The Curious Pause Before Our Impending Trump Whistleblower Apocalyptic Political Rock Fight

Mood Af.
Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

This is curious. Apparently the Real Clear Investigation outing of the Whistleblower is far closer to the surface than I realized. Sen. Rand Paul tweeted out a link to the outing earlier today. Fox News has yet to take the bait as best I can tell.

We’re still fairly early on the process so there are weeks for fascist Republican shithead operatives to do oppo research on the Whistlebower so they can strike as just the right moment. They want the media narrative to go from “Holy shit, Trump did WHAT?” to “Holy shit, the Whistleblower did WHAT?” The thing you have to keep in mind is Republicans lulz the rule of law and are fully prepared to incite some wank job with an AR-15 to murder the Whistleblower in cold blood so they can clutched their pearls and say we have to end the impeachment process because people are getting killed. Lulz!

They want the Whistleblower to be what everyone is talking about, not Trump. They don’t care what laws they have to break to do it, either. They only care about law if they can use it to either enrich themselves, regulate women’s bodies or punish people they don’t like.

I can only suppose that we’re one Trump twitter tirade away from the poor Whistleblower being outed, doxed and murdered. Or, at least, being called in front of Senate Committee so Graham can do to him what he felt was done to Kavanaugh. Graham has been pretty fucking conspicuous with his absolute desire to reverse the quasi-successful Kavanaugh strategy against a Democrat. In Republican eyes, this would be heaven. If 35% of the population buys into the Big Lie that somehow Biden’s point-man on Ukraine conspired to bring down Trump, even though Trump did, in fact, break the fucking law on a massive scale, then, well, lulz.

Anyone who thinks Republicans give a shit about anything other than greed and power are fools. Republicans are fascists. Long-term trends are in their favor. At this point, it’s just a matter of the exact chronically. If we somehow managed to defeat Trump by convicting him in the Senate, we have — at best — one presidential cycle before President Kobach, or President Cotton or President Don Jr. finishes the job Trump started.

The only way this doesn’t happen is if Republicans really, really, really misjudge the situation and there’s a tragedy that is not only their fault, but they can’t spin. I don’t even know what that could possibly be — any major terrorist attack they would simply use as an excuse to abolish the Constitution or something.

Lulz?

So What’s The Delay On MAGA Shitheads Outing The Trump Whistleblower?

Can’t impeach Trump if you’re talking about the whistleblower, now can you?
Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

When last we saw the rabid racist misogynist mob that is MAGA, they were teeheeing about learning the identity of the Trump whistle blower. As is my nature, I assumed the absolute worst-case scenario. And, as is also often the case, that worst-case scenario did not happen.

For the moment, outside of bullshit echo-chamber of the extreme Far Right, the Whistleblower continues to enjoy a measure of “practical obscurity.” This likely to change at any moment, however. I suspect what may be happening is two things. One, for the moment cooler heads have prevailed given that it’s like, a Federal crime and stuff, to out someone like the so-called Orange Crush. But I suspect I’m giving the shit head Republican leadership way, way, way too much credit. They’re probably doing extensive oppo on the guy was we speak.

They already have a few days worth of talking points built-in. Apparently the guy has some job-related connection to both Joe Biden and….gasp…Susan Rice. Republicans just babbling about that at the top of their lungs at every opportunity would cause Maggie Haberman of The New York Times to ever-so-seriously tell hayseed rubes like me in fly overstates that OBVIOUSLY Republicans are winning the impeachment messaging battle and Trump’s political genius shines through yet the fuck again. And, besides, you didn’t even read the link, did you, dipshit.

And that, in itself, may be true to a certain extent. But the issue of how, exactly, the poor guy’s name will be pushed into the mainstream is, in itself, a significant issue. I still think Trump, who has the willpower of a 2-year-old will blurt the name on Twitter one morning and “joke” that MAGA should teach the guy a lesson about crossing House Trump. (Or some sort of bullshit dog whistle nonsense.)

There’s a good chance the guy will be murdered in cold blood by a over zealous MAGA asshole with an AR-15 and then Republicans will have to, at long last, defend Trump murdering someone (indirectly.) They will say that Trump was joking and that he can’t be held responsible for the actions of someone who is obviously mentally unstable. But they will also babble on about how OBVIOUSLY we can’t continue the impeachment proceedings because people are getting hurt.

I would like to think this messaging won’t work but for maybe about 24 hours. As it sinks in what has just happened, you might see that only base-concentric political strategy come back to bite Trump and his sycophantic Republicans in the ass. What good is a cult base if the entire non-cult electorate hates you on an visceral level. I guess Republican Senators will believe that as long as they can get past the primary they still have a good shot in the general. And, of course, they must at least have some hope that a politically pardoned Trump will AGAIN directly meddle in the 2020 election and save their ass that way.

Remember, the moment Trump is acquitted, he’s going to become extremely brazen. He will bribe Electors. He will pardon anyone he wants to pardon. He will indict Joe Biden (or whomever). He will at last be free of any semblance of political restraint. The ICE Camps will be weaponized and he will began to rant about the need for a new Constitutional Convention to “balance the budget.”

I guess the point is, the stakes could not be higher when it comes to impeachment. The Republicans are so craven that they simply will not be able to control themselves now that they now the Whistleblower’s name. It’s just a matter of how and when at this point. They crave the opportunity to “kavanaugh” him to such an extent that Maggie Haberman is writing story after story about the poor guy’s character flaws since birth. The risk is, of course, that things will get out of control because, well, Donald Fucking Trump is a ranting lunatic.

The clock is ticking.

I welcome feedback. If you ain’t got haters, you ain’t poppin.

migukin (at) gmail (dot) com.

Fuck MAGA. Fuck Trump.

Trump Whistleblower Pandamonium Cheat Sheet

Truth.
Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Right now, deep in the dark bowls of the fascist Republican Party, an army of oppo men are digging through the bio of the Trump whistleblower. They know they have a deadline — when the House has its first serious impeachment vote.

There goal is to end stop the vote altogether or to blunt its impact in the eyes of the base.

So, here’s what to look for today.

Does Trump just…tweet it out?
Does he get really excited and simply start ranting about the poor guy the moment he finds out who it is? He doesn’t care that it’s against the law to do so, he may simply start ranting about it without even thinking about it. Remember, all that matters is power for power’s sake and messaging the base. Everyone, and everything, else can fuck off.

How cocky are House Republicans today?
The reason why I think the name is going to pop out far sooner today than we realize is it gives House Republicans something to pivot to whenever they’re asked about Trump’s many, many, MANY crimes. So, they’re going to either be really cocky or they’re going to be chomping at the bit to talk about the guy…which is why I think Trump’s going to make it easy for them to do it. Things may grow extremely surreal when what Republicans think is going to happen — that impeachment comes to a grinding halt — does not, in fact, happen.

The public’s reaction
Usually, it takes 24 hours for us to be able to gauge the public’s reaction. There’s a chance that Nancy Pelosi may sense some nervousness in her caucus and delay the vote — and maybe never even hold it. It will be just like after the “bad optics” of Mueller’s testimony . We’ll know Trump’s a criminal but there simply won’t be the political will to do anything about it….AGAIN. It may be she chokes for no other reason than she needs time to whip her caucus to keep going.

And, just for the record, if you’re some sort of dipshit fuck face MAGA person reading this gleefully — fuck you, you fucking piece of shit.

Bonfire Of The Vanities — The Trump Whistleblower’s Name As 2019’s ‘Blue Dress’

Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

So how does it happen? How does this poor guy’s name bounce into the mainstream media? The only reason why I think it’s going to happen within 24 hours is Republicans want to be able to rant about it as the House does its first serious impeachment vote.

The closest approximation in the past to what’s going on is the window between when Matt Drudge reported the Blue Dress and when it bounced into the mainstream press. The Blue Dress was the first time when there was a pretty big difference between what “normal” people knew and what people with Internet access knew. In fact, I think this is a prime example of how history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

There are likely too endgames. Either Trump doxes the guy tomorrow in a manic tweet storm, or it slowly builds to a boil during the course of the day. Just about the time the actual vote happens, the guy’s name will be widely known enough that Republicans will scream at the top of the lungs that it’s all a Deep State plot on the part of Joe Biden and why isn’t Hunter Biden in jail yet?

This is where things may get interesting. About 35% of the electorate will think that impeachment is over. We know the whistleblower is just a partisan hack and so that means Trump’s politically pardoned AGAIN, right? He can get on the phone with MBS in Saudi Arabia, Little Rock Man in North Korea or Putin in Russia and have them directly hack into our election systems without anyone caring, right? Meanwhile the rest of the electorate will, after about 24 hours of processing this bullshit, be ready to rock and roll.

This will be a very tragic and surreal moment in our nation’s political history because when what 35% of the electorate thinks should happen, doesn’t happen, they’re going to freak out. And the one person likely to freak out the most is Trump himself. That’s why I think he will get so worked out about who the whistleblower is, that he may say what to him is a throwaway line, but to some crazed MAGA person is a, “Hey, go kill that guy for me, ok?”

I honestly don’t know what is going to happen. While messaging to the base for fascist Republicans is far, far, easier now, the average non-MAGA person is not going to follow their weird logic whereby if someone is connected to your political enemy, you somehow are granted immunity to whatever crime you commited.

I guess theoretically it could go either way. But, I don’t know. I think even Chris Wallace MIGHT have a tough time giving Trump a political pardon on this one. And, yet, maybe not. Maybe I’m so wrapped up in the anti-Trump mob mentality of Twitter I’m missing something obvious about Nancy Pelosi’s political calculations.

Maybe Trump will be on the phone with Putin Friday afternoon, bragging about how he bested Nancy Pelosi yet again and how he is looking forward to Putin hacking into our election system….again.

The Tragedy Of Trump’s Impeachment

Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Trump’s impeachment is a tragedy. But not in the way that the insane fascists who continue to defend him would have you believe. It’s a tragedy because what should happen, won’t happen and yet Trump has to be impeached for history’s sake, if nothing else. In other words, Trump — at least as of right now — is going to get acquitted by the Senate because political tribalism in America has reached the point where there are two political worlds at cross purposes in America.

There’s the 35% MAGA electorate who feels so disenfranchised that willfully accept a government of grifters who run the nation like a smash-and-grab operation simply because they enjoy drinking liberal tears. Meanwhile, everyone else is astonished at the level of systemic criminality in the Trump Administration and struggle to understand why MAGA is willing to burn everything to the ground to protect a very lucky moron.

At this point, anyone who argues against impeachment either has some sort of vested interest in House Trump or they’re not working in good faith. Given that Trump is accused specifically of election meddling, the idea that we should “let the people decide” Trump’s fate is completely irrational. It doesn’t matter how long it takes (within reason) Trump has to be given due Constitutional process and convicted. If he’s not, he will be politically pardoned AGAIN and will grow even more brazen. Are we supposed to just sit back and let Trump bribe individual electors then pardon them? I mean, strictly speaking, in the eyes of fascist Republicans, such behavior would not be impeachable because “abuse of power is not illegal.”

So we’re going to have hearings. Both sides will make their case. Trump will be caught dead-to-rights for an array of “high crimes” that should remove him from office…and nothing will happen. Republicans will stand fast, babble about “letting the people decide” and then cackle in the darkness as Trump lurches towards full-blown Putin autocracy. That’s the point, that’s what they want. A Constitutional Convention will be called at some point in Trump’s second term and American Carnage will be codified. The ICE Camps will be weaponized and thousands of political prisoners will die in them.

And, so, really, impeachment is more about how we want history to remember us as a Republic. Did we submit to tyranny, or did we go down fighting?

Trump’s ‘This Is Fine’ Gotterdammerung Defense

Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

It appears as though Fascist Republicans settling on a very Putinesque defense of Trump going into the actual official impeachment process. Their messaging into this crucial moment in Trump’s administration is literally the “This is fine” meme. They want the average person to shrug at this egregious abuse of power because “everyone does it” and because Trump did not do something as explicit as the “smoking gun” of the Nixon tapes that, well, lulz.

There are a number of other related defenses involving social media that Trump-friendly people tell themselves to allow a good night sleep, as well. The chief of these being that only because of the excesses of partisan social media is what Trump even a big deal. Other presidents over the years did the same or worse and we just did not know about it or care. This plays into the Stormy Daniels playbook of scandal management quite well.

As I have repeatedly said, a sign that Trump is not, in fact, a political genius is how badly he’s bungling House Trump’s messaging of what he did. If he was smart — which he is not — he would take the L on impeachment itself and hang back for his acquittal in the Senate. All that’s required is a modicum of self-discipline. Don’t get mad. Don’t freak out. And don’t rile people up unnecessarily. Unfortunately for Trump’s allies, he is not known for have any of these traits.

On a strictly political level, House Trump’s, “This is fine,” defense, which aims to frame what Trump did as “bad” but not impeachable is a pretty safe bet. If you essentially tell people in absolute terms that in the end the interpretation of what Trump did should be done through the prism of partisan politics, then, well, Trump survives. There’s no sexxy tape of Trump saying something anything impossible to spin, so lulz. Trump’s acquitted by the Senate and free to turn around and do the exact same thing he was just aquitted for within 24 hours. He will be even more brazen with it, however, because when he inevitably gets caught AGAIN, Republicans will say, “You’re just out to get Trump. Let the people decide.”

And then Trump bribes individual Electors. Or the Russians hack directly into our election systems and change votes. Or Barr indicts Trump’s Democrat opponent in Oct. 2020. We will be nothing more than a Russian-style “managed democracy.” House Trump really will be The Thousand Year Trump and Trump’s vision of American Carnage becomes a reality.

So what could go wrong?

Trump.

While I suppose Gold Boy Jared might be able to stick some thorazine into Trump at some point, Trump is probably going to freak the fuck out at the prospect of even being impeached. He will become transactional with his Twitter offices, telling people what he wants them to do. When people start dying, Republicans will turn around and say, lulz, we can’t impeach Trump because people are starting to get hurt. While the prospect of people essentially dying to save the Dear Leader may make Fox News viewers spooge their pants, for a lot of average Americans who otherwise are raising their kids this would be very, very uncool. They are likely to grow quite alarmed and the pace of impeachment will grow faster, not slower. When the average person is shook awake at what’s happening to their otherwise peaceful nation at the hands of a deranged version of Being There’s Chauncey Gardner, Trump’s fire break of public indifference is likely to evaporate.

Or if Trump goes batshit insane in a very public manner, that, too, is another non-political problem that Republicans will have to deal with. And they’ll defend it without blinking an eye. Trump shooting out a dick pic on Twitter. Or spewing racist obscenities during press conferences will get a big old lulz from Republican leaders. Or they’ll just not comment. If there’s any doubt that Republicans are old fashion fascists now, the fact that this scenario is, while worst case, is not really all that hysterical, gives a good indication of how true my assessment is.

So, as of right now, Trump is probably going to get aquitted. If you frame the facts of the case as an absolute partisan issue then there can be no other endgame. And there does seem to be some indication that Trump is finally letting the Adults handle messaging. Having said all that, there are also a lot of unknowns.

All I gotta say, is, for Trump to actually be convicted in the Senate, the bolts are going to have to start popping of American civil society in some rather unexpected and spectacular ways. We’re going to ender a surreal period in our nation’s political history when anything, anything can happen and does happen on a minute-by-minute basis.

Buckle up.

Republican Fascism & Shutting Down The Government As A Trump Gotterdammerung Impeachment Strategy

Buckle up.
Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

The thing about Mueller’s testimony to Congress being such a dud is both sides learned the wrong lesson. House Trump got cocky. They thought they could begin the second, more sinister phase of Trumplandia without anyone doing anything about it. The Trump opposition, meanwhile, began to think Trump was simply a political force of nature that they could never defeat.

But, guess what — Trump is a self-own artist.

It’s darkly humorous how eager Maggie Haberman of The New York Times is to say in a quiet, droll tone how Trump is using his native Leadership Principle abilities to subtly influence various portions of the electorate with his political genius.

This, of course, is complete and total horseshit. Trump’s a barely functioning human being much less some sort of modern day Machiavelli. What Trump is, is very, very lucky. Someone like Trump was bound to pop up at some point between 2016 and 2024, it was just a matter of whom. And, really, I grow ever more concerned about who will be Trump’s fascist successor than I am he himself — not that he’s not an autocrat wannabe. As Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare once quipped, “Trump’s malevolence is only mitigated by his incompetence.” Or something along those lines.

The Real Trump.

In other words, Trump’s nothing more than a deranged version of Being There’s Chauncey Gardner. That’s it. That’s all that’s going on. This brings us to some potential gotterdammerung impeachment strategies on the part of House Trump. I see these likely happening for no other reason than Trump is hysterical the thought of simply being impeached. When he faces a trial in the Senate, his mental state is likely to explode, not implode. We may face weeks of a demonstrable insane person running the government until the painfully slow wheels of government get around to convicting Trump — not really on the matter at hand, buth is extremely unstable mental state. (The 25th Amendment is a dead letter for the time being.)

Anyway, one of these potential gotterdammerung impeachment strategies is holding the government hostage. House could shut the government down and simply say, “You don’t get your government back until you end the impeachment process.”

This will, for about 24 hours, dominate the impeachment narrative. Maggie Haberman will coo at Trump’s political genius. The MAGA talking heads of FOX will huzzah. And, honestly, it might work given how fucked up the world is right now.

But it might not.

As it sinks in to the average person what is going on, there’s a decent chance this won’t slow impeachment down at all. It will, in fact, only heighten the sense of urgency and build pressure for conviction. This would go with my general belief that if Trump is convicted, it won’t even be because of the actual politics of what he’s accused of doing — it will be his complete and total mishandling of House Trump’s reacting to the impeachment process.

Another, more ominous, potential gotterdammerung impeachment strategy is Trump becomes transactional in his Twitter offenses. He starts to tell people what he wants them to do, in other words. He doxes the Whistleblower and “jokingly” tells people to “teach him a lesson.” Or a few carbomb’s explode in New York City with pro-Trump people claiming credit. Again, initially, things will be on House Trump’s side because generally a lot of people do not want Trump to be convicted. A lot of very powerful people — on both sides of the political spectrum — have a vested interest in Trumplandia lasting a full eight years.

But…

There’s also a good chance that once the shot wears off, the average American who to date has been pretty blase about impeachment will freak the fuck out. This is yet ANOTHER example of how Trump is not what Maggie Haberman would have you believe — Trump’s political firebreak is apathy. If people start dying in some last-gasp gotterdammerung impeachment strategy on the part of rabid Republicans, there’s a pretty good chance the average moderate American might stop thinking about raising their kids and paying their mortgage long enough to demand Trump be convicted by the Senate as soon as fucking possible.

I would say the most important thing to remember is the country can not withstand this much political turmoil without something really fucking bad happening. I simply can’t case out the endgame right now. And whatever the endgame is, we’re in a new political era. We will no longer be in the post-9/11 Era, we will be in either the American Carnage Era or the Post-Trump Era.

Ivanka Trump’s Political Future

Vice President Ivanka Trump?
Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I am not prepared to believe Trump finally faces an existential threat, at least on a political level. Politically, he’s fine. The Republican Party is now the fascist Trump Party and he is likely to be acquitted on the facts before us and go about his merry way. He will bribe individual Electors, get Russia to directly hack into our election systems or he will simply get Bill Barr to indict his opponent in Oct. 2020.

But let’s daydream. What if Trump loses his mind during the process of impeachment or, say, there’s MAGA violence that makes the average person so furious with House Trump that Der Fuhrer finally meets his political match — himself. Who would President Pence pick as his Veep?

This is a far more complicated question than you may at first imagine. Pence wants to use the MAGA base to win two full terms on his own. So, it’s unlikely he would pick someone like Nikki Haley because she’s, well, not a Trump. That leaves Ivanka and Don Jr. The reason why I doubt it would be Don Jr. despite his popularity with the MAGA base is he’s such an outlandish hothead that he would likely use his position as veep to challenge Pence for the 2020 Republican nomination.

That leaves Ivanka.

It’s likely Ivanka would be nominated and confirmed by the Senate at lightning speed the moment Trump was somehow finally physically dragged out of the Oval Office. Pence would see Ivanka as the “safe” member of House Trump that would help him on a number of different levels. Ivanka as his veep would reassure MAGA as to his fidelity to House Trump. He would get to name the first woman — and Jewish — veep in American history.

Really, given how little the veep position really does, Ivanka is pretty much perfect for the job. You could pace out any number of different nightmare scenarios involving unintended consequences to this move, but that’s pushing it. Ivanka is an example of someone who thinks that the are “owed” something simply because of their connection to someone who paved the way. She’s in a curious political position because her bonkers brother is far more appealing to the MAGA base, while she herself is at least superficially someone who might for a heartbeat bring the nation together. The moment it sank in how bad she was on a practical level, the usual political divide we inhabit would kick in again.

Put another way — not even Ivanka could coast to the Republican nomination in any traditional manner. Her only real shot at ever becoming president would be if Pence somehow magically found enough shame to resign in disgrace. I just don’t see that happening. Pence at this point is more likely to do exactly what Trump would do only with a theocratic bent to it.

But I do suggest you keep an eye on Ivanka. If there was some sort of last-ditch effort at having a compacted resignation on Trump’s part (this will never happen) then maybe Ivanka-as-veep might be a bargaining chip desperate Republicans might use to coax a reluctant Trump out of office. Or, maybe they might use her as veep on a more basic level — to simply get Trump physically out of the Oval Office should he miraculously be convicted by the Senate.

The Cognitive Dissidence That Is Republican Impeachment Messaging

Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

One common theme, it seems, when it comes to Republicans and impeachment is anger. Their minds can’t process what is happening. As such, they either shut down or start to get really, really, upset. This is rather unnerving because I’m left wondering what will happen when politics fails them. What happens when Republicans lose the vast majority of independents in the election struggle? What happens when they finally have only the 35% MAGA base to rely on for the re-election prospects?

This has not happened yet. Trump could still pull through using strictly politics and media messaging. That’s very, very possible. Republicans will be so riled up if they win that they’re likely to finally shed all pretense of believing in liberal democracy. If Trump survives impeachment in the Senate, then there’s a real chance that the general trend towards a fascist state will accelerate rapidly and the whole issue of “let the people decide” will be rather moot.

What’s more, the rot within the Republican Party is so astonishing that even Pence may simply use the damage Trump inflicted on the Constitution to turn us into a more theocratic version of American Carnage. That may be why both Barr and Pompeo have definitely been messaging the evangelical base with some of their official acts. As such, I feel we can not automatically assume that Pence will allow a free-and-fair election. He could very well simply keep Barr and Pompeo in place and do exactly what Trump would do with them.

I still think all things being equal, Trump will escape justice Senate Republicans will simply say something along the lines of “Trump is guilty, but it’s too close to the 2020 election — let the people decide.” They will believe that it’s better to win their primary in hopes of having a really weak general opponent than to vote to convict and to sign their political death warrant.

Thus, the only way I can possibly see Trump being convicted will be things that are not political. Trump snapping under the pressure of impeachment. Or there finally being widespread violence on the part of MAGA people. Either one of those would dramatically change the equation. If Republican Senators are forced not to think in political terms but in terms of national security, then they may realize they have no choice but vote to convict.

But, again, this is now a political war. And even if Trump loses that political war, the MAGA base will remain. And there’s a decent chance that a President Pence will fight a pitched battle with Kris Kobach, Tom Cotton and God only knows who else for the sweet, sweet votes of MAGA people.

So, in a sense, our best bet is Nancy Pelosi becomes president — somehow — and she serves as a caretaker president simply to make sure we have a free-and-fair election.

But who knows, I sure as hell don’t.

How We Got Into This Trump Mess & The Fascist Dystopia Ahead

A Republic, if you can keep it.
Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

When the final history of the American Republic is written — and fear it will be a lot sooner than we would like — the end first came the night Richard Hatch won the first season of Survivor. Everyone was in shock. But it also marked the beginning of modern reality TV. Trump was the greatest beneficiary of that night, in hindsight.

Trump is the culmination of several macro trends in American political history. On one had you have the rise of Fox News. On the other you have how detached the average media person is from the practical lives of the average person in a flyover state. This is a side effect of income inequality caused by the Reagan Revolution. You also have the rise of social media. The massive flaw of social media is not only do the most extreme positions of any issue set the tone of debate, but it’s very, very easy for it be weaponized by an outside, hostile force.

Mix all this together and you find yourself where we are now. Fox News and income inequality in tandem caused a lot of Red State people to feel not only disenfranchised, but alienated from the media narrative that Blue State people were seeing. All of this accelerated in Obama’s second term as the lingering damage of the Great Recession began to sink in. Add to this just plain old racism being for political gain by — you guessed it, Donald Trump — and you end up in the situation we’re in.

In 2016, roughly half the electorate was primed for someone like Trump. This is when social media and the Russians kicked in.

So we find ourselves in a situation where many Red State voters actually are quite happy with the prospect of authoritarian rule. They can’t even grasp what the benefits of liberal democracy would be in the first place. And, so, here we are. It definitely appears as though there’s a good chance that impeachment in itself will be the final death blow to the American Republic. But I don’t say this as some sort of indictment of the process that may bring House Trump down politically.

What I mean, rather, is we’re finally seeing the fruits of a decades-long agenda on the part of Republicans. Even if Trump is politically vanquished, the Republican Party is now finally so radicalized that Pence could very well simply do exactly what Trump was going to do but with a more theocratic spin to it. And don’t get your hopes up if there’s a Pelosi presidency. Even that would be a delay to this process.

There are half a dozen would-be Trump successor on deck in the Republican Party ranks, from Kris Kobach to Tom Cotton to The Kooch. It’s a bit surreal to someone in LA or NYC the lengths that Republicans will to defend someone as demonstrably bonkers and corrupt as Trump. But that says more about the rot at the heart of our political system than anything else.

So, buckle up. My prediction is very soon we’ll have some sort of theocratic fascist “manage democracy”in the United States that will last at least 20 years. At some point at the moment when the youngest of the Baby Boomers begin to croke and the browning of America kicks in, there may be some sort of shift in politics. But for the foreseeable future, Trump’s American Carnage is definitely on track to become a hold hard reality.

I could imagine a few scenarios where this doesn’t happen quite the way I imagine. If Republicans really, really, REALLY overplayed their hand during the impeachment process and there was mass violence by people opposed to impeachment, then I think we might get enough of a delay in the march towards fascism for the browning of America to kick in. But that’s such a remote possibility that I just don’t see that being applicable. Even then, there’s a chance that Republicans would use the very violence THEY INCITED to do the very things I propose they want to do in the first place. So, in a sense, we’re in a no-win situation.

No one is going to save us. We’re on our own.