Tag: Autocrats Never Lose

Idle Rambling

We Are Lulzing Ourselves Into Autocracy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s clear we’ve given up on liberal democracy in the United States. At the moment, at least, it seems as though Trump will win a second term and I will end up in a camp — if I’m lucky. I dare not think what would happen to my sorry broke ass if I’m not lucky.

All of this is happening in broad daylight. Trump has made it clear that he wants to be an autocrat — specifically a military dictator. And yet the mainstream press can’t even trouble itself to frame the debate around Trump’s pending re-election in the right way.

Meanwhile, I find myself having arguments with conservative relatives about over how it’s a “free speech” issue when it comes to trying to not give Nazis a platform online.

It definitely seems as though our only shot is to hope enough chaos erupts in starting in 2025 that the country becomes so unstable that the military stands down and maybe even deposes Trump. (I AM NOT ADVOCATING ANYTHING.) If that happens, then maybe we could refound the republic and have a Third Republic take the place of the failed Second Republic.

Something, something like that.

But I have my doubts. I think this is it. It’s over. The US is just going to slide peacefully into a Russian-style autocracy and that’s it.

The Thing About Steve Bannon

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Ugh. Steve Bannon is a fascist bad penny. I see elements of my own personality in his, even if we’re on the exact opposite ends of the political continuum. He fancies himself some sort of Big Thinker or “Trump’s Brain,” but, in the end, he’s just a bunch of fucking hot air.

Steve Bannon
But he is dangerous, to an extent, because there is a lot — A LOT — of slack in the system for Trump should he decide to go full tyrant. The issue is, that I think even Bannon might be taken aback at how tyrannical Trump can become at his behest before there are any consequences.

But there will be consequences if Trump takes Bannon’s rhetorical advice and goes full tyrant. (I AM NOT ADVOCATING ANYTHING.) At the moment, at least MAGA doesn’t have a paramilitary arm like the Nazi SA. Two, the United States is a huge nation with a diverse population that has the self-perception of being a “free country.” If Bannon gets his way and, I don’t know, a weaponized ICE starts to snatch Trump opponents — like me! — off the streets…that might cause even Traditionalists who otherwise love Trump to sit up and take notice.

Or not. What do I know. It could be that Trump really can go full tyrant and no one will care. There might be some protests here and there, but it will be too late because the press will be so scared by Tyrant Trump that they won’t report them taking place.

All I know is — buckle up. On a macro basis, the times they are (about) to change.

The Late Great Second American Republic

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Oh boy. Are we in trouble. As I often do, I used my far, far more conservative relative as something of a one person focus group. And, yet again, what I learned startled me. They key take away is that there is way too much slack in what Tyrant Trump could get away with before this relative — whom I love dearly — would sit up and take notice.

This is not the first time that I’ve realized this, but as we lurch closer and closer to the end of the Second Republic, my alarm grows more severe. To recap — the First American Republic was founded by George Washington, the second, Abraham Lincoln.

Now, we’re at a crossroads. Either we somehow found a Third Republic or we collapse, at last, into autocracy. Either we have a moment of crisis and then national renewal….or we’re very fucked. I just don’t know which option we’re going to pick at the moment.

It could be that this is it. We’re just going to slide peacefully into autocracy and won’t look back. The Era of Democracy will be over once and for all and I will never again live in a “liberal democracy.” Ugh. Or, of course, I may somehow escape the country and finish my six novel project in some other nation.

I just don’t think we’re prepared for how many smug Twitter liberals are going to flee the country the moment it becomes clear Trump is going full tyrant. It’s going to be quite jarring. All us Poors are going to have to fend for ourselves. Also, I still struggle with what group will serve the purpose of the Nazi SA in our transition into autocracy.

So many known unknowns.

Watch Out For That Last Step

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We have to accept that ding-dong Trump could very well single-handedly cause a cataclysm — “a Great Reset” — starting in late 2024, early 2025. Remember, either option when it comes to Trump is a “Not great, Bob,” situation. If Trump loses, then he might start a civil war to stay out of prison. If he wins, then he could prompt a “Glorious Revolution” that could ultimately result in… a civil war.

Oh, there’s going to be a Great Reset alright, but not in the way you think, you fucking fascists.

So, we *could* be fucked either way.

There is, of course, always a chance that I’m really overthinking things and all of this is just more of my usual hysterical doom shit. I honestly don’t know at this point what is going to happen. My concern, of course, is we’re just not taking the possibility that Trump going full tyrant seriously enough.

If Trump really does try to expel 10 million undocumented people from the country starting in 2025….we have a serious problem on our hands. The ranks of ICE agents would swell to at least a million — if not more — to figure out a way to round up all those people. And that doesn’t even begin to address how doing such a horrific thing would fuck up the American economy.

And, yet, here we are with a large portion of American conservatives chomping at the bit for that very thing to happen.

What Is To Be Done: How Bad Will Things Have To Get Under Tyrant Trump In 2025 For The American Populace To Get ‘Woke?’

by Ender

Editor’s Note: I’m not advocating anything. I’m just frustrated and sometimes I write provocative things generated from that frustration.

If Tyrant Trump freaks out we all may be antifa in 2025.
Something that has really been weighing on my mind of late is — how bad, exactly, will things have to get before some direct action concepts that would otherwise NEVER HAPPEN suddenly become viable? Remember, none of the fascist dreams that Tyrant Trump will happen in a vacuum. If Trump and his goons literally begin to snatch people off the street — or drive them out of the country — there is going to be some sort of reaction on the part of the population.

Or will there? Is it possible that as long as the economy is going well and 1 million smug Twitter liberals with their circle jerk podcasts leave the country that….lulz? Even if we literally descend into tyranny of autocratic rule that…no one will care? There might be some riots or protests here or there, but if Tyrant Trump has scared the shit out of the broadcasts networks…no one will know about it?

Of course, Tyrant Trump thinks that all of his problems will be solved by invoking the Insurrection Act. This is very dumb and naive. That’s just not how this works, it’s not how any of this works.


I’ve read up on how the Nazis consolidated power in early 1933 and the crucial thing they had that Tyrant Trump won’t have is a paramilitary group. The U.S. Military is simply NOT the Nazi SA. On an institutional basis, the U.S. Military simply isn’t interested in being a tyrant’s bitch. It may slow walk any knocking of heads if Trump causes mass riots across the country, or, if there was a Women’s Strike or General Strike, they might even just stand down and wait for things to play out.

Who knows. Given the absence of a SA-like paramilitary group, things get really murky in early 2025 really quick. Even if Trump does everything in his power to corrupt the adminstration of civilian rule over the U.S. Military if Tyrant Trump does all the batshit insane things he wants to do…yikes. Things could get rather bonkers rather quick.

My fear is that a second Trump term would cause first a Glorious American Revolution….then a Secession Crisis as Reds balk at all the structural political reforms that Blues will want to push through.

The whole thing would be a clusterfuck. I don’t want it to happen, but I am gravely concerned that we’re just not prepared for what may happen in the United States starting in late 2024, early 2025.

No, Twitter Liberals, You Can’t Fix Anything By Simply ‘Tweeting Harder’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I am growing more and more frustrated by well-meaning Twitter liberals who think that they can avoid risking their “lives and sacred honor” when it comes to defeating Tyrant Trump simply by “tweeting harder.”

They’re such pussies that I think it’s inevitable that when Tyrant Trump starts to literally round up people in late January 2025 that they’re just going to flee the country en masse. They just don’t have the guts to do anything else. They are going to leave us Poors to our own devices as the ranks of ICE agents swells and is weaponized and mysteriously drunk crank citizens like me will just go “poof” as 10 million undocumented people are rounded up and put in camps.

I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m a man of peace. A man of ideas. But I would also die on my feet than live on my knees a slave. So, lulz, come at me bruh?

I just am never, ever going to shut up. I’m never going to be a “Good German.” So, yeah, I’m willing to do the one thing that all those fucking smug Twitter liberals with careers and families aren’t willing to do — actually take an existential risk for what I believe in.

But, hopefully, it won’t come to that. Hopefully, Biden will win in 2024, Trump will fade into political oblivion and I can somehow sell my first novel.

Chaos Is A Ladder: Gaming Out America’s Final Decent Into A MAGA-Themed Autocracy In Early 2025

by Ender

Ok. There’s a lot to unpack here. It seems as though malignant ding-dong Trump and his goons MAY have made a pretty big strategic error in their plans to turn the United States into an autocracy starting in late January 2025. As I’ve written before, they assume that through sheer force of will they can corrupt the administration of justice and of the executive and turn America into a Hungary-style managed democracy without any problems.

They seem to think that as long as they have the Insurrection Act in their back pocket that everything else will be unicorns and rainbow farts for their autocratic dreams. That may be so….but I have some quibbles.

The ironic thing is just as liberals seem to think that someone is to swoop in and save us from Trump if they just tweet harder, so, too, do MAGA fascists believe that invocation of the Insurrection Act is some sort of fascist fairy dust. This, despite the U.S. Military being loathed to get involved any political issues fights and the United States being a diverse, decentralized country with a huge population and a long tradition of democracy.

So….lulz?

Yes, there is a lot of low hanging fruit for Trump in the first few days of his tyrannically second administration. He can arrest a lot of people he doesn’t like — or drive them out of the country. He can fire 100,000 civil servants, turn Voice of America into his propaganda organ, pull the US out of NATO and our troops out of Korea and Japan.

BUT…..none of this will happen in a vacuum.

And, as such, if there is some sort of massive revolt against dingus Trump for these tyrannical moves by the population…the Insurrection Act can only do so much. There is a key thing that Trump is missing — he has no paramilitary group to “forcefully suggest” to people that they shut up and go along with the America First agenda….and if they don’t, they end up in a camp.

There are two things to consider at this point.

One is, clearly while Trump is weaponizing the existing ICE infrastructure to round up 10 million(!) undocumented people in the US….he could probably use that same weaponization to turn ICE agents into something akin to the SA. So, I could see Trump passing a HUGE FUCKING BILL that would enlarge the ranks of ICE Agents to an astonishing level. They would serve the purpose of the Nazi SA in the first 100 days of Hitler’s consolidation of power in early 1933.

Or, Trump could go the more direct route and somehow organize an actual MAGA SA made up of consolidated group of Patriot Front, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who would be his goons as the US lurched towards a Nazi-style autocracy.

BUT….This, too, would NOT happen in a vacuum. There would be some lag time between when all hell broke loose in the US because Trump went full tyrant and the time where he would have a 500,000 goons on the streets to knock heads. That would give anti-fascist forces a window of opportunity. Things like a Woman’s Strike or a General Strike with specific anti-fascist demands might be enough to convince the U.S. Military to at least stand down, if not actively join anti-fascist forces. In a sense, we would all be antifa at that point.

Remember, however, all of this would be happening in the context of mass chaos in the United States. There would be no assurance that any Blue Glorious Revolution would work — it could endup like what happened in Turkey and only make the autocrat more powerful by failing. And even if it was successful, it’s very possible that it would only cause a Secession Crisis as Red States — probably starting with Texas — would leave the Union rather than accept any sort of reforms that they knew would hurt the fascist MAGA agenda.

I don’t think the fucking nattering nabobs of negativism on Twitter realize how bad things will get if Trump is re-elected. We would be going to the show, folks. This would be it.

America would either turn into a Russian-style autocratic state or we would somehow found a Third Republic.

A Perfect Storm: A Hottake On Q*, The Looming Possibility of AGI and The Need For UBI

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve been reading up on this whole Q* issue in its relation to Sam Altman being fired then rehired and it’s all…very curious. Just the idea that we may be approaching AGI is enough to give one pause for thought. And the idea that it may happen between now and when the so-called “Fourth Turning” staring in late 2024, early 2025 is very unsettling.

Imagine that just as the United States is having an existential political crisis, we are also being faced with something akin to a Singularity as well. If we achieve AGI between now and Election Day 2024, then, suddenly the idea of a Universal Basic Income becomes a serious political proposal.

But, wait, there’s more!

What if AGI is considered “woke” by MAGA to the point that they want it destroyed because it starts to take “jerbs” away from blue collar MAGA people? How’s that for a sticky wicket? You would pit the tech against the people at the same time as we the United States debates if it should lurch into fascism. And if AGI came and suddenly the entire economy was thrown up in the air…well, you really have a recipe for economic — and political — disaster.

But I am prone to “hysterical doom shit,” so, lulz, it could be that we just continue to drift through history and we punt our political problems down the road and only gradually reach any sort of technological Singularity. But I am…worried.

It definitely seems as though 2024 – 2025 could be one of the most momentous eras in American, if not human history. Only time will tell.

Welp, Biden Is Probably Going To Be Impeached In January

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

All signs point to Speaker MAGA Mike impeaching Joe Biden sometime in January. The point of this silly act is simply to make Biden and Trump “equal” in the minds of low information voters as they head to the polls in late 2024. That and a huge amount of spite.

It seems as though Speaker MAGA Mike is doing this at the direct order of ding-dong Trump. The two met recently so the speaker could suck Trump’s political cock. As one does in such a position.

The whole thing is a huge waste of time. But it will only help to cement Trump’s absolute power over House Republicans. And, remember, when should Trump go full tyrant once he’s re-elected, if the House is Republican….he’s going to have pretty much absolute power. He will be able to consolidate power through Agenda47, Schedule F and Project 2025 quite quickly.

Then, given how form follows function, we’re going to have a Constitutional Convention that will go rouge, put MAGA Enabling Acts into the Constitution itself and that’s all she wrote. We turn into a Russia-style autocracy with camps and potentially American Killing fields.

I wish I was joking.

But we have to go through a dumb impeachment of Biden in January so Trump has a spring in his step heading into November 2024.