America is growing more and more unstable. The sad thing about it is, that instability boils down to something a nebulous and vacuous as “vibes.” Both Red and Blue have reason to resent the union that we find ourselves in. I will note, of course, that Reds are far bigger crybabies than Blues when they don’t get their way or if they feel slighted.
What’s the most surreal element to all of this is Reds are ascendant politically on a macro basis. But they are totally oblivious to this fact. They are so shortsighted and angry at any perceived slight — even though all the political momentum is on their side — that they’re chomping at the bit to start a civil war.
That’s probably the biggest mistake I’ve made when trying to game out potential civil war scenarios — Reds are acting irrationally. They have no political patience and they could very well shoot themselves in the foot and start a civil war even though they are well on their way to getting everything they want if they’re just take a long-term approach to their goals.
It’s interesting when talking to my center-Right relatives how they perceive the center-Left. They seem to think that center-Left people hate Apple Pie and motherhood. They believe that all center-Left people are gay or trans people who hate want to commit infanticide then crow about it on social media.
It’s deeply weird and based almost exclusively on vibes generated within the Right-wing echo chamber of podcasts and Fox News. (Even though a lot of Right wing people like to poo-poo Fox News, the network still sets, a general way, the agenda of the Right wing echo chamber.)
Anyway, I really, really hope that we just muddle through things like we always do (at least have in the past.) But I’m starting to have my doubts.
A sign that the United States is growing more and more unstable is it’s growing more and more difficult for people who disagree on policy to talk to each other. It’s difficult to say what is obviously true when talking to some conservatives, which is, “Hey, you’re a bigot.”
You just can’t do it. If you mention racism or bigotry being the core reason why this or that thing is generating so much fear and hate within someone who should know better, it would instantly end the conversation.
But, here we are — sexism, bigotry and racism are now generating a huge amount of political power within conservative ranks. That’s one of the reasons why the two sides are receding from each other at such an alarming rate — conservatives are very touchy — maybe even a bit delusional — whenever the issue of why, exactly they’re so upset about the “crisis at the border” or abortion.
I don’t know what to tell you — either we collectively dodge a bullet and just muddle through another four years….or we don’t.
One of the absolutely bonkers element of any second Trump Administration is the fact that he will be gunning for something we all taken for granted — birthright citizenship. This make me both very angry and very alarmed because the first thing fascists — like the Nazis — do is start to fuck with who is a “citizen.”
I have conversations with my far more conservative relatives — whom I love dearly — and their reaction to the potential demise of something as fundimental as birthright citizenship is a real life shrug emoji. They just don’t care. All they care about is “securing the border” to the point that when you press them about how they plan to deport 20 million undocumented people — they just laugh.
They don’t care, they just want it to happen, damn the consequences.
So, it definitely seems as though if Trump is re-elected that many of my dystopian fears for his first term will come to fruition. I just don’t know what to tell you folks. It definitely FEELS like I may very well lose my citizenship and find myself in a Trump-branded concentration camp at some point after 2025 if I can’t manage to sell the novel I’m working on and get the hell out of the country.
It is growing more and more apparent to me that should, God forbid, Trump get re-elected that there is only one Red Line for most Traditionalists — the personal. Otherwise, they will be so happy that brown kids are again being torn from their mothers and put in cages that it will all be a lulz.
But when things get personal, then, yeah, Traditionalists might stop being Good Germans.
The only reason why I even bring such a thing up is Trump is so dumb and lazy that he is the only person who might thrash around in such a tyrannical manner as soon as he has power again that the people who should be the core of his support — center-Right Traditionalists — might actually become “Radical Moderates” just long enough for him to be successfully deposed.
Even this is very iffy.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe we really are going to go straight into a dystopian MAGA Nazi future where people like me are snatched off the street an no one — no even Traditionalists who are related to me — will care or notice.
And, yet, at least now, in early 2024, I’m not prepared to assume that that is the case. I’d like to think that if Trump really does go full tyrant on us that because of the Red Line of the personal that Traditionalists might, just might, look the other way if Trump has to be deposed. (Not that I’m advocating anything.)
It definitely will be interesting to see how, exactly, things play out going forward. Just from my conversations with my far more conservative Traditionalists relatives — whom I love dearly — we are in a lot — A LOT — of trouble if Trump is re-elected.
They just don’t believe that Trump is going to do all the shit that he has made very clear that he is going to do if he’s re-elected. I keep talking about Agenda 47 and Project 2025 and they look at me like they have no idea what the hell I’m talking about.
All I can say is, yet again, that late 2024, early 2025 is going to be VERY INTERESTING.
I can’t predict the future — no one can — but I have a personal compulsion to make my abstract fears concrete. As such, I just don’t think malignant ding-dong Trump can go full tyrant on us in a really haphazard way and there not be consequences.
If Mad King Trump really tries to rule the Blue parts of the US a tyrant as it seems clear that he does, then…oh boy. It just makes absolutely no sense to me that Mad King Trump could do all the tyrannical things he plans to do without any SA-like stormtroopers.
That is the key element of Hitler’s consolidation of power.
All these people who are aghast that I think there might be some reaction to Trump going full tyrant are making a basic mistake — they are assuming that if Trump starts to corrupt the administration of law and of justice that Blues are just going to roll over and let it happen.
As I always say at this point — I’m not advocating anything. I just believe in freedom loving Americans to refuse to live as slaves under MAGA tyranny. That doesn’t mean that a lot — A LOT — of smug Twitter liberals won’t flee the country.
They will.
But simply invoking the Insurrection Act isn’t some sort of MAGA fascist magic pixie dust. Rather than having “optimism bias” by proposing all of this, I think I’m being rather radical, clear minded and realistic.
I’m proposing that when pushed into a corner by MAGA fascists that Americans, en mass might rise up against the MAGA Trump regime in a stunning, historic way.
Just broaching this type of radical proposal is rather ironic coming from me, someone who hates any form of violence at all. But even the Constitution enshrines the right of the populace to revolt if need be. It’s weird that that particular provision of our founding document hasn’t gotten more attention of late, given all the bullshit that’s going on at the moment.
I have no idea of the specific of such a dire situation, but you, gentle reader, have to remember that not only is Trump NOT Hitler, but he also doesn’t have the SA to do his bidding. AND, what’s more, the US is far bigger, far more decentralized than Germany in 1933 and it would take time for ding-dong to build out the infrastructure necessary to knock heads the way Hitler did in early 1933.
That would be a window of opportunity for Blue forces to fight back against Mad King Trump. If we are VERY LUCKY, we might be able to co-ordinate some sort of General Strike that might cause such chaos in the country that the U.S. Military might step in and depose Trump in some way.
I know, I know, that’s pretty crazy sounding at the moment, but stranger things and all that.
The key thing for me is Traditionalists. These are people who are MAGA-friendly and they just want to see brown children torn from their families and put back in cages. When things get personal for them — say, when Trump uses a weaponized ICE to snatch their (white) relatives (like me) off the street then all bets are off.
The moment Mad King Trump loses the Traditionalists, then the lock is ticking. If we’re absolutely lucky, then Trump is successfully impeached because of the pressure of a General Strike. If we’re NOT lucky, then there is some sort of “Glorious Revolution” that doesn’t involve much violence, but does result in Trump and his veep being forceably deposed from power.
Now, obviously, this is the point where you say, “But won’t Traditionalists just become modern day Good Germans?”
That is very possible. But, remember, as I mentioned, Trump won’t have any SA shock troops as he enters power again. He’s dealing with 335 million Americans, most of whom have a basic assumption that the rule of law will be fairly and equitably administered.
Without an SA to remind Traditionalists to keep their heads down, there is a chance that their principles might kick in and they might, if nothing else, kind of look the other way as the more radical elements of the center-Left take charge.
I don’t want any of this to happen. But this is kind of personal for me because I’m a loudmouth drunk crank who simply will not, can not shut the fuck up about what a fucking cocksucker Trump is.
I will never, ever fucking shut up.
I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees a slave.
It’s comical to try to make some sort of 1-to-1 between Hitler and Germany 1933 and Trump 2025 if he wins. I’m not saying it’s not POSSIBLE that Trump might somehow peacefully transition us into autocracy, just that if it’s Trump doing it, things might not go according to plan.
I have a lot of reasons to believe this.
People keep telling me to read up on the rise of the Nazis….and I have already done it and continue to do it! And the more I read and learn, the more I just don’t see there being a direct 1-to-1 between Trump and Hitler. So the fact that people who claim to have read ever so much more than me about this situation would claim some sort of 1-to-1 is very, very curious — and very annoying — to me.
But let’s go through some reasons why I believe that we can’t just assume that America will peacefully transition into a fascist state if Trump becomes POTUS again.
First, in general terms, Nazism was an expansionistic political philosophy, while MAGA is one of retrenchment. Some of these next differences are pretty obvious.
Germany in 1933 was a smallish, pretty centralized nation that had only become a democracy about a decade before after a horrible loss as part of WW1. America, meanwhile, is a very prosperous, very decentralize and diverse nation where we have a very strong sense of ourselves as being a “free country.”
Furthermore, Hitler was a Great Man of History. He bent history to his will. He was willing to knock heads — using the SA — and he was also, just in general, willing to put in the hard work necessary to transition Germany into a fascist state.
Trump, meanwhile, is a complete lazy idiot. And, what’s more, he’s not a Great Man of History. He’s just an avatar, a vessel for some pretty severe issues in American politics and culture. He just assumes that if he invokes the Insurrection Act that somehow, magically, that will be enough to subdue the Blue parts of a nation of 335 million people.
If it was anyone else in Trump’s historical position, then, yeah, I might be willing to believe America will soon be a true fascist MAGA state. But this is Trump we’re talking about. If Trump just pushes America straight into the cold dark waters of fascism overnight…there will be some sort of consequences.
I’m not advocating anything! I’m just saying if you do a back-of-the-envelope scenario, it just doesn’t make any sense that Trump could whip out his fascist MAGA cock and get freedom loving Americans to willfully suck on it. It’s just not going to happen.
One last thing — a key element of Hitler maintaining control in the early days was the SA making it clear to the average German that they had better be Good Germans…or else. And just from my discussions with my far more conservative relatives, it seems as though if Trump started to come after cranks like me that even Traditionalists in America might sit up and taken notice at such tyrannical behavior.
But I can’t predict the future. Who knows. But I still have hope that, in the end, we will save ourselves because no one else will.
The thing about having a discussion on Twitter is everyone is running around with scissors and even when you agree with someone, sometimes, they feel obliged to disagree with you.
That’s what happened to me recently when I got into a debate about what might happen if Trump wins this year. There were all these people who telling me that if Trump goes full tyrant on us, then, that’s it. We’ll just become Nazi Germany Redux and no one is going to do anything about it.
I have some serious doubts.
But my doubts are so nuanced that it’s just not possible for people on Twitter to comprehend that I actually agree with them, with a few caveats.
The issue for me is if it was anyone else but Trump in charge of our transition into autocracy, then, yes, we would become an autocratic state without much trouble. But this is Trump we’re talking about.
There is a real risk that rather than him gradually guiding us into what seems inevitable at this point — autocracy — that he will thrash around and be so ham-handed in his efforts that he will make a lot of Blue America very very angry.
I’m not advocating anything, but if Trump just overnight turns himself into a dictator, that will bump into America’s self-perception. And that is why I think there is a chance that Trump, specifically, might be deposed in some way if he does all these crazy dictatorial things he is proposing.
America 2025 will not be Germany 1933. In 1933, Germans were ready and willing to embrace fascism. In America 2025, we’re talking about a huge, diverse and decentralized nation where not only is the military a foundation of our democracy, but the forces of fascism don’t have an SA to run around and knock heads.
And it will take time for an SA to be built out, even if the fascists wanted to create enough storm troopers to round up 20 million people to deport them. And that would be a window of opportunity for, say, a General Strike. But, of course, there is a real possibility that about 1 million wealthy Blues will simply flee the country rather than be the core of any sort of effort to topple ding-dong Trump.
Because history usually takes the most surreal, ironic path possible, I could see a near future — after some sort of civil war / revolution — where what we call the “NeverTrump” movement might be ascendant.
I say that because, in general, the United States is a center-Right nation with center-Left aspirations. As such, if political gravity violently snapped back into place because of a Blue victory in a second civil war / revolution, then there would probably be a lot of popularity for conservatives who opposed Trump.
Of course, in the more near term, I wonder what strange, surreal political situations we might find ourselves in if there was some sort of major confrontation on the border between Texas and the Feds. If the two sides started shooting at each other, then…oh boy.
It’s possible that there MIGHT be a secession crisis and a lot of MAGA Republicans would have to make a decision as to how much they really were in Trump’s pocket and how loyal they remained to the Union. All of this would only increase the power of the existing NeverTrump movement.
If — and this may be a huge if — IF Blues win any civil war / revolution that might happen because of ding-dong Trump, then for a little while, at least, NeverTrumpers might be the catbird’s seat politically.
Well, here I was, thinking the DPRK might re-elect Biden by starting a war with the ROK. Now, I’m really beginning to worry that a combination of momentum and miscalculation might re-elect Biden because he’ll have a Secession Crisis on his hands sooner rather than later.
But I can’t predict the future. It’s possible that, lulz, this will just been as a sign that Something Bad is going to happen after Election Day, not the Main Event. I don’t know, I just don’t know.
All the conditions, however, are there for us all to wake up one day and there be a huge battle on the border between Texas Alliance forces and the Federal government, which, in turn would cause Red States to at least attempt to leave the Union.
And there would be malignant ding-dong Trump in the middle of it all, hoping to be the president of Trumplandia.
Absolutely no one listens to me, but I do find this latest post by Trump on Truth Social….alarming.
What makes this so alarming is Trump has done something he rarely does — go transactional. He is telling people what he wants. He’s pouring gasoline on what could be a very volatile situation by telling MAGA govenors what he wants them to do.
And the pressure on the other side will continue to grow for Biden to Federalize the Texas National Guard — and any other guard that stands in his way. Which, in turn, might cause every mouth breathing MAGA fucktard with an AR-15 to rush to the scene.
That, in turn, will cause something akin to Insurrection 2.0, if not a Second American Civil War.
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