I don’t know what to tell you. It seems as though history is repeating itself when it comes to Trump and major American oligarchs.
I just don’t know. It definitely seems as though American industrialists are cool with Trump becoming a MAGA dictator, given the opportunity. I don’t think Trump will be an expansionist like Hitler, but rather someone who causes the country to implode, like Pol Pot.
But that doesn’t mean Trump won’t be just as destructive — if not more destructive — than Hitler was, just for different reasons. I still believe that Trump could directly and personally be responsible for the death of 1 billion people around the globe before it’s all over with.
Yet, lulz, it definitely seems as though we’re just going to have to go through some things before the mistake we’ve all collectively made.
The reason why there is no “solution” to Trump is our political system is so rotting and broken that we refuse to do the one thing that would douse the burning embers of MAGA — raise taxes.
Here are two “solutions” that we could have to MAGA if we were willing to raise taxes.
Training If we could train and retrain blue collar men so they can code and once again provide for a family on a single income, then, yeah, maybe we wouldn’t have the “problem” of MAGA anymore.
Child Care Because many conservatives are moralistic, simplistic twats, they believe that if they can only force women into having children, then all their bigoted, racist dreams will come true. This is totally wrong. If we would just raise taxes, then we could afford the type of extensive child care that might make women actually WANT to have children, despite what a pain in the ass it otherwise is.
Bonus: National Service If we had National Service that young people just out of college had to participate in for a year, that would be a way to force people from diverse backgrounds to interact with each other in the real world.
But, again, when conservatives think “taxation is theft,” then, well, it’s difficult to fund stuff like this.
It is becoming more and more clear that barring a Black Swan event, the only chance we have to avoid a fascist state in the United State is if Trump loses in 2024 and just fades peacefully into political oblivion.
As of now, in January 2024, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m of the opinion that if every election your democracy has is existential that you’re not a democracy anymore. And that’s where American finds itself.
It seems as though we need to buckle up. Late 2024, early 2025 could be rather momentous.
The key thing to remember about all of this “dictator” talk by Trump is he just wants that idea rolling around people’s minds should he get re-elected. It will, in his ding-dong brain — give him more wiggle room when it comes to what he can actually do.
While I hate to compare someone as lazy and dumb as Trump to an actual Great Man of history, it is easy to compare Trump as Julius Caesar. Just like Caesar, Trump could be a transitional figure for our hobbled Republic. It could be that for no other reason than Trump is old, fat and lazy as fuck that it won’t be him who turns us into a Russian-style autocracy, but, rather his next Republican successor.
But all of this won’t happen in a political or historical vacuum. The United States is not a one-to-one with the late Roman Republic, as much it might be easy to assume that it is. The US is more likely to collapse into revolution and civil war than it is to peacefully transition into autocracy — especially under the ham-handed “guidance” of someone like Trump.
And, remember, after Caesar’s death, there was a huge civil war. So, I think rather than us assuming Trump is an American Caesar, we need to think seriously about the global implications of the world’s hyperpower buckling into autocracy, revolution and civil war.
We could see a few of these in late 2024, early 2025.
The longer answer is — it’s complicated. I think there is a good chance that through a combination of Executive Orders and using the pardon power that Trump could probably be something akin to a dictator in 2025 should he win in 2024.
But the thing that the liberal popinjays on Twitter miss is the nation’s slide into dictatorship would NOT happen in a vacuum. People would get pissed! As such, if he did such a thing, I think the following MIGHT happen — Trump is somehow “deposed” and we might get something akin to a military junta with someone like James Mattis as acting president.
That is all VERY SPECULTIVE.
But the point is — it’s at least possible that late 2024, early 2025 could see some amazing, unprecedented political and historical events take place. What’s more, if the USA implodes, the the entire post-WW2 global order will implode, too.
We could see about 1 billion people around the globe die DIRECTLY because of ding-dong Trump being such a fucking idiot.
All I can say is, it definitely seems as though we’re careening towards a very, very dark future. As I keep saying, they say you go bankrupt gradually, then all at once and it definitely SEEMS as though in late 2024, early 2025, we’re going to reach the “all at once” part of that particular rule of thumb.
It’s just all very sad. All great empires must come to an end and so, lulz, either America somehow manages to punt our problems down the road or there’s some sort of Black Swan event that saves us — otherwise, yikes, we’re going to implode.
We’re going to turn into an America First autocracy and the post-WW2 liberal world order is going to collapse. Then, oh Lort. Only the good Lawd knows what will happen then.
It just seems very possible that the next few years could be very, very bumpy in ways that we simply can’t predict or control. Trump is a one-person chaos agent and, as such, pretty much no matter what, he is going to put us to the test.
The issue of what might happen in the next year could be rather profound in hindsight. The issue first and foremost that no one can predict the future. So, I can write all dystopian hellscape verbiage I want, in the end, only the good Lort knows for sure what is going to happen.
Now, in January of 2024, it definitely SEEMS as though Trump is either going to win and turn us into a very unstable autocracy, or he is going to lose and demand a National Divorce to save his sorry ass on a personal basis.
But there is always a chance that either Trump loses and just slinks off into oblivion, or some Black Swan event happens that no one can predict that gives us an off ramp from a very dark future that none of us can now predict.
And, yet, we have to take seriously at least the possibility that some fucked up shit is going to happen in late 2024, early 2025. It could very well be that the United States as we current conceive of it will no longer exist in a year. It could be that we either are just about to transition into a full-blown MAGA autocracy, or we’re just about to depose Tyrant Trump.
I am growing more and more nervous that because of where I live, I may become some sort of domestic political refugee in about a year. That I will be forced out of my home and forced to move somewhere that better fits my center-Left political views.
But at the moment, that’s kind of out there. It could be that lulz, none of that happens and we’ll somehow — somehow — punt our political and social problems down the road another four years.
Things are so fucked up at the moment, that it would be nice if Trump got involved in your run-of-the-mill sex scandal. It’s not like it would change anything. He would still be 60,000 votes in five swing states away from being POTUS.
But at least we would have some…entertainment…for a few days or weeks till things go sorted out.
It definitely seems as though ding-dong Trump is, at the moment, an immutable force of American political history. He’s going to either lose and start a civil war by demanding a National Divorce, or win and either transition us into an autocracy or win and cause a revolution on the part of blues which, in turn, causes a civil war by Reds.
All because white Christian (men) are uneasy about the browning of America and the rise of women having more reproductive and economic agency.
Something very curious is going on with Western culture at the moment. And that curious thing is…nothing. There’s just nothing much going on at the moment. There are lot of macro trends that are heading towards something, but there’s just not a lot going on right now.
There are a lot of ways to look at situation.
One is, this is just the usual winter lull in the year. Another is, culture is kind of in a holding pattern until the election. Or, you could say, once the AI generated Toy Story pops out in a few months, and it will be away we go!
But think about it.
For the last 20-odd years, people have dressed pretty much the same. We’ve listened to music that is pretty much the same — with a few notable exceptions. Everything has just been a number of apps maturing in popularity until some — like Facebook — seem like virtual malls. (Not a lot going on and those people who do use them are old people getting their steps in.)
I do think that AI and the Fourth Turning might be two things that upend the rather sedate cultural world we live in at the moment. And it might be that Apple’s Vision Pro is the first thing that REALLY throws everything for a loop. But even that, I think, has a few more years before people will actually want to wear them.
Not until XR glasses are indistinguishable from those wrap around sunglasses that all those angry MAGA chodes wear will they become popular.
There is only one way that Blues might actually start a civil war (really a revolution, given their collective temperament,) and that is if it was clear Trump had stolen the 2024 election.
I have grown to believe this is the least likely of the various possible scenarios because Trump is so dumb and lazy that he’s more likely to either win outright or lose outright and THEN start a civil war. Either by losing and demanding a National Divorce or by WINNING, then being such a tyrant that he is deposed somehow then Red States leave the Union.
But, yeah, I suppose if he steals the 2024 election that Blues might, rather than “leave the Union” simply deny that he’s POTUS in the first place and things start to go crazy when there’s, like, some sort of General Strike but because the U.S. Military doesn’t know what to do…wow…just wow.
All of my existing thoughts about such a scenario stand, though. What California does would be key — they would be the arsenal of American Democracy in any civil war / revolution because of their population and economy.
I have to say, in any fair fight between Blue and Red, the forces of American Democracy (Blues) definitely SEEM like they could kick the asses of tyrannical fascists MAGA Reds. That doesn’t mean, of course, that any such civil war/ revolution wouldn’t draaaaaaaaaaaaaag out for years, leaving America looking like Afghanistan by the time everything go sorted out.
I’ve written about all of this — and changed my mind some of the years — a great deal over the last four or five years. And, in general, I think first of all, it won’t happen and second of all if it does it will suck. There will be no narrative and the whole thing will be value free.
You must be logged in to post a comment.