The Big Ugly: America Has A Very ‘July 1991 Soviet Union’ Vibe To It Right Now


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The reason why I keep comparing Trump to Gorbachev is I can remember in the years leading up to the August Coup how no one, but no one could understand what his agenda was or what the ultimate endgame would be.

Trump is the same way — we know we’re in a new era and we have no idea how any of this is going to end.

I still think very, very soon we’re going to experience The Big Ugly. I like this phrase because it’s not like I have to say, civil war, revolution or implosion. It’s just something BAD — The Big Ugly. The reason why I think The Big Ugly is going to happen is TrumpBarr will never peacefully leave office and, yet, the mood of the country (maybe?) has subtly begun to shift towards something (maybe?) akin to a landslide (if we were still a liberal democracy.)

As such, when TrumpBarr stage a coup of some sort, that’s going to slam up against American self-perception and the bolts may pop of the country. To the extent we see a massive amount of domestic political refugees as Red and Blue States begin to consolidate.

There’s also a chance that something pretty lit might happen in NYC — Trump Tower could be stormed. FOX News, The WSJ and New York Post could be literally driven out of the city. Hell, maybe even some sort of commune might be established there (free state?)

Anyway, the point is — there’s no endgame right now. The United States, because of the passions of the 2020 election and personality cult that surrounds Mad King Trump I may, well, fucking implode like the Soviet Union did in late 1991.

In general, I would suggest this isn’t going to happen because the countries are too different. And, yet, fucking cocksucker MAGA-Qanon shitheads may simply decide to force the issue, especially if TrumpBarr gives them every reason to believe they can successful keep Trump in power via some sort of well-finessed media messaging management coup.

To me, it seems as though The Big Ugly might happen for no other reason than TrumpBarr make the caculation that the dead hand of history is on their side and, by the way, fuck you.

Have no idea if they’re right or not.

Only time will tell.

The Big Ugly: American Balkanization, Canada & Reshaping North America


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I hate it when I accidently slip into giving our dystopian future some sort of all’s well that ends well narrative like some sort of sanguin liberal-progressive Turner Diaries. With the Turner Diaries it was — as I understand it — a far Right fever dream that involved a race war.

With my narrative, it’s The Big Ugly happens but in the end, my liberal-progressive dreams come true because we found a new nation based on the ideals of California.

But that’s really me stroking one out to something that may not happen.

It may be that when The Big Ugly happens, the United States — if it doesn’t become a full-blown autocracy — simply implodes. A form of balkanization happens in the US. And that’s it. There’s no more United States. California successfully leaves the Union and the rest of the Blue States are under the MAGA-Federal jackboot via the Insurrection Act.

And that will be that.

I guess the point of that is The Big Ugly is going to suck should it happen.

Another thing is — if The Big Ugly happens, I just don’t see any way Canada doesn’t get drawn into it. And it won’t be some sort of liberal-progressive circle jerk where Blue States form the United States of Canada with Canada, either. Things may get violent. Canadian worst nightmares about Americans coming after their “resources” may come true.

Or, at least, the entire political map of North American may change in a rather sudden, dramatic fashion. Some sort of force-union between some Blue States and Canada might happen. Or MAGA-USA invades Canada because it meddles in TrumpBarr’s attempts to turn us into Putin’s America.

What I’m saying is — the next four months could really, really fucking suck. A lot of people may die tragic, needless deaths simply because fucking Trump is a demagogic moron who is afraid to go to jail.

I just want a liberal democracy. That should not be so controversal.

‘The Big Ugly’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This fall and winter are going to be ugly. Big Ugly. We have a spectrum ahead of us from Trump “winning” outright and turning us into a very poorly run autocracy to an outright implosion.

I say this because two things seem to be true — Biden for the time being is winning on a political level and autocrats never lose. So either TrumpBarr pull a rabbit out of a hat or the Russians hack directly into our election systems or whatever. Trump isn’t going to lose despite it seeming he should on a political level.

Either we fight back as Americans or we don’t. I have come to believe because of one crucial demographic — conservatives who aren’t MAGA — we’re going to lulz this. If we can’t get conserves who aren’t MAGA (but vote MAGA) to at least tacitly support any mass reaction against TrumpBarr’s upcoming coup, then, well, we’re doomed.

There might be some violence here and there like in 2016, but not the massive, rolling protests necessary to catch the attention of #MoscowMitch and others. All that is going to happen will be TrumpBarr will use the Insurrection Act to “deal” with what happened.

Please note, I’m not advocating any sort of revolution or civil war. I’m just saying autocrats never lose and we have to prepare ourselves for a new America where American Little Green Men push people out of windows and snatch people — like me! — off the street.

The bad guys are going to win. They’re going to win either by simple post-election message management or an outright coup. Something pretty significant has got to happen for me not to think this. Something really big.

Otherwise, get ready for The Big Ugly.

It’s going to be….ugly.

If You’re MAGA-Qanon & You Want A Civil War — You Are A Fucking Moron


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It boggles my mind that a sizable portion of MAGA-Qanon are so oblivious to how much they are getting using peaceful means that they would start hurting people simply because they were “triggered” because their guy didn’t win on election day.

Idiots!

The American political system is so dominated by MAGA-Qanon (MAGAQ), and macro trends are so in their favor, that if they started hurting people, all of that may go poof! pretty quick.

I say this because political violence is so alien to modern Americans that the idea that dipshit MAGAQ would start shooting people (or whatever the fuck they want to do) is enough that they may lose everything. Americans have a strong sense of justice and hurting people is A Bad Thing for 99% of us. And, yet, here we are.

I keep seeing shithead guys with tiny cocks and big guns walking around threatening people.

As an aside — what I think is going to happen is these fucktards are going to firebomb polling stations on Election Night so we can’t figure out who won. Then TrumpBarr seizes “total control” as has already been suggested. Then either the really do turn into Putin’s Russia, or we are absolutely forced against our will to fight back.

I hate that. I don’t want that. I just want a functioning liberal democracy.

That should not be a big deal.

Trump Being Bonkers Is A Lulz, Until…


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Ok, for some time now, Trump’s mental acuity has been in self-evident decline. In short, he’s slowly going bonkers. But he’s been bonkers for so long in a very publish fashion that at this point we see it as white noise.

So, what has to happen is Trump really, really, REALLY has to go bonkers for it to matter. Specifically, he has to do something that would hurt himself politically because it’s so bad that it would puncture the bubble of “I haven’t see the tweet” that currently surrounds him.

What, exactly, would that be?

Well, all I got is he starts to actually spew racist vitrol on Twitter. He starts to use the N-Word on Twitter. He starts to call AOC obscene names on Twitter. He does has to do something so batshit insane and offensive that it actually causes people to sit up and take notice.

Or, lulz, he starts a war.

I just don’t see any of that happening, though. Even as bonkers as he is, Trump would really, really be out of it if he actually did something concrete that was actually impossible to defend.

Who knows.

Our Coming Political 9/11


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of the purposes of the media is to help construct reality. They make it so there’s an ebb and flow to life. It’s when something so jarring, so astonishing happens that they can’t do their job of making us just accept things that you have a crisis on your hands.

Two things are true right now: Biden is doing well politically. Trump is going to use extra-political means to “win” the election.

So, as such, the question is — are we careening towards a “political 9/11” in which CNN’s Anderson Cooper has to look at us and say, “For the first, time, the United States is in the midst of an attempted coup.”

It will really get that bad. Trump and Barr are going to try to steal the election through extra-political means post election no matter what. Even if Biden somehow wins the popular vote by a landslide, Barr is going to use the full weight of the United States to prevent Biden from actually taking office.

If you throw in batshit insane MAGA-Qanon people running around blowing shit up and murdering people in cold blood for political reasons, well, you got the beginning of a civil war or a revolution. Something bad, to say the least.

So, I would suggest you buckle up. Get ready like you did for COVID19. We’re either going to turn into a Russian-style managed democracy or there’s going to be a civil war – revolution. There’s no middle ground, tragically.

The Darkest Scenario


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As of right now, it seems as though Trump is going to be fine. There may be a lot of rumors about him being near-death, but just like Little Rocket Man, he’ll pull through and be fine. He can go about his work of destroying the Republic unfettered.

But, let’s imagine that doesn’t happen.

Two major issues immediately confront us — what to do with Republican ticket and any political violence on the part of MAGA-Qanon who think it’s all a Deep State effort to stop Trump from taking “total control.”

The Ticket
The few MAGA people I talk to say Pence is not for them. So, it seems as though there will be a very brutal power struggle to figure out who will lead the Republicans. Because he’s already on the ticket, Pence has the 9/10th rule on his side. But this things may grow very untenable for him politically very quickly. I could see Ivanka becoming the Republican nominee or some negotiated deal whereby Pence promises to name her veep should he win. All I know is — House Trump ain’t going nowhere.

Violence
I believe the United States would suffer unprecedented political violence from the moment the Dear Leader flew his unicorn into the sky. In fact, it could be that Trump’s legacy may be the thing that brings down the Republic and pushes us into civil war / revolution, not the living Trump.

But I just don’t see either one of those being an issue. Just because Claudia Conway says he’s “sicker” than we’re being told, doesn’t mean anything. I would, however, check with her immediately if rumors of The Dear Leader’s demise pop out of the darkness.

House Trump’s ‘Regency’ & The Fate Of America — & Humanity


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

First, let me state that I think Trump is going to be fine. But, let’s suppose he’s a “long hauler” and is incapacitated by COVID19 for a longer amount of time. What happens?

The World Without The United States.

I think we’d have some sort of Regency, then. Probably made up of Ivanka, Jared and Barr. I say this because apparently Ivanka and Jared run everything already and Barr would be the goon that inforced everything legally.

This is how “Trump” would do exactly what we all expect him to do anyway — steal the election post-election. Now, this raises and interesting situation — what if Biden clobbers Trump politically and the House Trump Regency STILL tries to steal the election (which they will.)

This is a recipe for the United States to implode.What I mean by this is our national polity goes –poof! — and we devolve into our major local and regional polities. Even the U.S. Military may not be able to keep things together if that happens. They won’t chose POTUS, because they won’t exist.

Major polities in the US below the national level are California, Texas, the Deep South, the Northeast and NYC. If we were to, God forbid, Balkanize, those would be the polities that would sort things out.

Three things of note — if you keep California in the Union, then that’s the bedrock of any “Renewed American Covenant.” Texas is a real question mark as to which direction they would go which can be summed up by the question, “Is Texas American or Southern?” Also, there would likely be massive domestic political refugees as the Blue and the Red consolidated their political positions internally.

But, remember, the entire 70 year old liberal global order would go tits up the moment the US imploded, so the very existence of humanity might be in question as China-India-Pakistan-Israel-Iran-DPRK began to attempt to get a lot of their geopolitical dreams for no other reason than they know they can now.

Do I really think that’s going to happen — no.

But is something to at least take seriously enough to think about.

How Blue States Could Win A Second American Civil War / Revolution

Excuse the hostage letter level technology.


By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


I am growing very irritated with fucking Proud Boys and Boogaloos stroking one out to the idea of a second civil war or revolution. So the above is my attempt to prove a point — if they face an existential threat, Blue States have a lot going for them.

‘Manhattan Commune’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Revolutions have a dynamic all their own. It seems to me that there’s a big old pink elephant staring us straight in the face and we refuse to acknowledge its existence: something is deeply wrong on an existential level with the American Ancient Regime.

Coming soon to 5th Avenue?

This rot pops out every once in a while in a very conspicuous manner. The most recent instance of this is the absolute craven need on the part of Republicans to name Amy Coney Barrett to SCOTUS no matter what. The logic on the part of Republicans is so disconnected from any form of adherence to liberal democratic norms — or common sense — that is makes you sit back and think about the whole edifice.

Republicans aren’t shy to make it clear that they’re gunning for two politically popular aspects of modern American life: Roe V. Wade and the ACA. Both of these poll well above 50% and yet Republicans are lulzing this and licking their chops at the idea of doing away with them altogether.

This is not something that would happen in a functioning liberal democracy. Doing away with both of them would not happen in a vacuum and there would be major political consequences. In fact, I would go so far as to say Republicans are setting themselves up, at least in the case of Roe, for something akin to a reproductive rights Dred Scott Decision.

But there’s a chance the whole country might implode before that even can happen. It makes you wonder what that implosion might look like on a practical level. I would suggest you keep an eye on New York City. Because of its Deep Blue nature, should the absolute worst happen — some sort of implosion — New York City seems like the place where some sort of radical event might happen.

Something like The Taking of Trump Tower. Or maybe the gutting of Fox News headquarters in the city. That could set off a cascading series of events in which the populace rises up and sizes control of municipal government and some sort of revolutionary commune-like governance arises.

This sounds pretty bonkers. But if take a step back from the United States and stop looking as what you think it is and, instead, what it really is, it’s at least possible that this otherwise fantastical thing might happen. Once House Trump loses the Mandate of Heaven in Blue States, some pretty fucking nuts things might happen very, very quickly.

One thing I struggle to figure out is if you start at the end — the United States imploding — and work back, how, exactly, would Blue States defend themselves from Mad King Trump if he really wanted to take “total control” as suggested by his best bud Roger Stone. A lot would depend on what happened to the US Military.

If even that venerable institution wasn’t able to stay together, then, I guess, Blue States would have to organize their own New Model Army (or whatever) under the guise of the governors of individual Blue States. The legal justification for such a call up of forces eludes me. But if you have Red States breathing down your neck, I guess you could pull something out of your butt.

And, remember, the key thing to think about is any type of civil war or revolution would only happen if the natural inclination of the Fourth Estate to calm everyone down was unsuccessful. So, as such, it’s very possible that despite all my wargaming, we don’t implode at all, we just slip into an autocratic managed democracy with our eyes wide open. Barr will give Trump a thin veneer of legitimacy and, as such, he will be able to quickly consolidate power.

Trump’s such a fucking self-own artist, however, that even if he and Barr win the election through the “soft power” of media narrative management, he could single-handedly bring the country to its knees (and incite a revolution) from sheer incompetence.

A fish rots from its head, afterall.

I’m not advocating any of this. But New York City is a very interesting political situation. If my worst nightmare happened, NYC would likely be the first surreal flashpoint in the even more surreal collapse of the most powerful, most stable nation on earth.