frame so a lot of my fears will become a lulz.)

But maybe one might find the governments of each country breaking it to their respective populations that they should stop using electronics if it seems like a war is about to break out between China and the United States? If it is, in fact, possible for Big Tech to read our minds and it’s completely unregulated there are so very many moral, ethical and political consequences to deal with if that particular cat is ever let out of the bag.

Having a New Cold War enemy being able to read the minds of your youth is a severe national security issue that might be seen as something close to the dropping of the first a-bomb in historical implications.

Or not.

No one listens to me.

And this doesn’t even begin to address what happens when the a MAGA autocrat uses “digital telepathy” to read the minds of the American populace on the the DL. Talk about a Black Mirror episode! They could have almost absolute control over the population without even anyone realizing.

Everyone uses a phone or a computer. If someone just vanishes one day because of technology no one believes even exists, well, oh boy.

Some Thoughts From What I’ve Read So Far Of Ezra Kline’s ‘Why We’re Polarized’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m really digging Ezra Kline’s book, “Why We’re Polarized.” It’s helped to crystalize a number of abstract fears I have right now and make them concrete. I now understand why the United States will be indistinguishable from Putin’s Russian in less than a generation.

The chief thing is the America I grew up in was the product of white people feeling on top and there being an obvious dominate political party. Throw in that when I was growing up the average blue collar dude without a college education could provide for a family of five all alone and, well, the changes since then make it clear that an autocrat was bound to happen soon enough.

The center-left is so God-awful weak in the United States, that once an actual autocrat (instead of the empty-suit would-be autocrat of Trump) takes power , we won’t know what hit us. All my nightmare scenarios from the last few years will come to be and I will definitely be snatched by a member of the weaponized ICE.

So, enjoy the next few years of liberal democracy while you can. I haven’t gotten to the end of Kline’s book yet, so I don’t know what his solution to this clusterfuck is yet. But it seems to me, as I keep saying, if you can get out of the United States now, do so.

Trumplandia is coming back in about four years and it ain’t going to be pretty.

The Fist Of A Clown


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Another option in America’s inevitable slide into autocracy is Trump comes back and is simply an incompetent, deranged figure head for his veep. Because make no mistake about it — we’re completely, totally fucked.

The only reason why I’m not in an ICE camp right now starving to death in, say, Arizona, is Trump was so incompetent that he couldn’t go the last mile. Lady Liberty was spread eagle in front of him, ready to get — to put it politely, fucked — and he couldn’t get it up.

Next time, alas, we won’t be so lucky.

And either Trump will be something of an autocratic Trojan Horse for, say Mike Pompeo, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc or we really will go full autocrat and we’ll just elect one of those thugs directly. The America we assumed would always be there is now nothing more than a zombie.

The reason I know this is Twitter liberals are STILL not taking the MAGA bullshit seriously. Things have gotten so bad that it’s just too late. All the fucking MAGA cocksuckers have to do is win ONE presidential election in the next, day 20 years and that’s all she wrote. The macro changes taking place in the United States are just too powerful.

The United States is now two countries that hate each other and the lone question is, will there be a civil war during the process of transformation into autocracy or will liberty be smothered without a peep.

And, if you really want to get oh-my-God-this-is-ironic, there are indications out of Florida that the reason why Trump was so popular in the Latino community is they LIKE AUTOCRATS.

So, while I embrace the browning of America, in the end it may be that very browning that allows an autocrat to strangle our freedoms once and for all. How’s that for ironic? In the end, the question may be more about if MAGA grows so deranged that they’re overthrown for American Killing Fields or not.

In other words, get out. Leave the country.

Or be prepared to make some existential choices.

Cancel Culture & The Coming American Autocracy


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We are so fucked.

As I predicted, we’re in political neutral right now. Or, to be more specific, the center-Left is relaxed after the turmoil of the Trump Era, while the center-Right is tapping its fingers, waiting for an autocrat to be elected to stop scary brown people from taking over.

At the center of this is so-called “cancel culture.”

This is the debate over being “politically correct” taken to the next level. This is the hook that about 12 would-be deranged autocrats are going to hang their hat on when they come screaming for our liberal democracy.

I really struggle with cancel culture. The conservatives I know are so passionate about how they feel as though just by being conservative they can have their lives ruined. While I still have yet to find any instances of this, or at least a literal instance of it (usually, people who are canceled are either racists, bigots or misogynist who hide behind the term “cancel culture.”)

But that’s not even the point. The point is the vast majority of your average conservative THINKS this is the case. And a lot of liberal-progressives don’t exactly help their case any by being way, way, way, too sensitive about anyone who doesn’t follow the media narrative in their views.

Regardless. I’d rather have cancel culture than a fascist state. Fuck MAGA.

Weimar America: Lara Trump & The ‘Velvet Fist’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

No one listens to me. Unless, of course, you’re an FBI agent in Washington D.C. who comes to this site to print out any blog post I might do about Alexa Chung. (Ugh.)

But I will note something — it would make a lot of sense for Lara Trump to run for Senate in North Carolina, win, then run for president, win, and serve as the “velvet” president to the “fist” of vice president Josh Hawley.

Or, put another way, as I keep saying, the United States is an autocracy without an autocrat. Not for nothing did a huge chunk of the electorate vote for “the guy from The Apprentice.” They wanted an autocrat and they got an empty suit.

So, they made the psychological reasoning necessary for our current barely-functioning liberal democracy to be strangled. As such, there are now about a half dozen would-be autocrats lurking around, trying to figure out how to get around Trump so they can finish the job he started.

Just enjoy this brief respite from autocracy while you can. We’re now officially in the “Weimar Republic” phase of United State history. The macro one-two punch of the browning of America combined with non-college educated blue collar men not being able to get laid is simply too much for the American political system to handle.

We’re totally, completely, fucked.

If you can get out of the country now, do so. Or if you can’t you really need to start taking the rise of autocracy in the United States seriously. Are you willing to suffer for freedom? Well, are you?

I Definitely Have The Creative White Hot Rage Necessary To Finish This Novel


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This novel, from the beginning, has been powered by my center-of-the-sun rage over the Trump Era. Now that the fucker has been acquitted AGAIN by the Senate, all systems are go to throw myself into this novel.

I’m enraged by the fact that the United States is officially hurtling towards either a civil war / revolution or MAGA-based autocracy. We are now living in something akin to the American Weimar Republic. This is the calm before the storm. We’re going to be in political neutral for about two years. Once the Republicans win Congress back, then they’ll impeach Biden and plot how they’re going to steal the 2024 election.

If they manage to steal the 2024 election without bungling it, then we get an autocracy very, very quickly. If they bungle it, then we get a secession crisis, civil war, revolution, you name it.

These are macro forces at work. Something on a strategic level would have to change for this not to happen. The Singularity. First Contact. A limited nuclear exchange. That type of stuff.

Anyway, the emotional, mental and creative energy I need to finish this novel is back on line. I’m apoplectic that Democrats did not have the guts to at least TRY to get Trump convicted by calling additional witnesses. Ugh. Idiots.

But I guess I have to just throw myself into this novel as best I can. And also keep an eye on the exits — if I mange to sell this novel, I may use the funds to bounce to, say, Asia so I can drink BeerLao and watch as the nation I love is consumed by American Nazis.