Tag: Autocrats Never Lose

Is It Possible That People Are … Listening To Me?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Generally, absolutely no one listens to me. I live in oblivion. But I have been ranting and ranting and ranting AND RANTING for years now that late 2024, early 2025 could be a Holy Shit moment in our nation’s history.

I only mention this because someone in Milwaukee*, where the RNC took place recently, looked at what of my hysterical posts from late 2020 where I had all these crazy ideas as to how Trump could stay in power. None of them, I will note, mentioned anything about him inciting an insurrection, natch.

But it does make me wonder — given how fucking much I’ve ranted about the possibility of a civil war / revolution….is it possible someone, somewhere is actually now, at last paying attention to me?

If they are, I don’t quite know what to make of such a thing. It would be totally out of the ordinary for my living-in-oblivion life. I have also caught the attention of someone who was apparently in the NYC area and now is in the DC area.

That would usually make me ecstatic — someone of note gives a shit about me! — but I’m also worried that he / she is an FBI or Secret Service agent worried I’m going to freak out and hurt someone. UGH. I hate that. I hate the idea that just because I’m a kook and have strong opinions about politics I have to worry that I’m on some sort of fucking watch list.

I’m totally, completely fucking harmless. Totally. I hate guns. I hate conflict. I am, I will admit, a kook. But that’s it. I really, really, REALY fucking hate guns.

Let’s see if anyone listens to me about that part.

*I doubled checked – it was Waunakee. Ooopse.

I’m Severely Worried

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

No matter what happens this fall, there is a real risk of domestic political violence in the United States at a level not seen since the end of the Civil War. There is a non-zero chance that the most powerful nation the world has ever seen could buckle because of some pretty dumb shit.

What’s worse, the state I live in — Virginia — is two states, one Red, one Blue, fused together who hate each other. So if the absolute worst happens, there’s a good chance that I will become a domestic political refugee.

I wish I was joking, but I’m not. I could literally have to make good on all my quips about “heading North.” And I’m sure — sure — that somehow I’m going to endup in some sort of waystation in Maryland before I being shipped to a bigger refugee camp somewhere like upstate New York or maybe Maine.

But we have to start to buckle down and game out, on a personal basis, what the fuck we’re going to do should the absolute worst happen. I’m not smart enough to tell you what you should do, but I can tell you that you need to take all of this seriously.

We could be seriously f u c k e d no matter what happens. If Trump wins, he could go full tyrant and be deposed, which would cause a civil war when Red States leave the Union. If he loses, he could demand a National Divorce and…civil war.

But I am known for magical (over) thinking and so…maybe nothing will happen? Maybe Project 2025 will happen, about 1 million smug Twitter liberals will leave the country….and that’s it? About 20 million people will be put into camps, God-only-knows-what will happen to them and it will be just a Big Meh?

I just don’t know what is going to happen. No one does. But I would definitely accept that This Could Be It.

What A Strange Turn Of Events

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

What the fuck is going on with Jason Calacanis? He is far more wealthy and successful than I will ever be, but recently he’s become a uhhh….beta? A mid? When it comes to his politics.

He’s all-in (pardon the pun) with Trump and I can only assume he’s doing so at the behest of his best-bud Elon Musk. It seems very…beta of him. Have some self-respect, man.

But here we are, with @Jason on Twitter sucking Trump’s political cock — and urging everyone else to do the same thing in a very conspicuous way. Industrialists are never wrong, are they? ARE THEY?

Industrialists have never, ever picked a candidate for short term gain that ultimately destroyed everything….have they? HAVE THEY?

‘Truth Tellers’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of my far-more-conservative relatives, whom I love dearly, has been ranting about how fucking old Biden is. This person kind of got worked up about it more than once. And I, too, have admitted that Biden is really old — and acts it — but I simply hate MAGA too much to use Biden’s age as any sort of excuse to vote for…ugh…Trump.

Now that Biden appears to be about to leave the race, it seems like it’s time to contemplate the OTHER thing my far more conservative relative has gotten worked up about — the COVID restrictions of a few years ago.

Is my far more conservative relative right about all that? Should there be “consequences” — even criminal — for the people responsible for those restrictions?

Nope. I keep thinking about what happened and why and I just can’t agree with such severe political views. And, what’s more, there just isn’t any political will all these years later to do anything like arrest the CDC en masse. I suppose Tyrant Trump might do it, but…I don’t know.

That’s a maybe. He might have bigger issues to contend with going forward. Anyway, I just don’t see the point in going after the people who did the COVID restrictions. It was a time without any leadership and no one had any idea what to do.

We can just hope the Fire Next Time will be handled better — hopefully because Trump won’t be in charge.

Please, Leave Me Alone

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I am well aware what a kook I sound like. But I’m harmless. Absolutely harmless. I just get worked up sometimes. I have a few novels to work on. Please, please, leave me alone.

The Hot Chick To MAGA Pipeline Is Strong

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have an eye for beauty. But these days, I stop cold with some of the political views of some of the Twitter and Instagram hotties I admire. Now, I’m just way to lazy to give you any examples of what I’m talking about.

But, trust me, time and again I see smoking hot babes ranting about how much they fucking love fucking fascist Trump. He is such a piece of shit — especially to women — and they are so hot that it causes considerable cognitive dissidence.

Oh well. It will be interesting to see what happens next, I guess.

J.D. Vance’s ‘Blogger’ Sites

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Today I Learned — J.D. Vance was J.D. Hamel until about 10 years ago. Go figure. Anyway, through the grapevine, I’ve discovered his Blogger sites from way back in the day.

Just a casual glance of the two sites doesn’t show anything of note. But, who knows, maybe there’s something that might hurt him in there somewhere. Yet, to be fair, he did call Trump an “American Hitler” in the past and that was an lulz when he actually became the veep nominee.

So, I have my doubts.

We Need A Brokered Democratic Convention

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have no idea what’s going on with Biden, but all things being equal, he should drop out of the race and let an open, brokered Democratic convention take place. Then all this weird angst going on within the highest ranks of the party can have some catharsis.

The goal would be, of course, that after all the yelling — and amazing TV — that the party would be far more united against Trump and the forces of tyranny and fascism that he leads. But, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m getting a strong 1872 American election mixed with 1933 Germany election vibe with this current election.

Biden is so old, it’s very, very easy to imagine him shuffling off this mortal coil at, like, the absolute worst moment — which would be any time after election day. But I’m known to be really paranoid about such things. And I am prone to magical thinking.

So, I dunno. I do think that Biden has lost the collective Mandate of Heaven when it comes to the leadership of the Democratic Party and, as such, he should step aside, even if he continues to have a lot of support with the base. I’m kind of indifferent.

I still support Biden and think he can win, but, it definitely seems as though that’s kind of moot at this point. The momentum is there for him to drop out and, well, there you go.

The Nuts & Bolts Of Collapse

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I still can’t game out what is going with the United States at the moment, it makes you think about the nuts-and-bolts of collapse. There is a great book that goes into this some by David French called Divided We Fall.

But let’s talk about other things — if things actually got as bad as I fear, how would we distinguish between Blue forces and Red Forces? We both can’t use Old Glory.

A would, of course, depend on what specific nature of the division would be. My fear, of course, is that Trump wins, gets deposed then the country collapses because Reds freak out and their states begin to leave the Union.

That’s the fear.

But we’ll see. It will be interesting to see if someone comes up with a flag Blue forces to use. I think the Reds will either use an all-red flag, or maybe one with some sort of stylized lion on it. It will be interesting to see — if such a dystopian thing happens — if the Reds call themselves Trumplandia during the middle of the catastrophe.

I really, really, REALLY don’t want ANY of my dystopian hellscape fears to come true. But I can’t help myself. I keep worrying about how, exactly, the USA might collapse.

An Eerie Premonition

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

For various reasons, I keep going back to a very, very specific part of Maryland these days. And I keep wondering, “Should I become a domestic political refugee when the country collapses, am I somehow going to see this place again?”

I keep imagining a bunch of Blue military soldiers shepherding me around this very, very specific area of Maryland and me thinking back to how I keep visiting it a year or so before.

But who knows. I *am* prone to overthinking things — and magical thinking, too. So, maybe it’s nothing. Maybe I’m just way too worried about what seems to be the inevitable collapse of the country I love so much.