Tag: We Are So Fucked

We Live In A Luminal Space Where We’re An Autocratic State With Free Speech

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing that gives us a false sense of security in the United States is while otherwise we’re an autocratic state, we still have free speech. I can still tell ICE — and the broader Trump regime — to fuck off and not expect a knock on my door.

This leads to the question of how long that is going to last.

Give how precious free speech is to Americans and how Trump clamping directly down that would make even the most ardent MAGA person at least have pause for thought, I think it’s going to be a while.

Or, put a different way — I think that will be the last thing that Trump fucks with. Going directly after people’s right to free speech is going to be when the ash from the MAGA volcano reaches the horizon and we’re absolutely fucking doomed.

So, probably it would be during Trump’s illegal third term that that kind of thing happens. But it is going to happen. I just can’t image we will go full white Christian autocratic ethnostate and the powers that be will allow traditional freedom of speech to linger.

Of course, there is the theory that if Trump really consolidates power as much as he would like that he — or the people around him — might see clamping down on individual free speech as too much of a hassle. And, besides, it would be a pressure valve.

It is clear that the center-Left is very, very weak in the USA and there’s really nothing stopping Trump from going full autocrat (like he is now) so, at least for a historical beat longer than you might expect…maybe individual freedom of speech is a little bit safer than you might expect?

Trump Makes Me Wonder If We Live In A Simulation

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Trump is a symptom, not a cause of a lot of pretty shitty things within the United States these days. As such, it’s not like if you took Trump out of the equation that anything would really change all that much.

Yeah, the specifics of the fascism we now live under would be different, but the general gameplan would be the same. We would still no longer be a democracy and we would still be zooming towards living in a state that is along the lines of Hungary or Russia.

Let me explain.

If Trump had never come around, Ted Cruz probably would have become president in 2016. He would probably have be a little bit slower to do some of the things that Trump has done, but, in general, now in 2025 we probably would be just about where we are now.

Trump’s great power is he has absolutely no shame and he pretty much does whatever the fuck he wants. Cruz would have done the same things, but probably in a more focused way that would, in some sense, leave us still a somewhat functioning democracy.

But, alas, Obama made fun of Trump and so here we are.

There is something about Trump that seems a little bit too-on-the-nose historically. That’s why I think he might be the by product of some sort of weird, massive simulation that we call human history and civilization — and maybe the universe?

Anyway. No one is going to save us. We’re fucked. We just have to deal with the consequences and try to survive.

The thing about Trump is he keeps pushing and pushing, trying to push us all to a breaking point where we either finally, reluctantly, fight back or just fall directly and irreversibly into the arms of tyranny.

There’s No Need For Trump To Be As Ham-handed As To Suspend Elections

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

People keep talking about how Trump is going to come up with some excuse to suspend or cancel elections in 2026 and or 2028. While I suppose it’s very possible, I’m just not buying it.

There are just too many existential risks to do such a thing, even for Trump. What is more likely to happen is elections will happen, but they won’t be free and fair. And I say this exclusively about Federal elections. I think, for the foreseeable future, in general, state and local elections will continue as they always have.

Federal elections, however, are fucked. Trump is going to do everything in his power to tip the scales so MAGA is locked in to have power for the rest of my life. America will grow poorer, more militaristic and mor inward looking.

That seems to be our fate.

Now, if you really wanted to get spunky, you might even game out a scenario where before Trump drops dead — say, during an illegal third term — he totally re-arranges the world global order in his image by destroying NATO in favor of a new alliance of the USA, Russia, Hungary and Turkey.

I still think the motherfucker is going to tear down the White House and replace it with a monstrosity that looks a lot like the Old Executive Office Building.

Two New Autocratic Moves Of Note By Trump

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Here are two interesting autocratic moves on the part of the Trump Regime.

  1. Rummaging Through Mortgages
    Just like Nixon sicked the IRS on people back in the day, I think Trump is going to rifle through people’s mortgages in search of “irregularities” he can put them in jail for. It definitely seems as though Trump is working his way towards, say Obama or Hillary Clinton so he can finally spooge that particular wet dream out.
  2. Seizing of D.C.’s Union Station
    This is a good chokepoint for people coming in the area from outside to protest. So, when Trump finally drops the next autocratic shoe, he will be able to prevent people from coming into D.C. to protest — or more — his autocratic behavior.

‘Zombie Democracy’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The curious thing about everything happening politically in the United States is for the most part it’s happening in broad daylight. MAGA cocksuckers haven’t come directly for free speech — yet — so we know damn well about how Trump is consolidating power at a rapid rate.

But I think the last few weeks is when we crossed over into a “zombie” or “managed” democracy. We’re never going to have free-and-fair Federal elections again and this is it — democracy in America is finally dead.

Yes, we’ll continue to have elections and they may even be free-and-fair on a state and local level, but on a Federal basis, MAGA is well on it way to consolidating power to the point that this is it — we’re always going to have a MAGA Federal government, at least for the rest of my life.

It was nice while it lasted, I guess.

‘The Pizza Guy’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have a fuzzy idea for a short story about a dystopian near future where the only free speech is porn and the only political speech is delivered by the pizza guy in the porn’s setup.

That’s how I feel about the Taylor Swift engagement news. Here we are, careening towards a zombie democracy bordering on an actual dictatorship and…lulz? It is going to be interesting to see how long it takes for MAGA to stop pussy footing around cracking down on free speech and actually do it.

At the moment, they are mostly using intimidation, but that is going to inevitably change. At some point, MAGA is going to come directly for free speech in a big way and it will be interesting to see what the reaction to that will be.

One thing is for sure, I just don’t see us having another free-and-fair Federal election. Somehow, someway, Republicans are going to cheat in 2026 and definitely 2028 and that will be that.

The only thing that is up in the air is Trump’s fate. But, even then, no one and nothing is going to save us. Trump is just a symptom. So, he could magically disappear at any moment and JD Vance (or someone else) would just keep doing exactly what Trump has been doing.

Yes, the exact persona the tyranny we would live under would be different

Whenever I Generate ‘Buzz,’ I Wonder Why

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I talk primarily about three thing on this blog: technology, politics and my long, long, long struggle to write a query-worthy novel.

And because, like, no one reads this thing, whenever someone pops up in my Webstats who clearly heard about this blog from a third party it makes me wonder why. What, exactly, did I write about to generate “buzz,” however small.

As it stands, I have no idea why anyone might come to this blog. I usually can’t see what keyword someone used to find the blog, but I often do see that people can through Instagram, which is usually a sign that someone was searching for my name and came in that way.

Anyway, it’s generally flattering when someone searches for my out of the blue. Though, of course, the way things are going it’s growing more and more ominous — ICE is going to probably track me down soon enough and push me out a a window or something.

‘A Lot Of People Are Saying…’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I keep having to recalculate my “hysterical doom shit” about the future of what’s left of America’s democracy. Trump said in the last few days that “A lot of people are saying we need a dictator,” and that leads me to believe we definitely won’t have free-and-fair Federal elections in 2026, much less 2028.

So, this is it.

We’re now a dictatorship and that just happens to have zombie elections on a regular basis. We’re now no better than Hungary or even Russia. The key question is, of course, do we go full Russia or do we linger around Hungary?

At the moment, that’s something of an open question.

I think a lot of it depends on who replaces Trump. If it’s JD Vance, then I think we might, just might linger in the Hungary zone. But if it’s someone who is far more craven and focused on absolute power, then, lulz, we zoom towards the Russia model and I endup in some sort of gulag.

That, or I get pushed out a window.

Fuck MAGA, bunch of cocksuckers.

Stephen Colbert Is A Viable Presidential Candidate Because He Has a ‘Hook’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing about California Governor Gavin Newsom is he doesn’t have a “hook.” He’s a what-you-see-is-what-you-get political figure. Great looking, smart and driven. He doesn’t really have any quirk that would give him the persona needed to be president.

Now, if you could plop Newsom into the South somehow, then you’ve got yourself a really great candidate.

That’s why if there was some magical way to force Stephen Colbert run for Senator from South Carolina and have him actually win, then, wow, would he be a great political figure.

But there’s a lot wrong with that dream.

First, I don’t think he wants to do such a thing. Second, he probably wouldn’t win and third, lulz, who said anything about us having free-and-fair Federal election in 2028?

So, we’re stuck with what we’ve got. A wane, feckless Democratic opposition that can’t shoot straight and a MAGA leader who is a malignant ding-dong with a death-cult like following.

Things Are Politically Spinning Out Of Control In The USA

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

For a variety of macro political reasons, the MAGA Right simply can not, will not be placated. They want to turn the USA into a white Christian autocratic ethnostate as fast as possible.

And, really, at the moment, there doesn’t seem to be anything that is going to stop them. I suppose if there was some sort of civil war or revolution that might give the MAGA Right at least pause for thought.

But, in general, that isn’t going to happen — I hope — and so we have to accept that the USA is transforming into a very dark zombie version of itself. We will be — or are — an autocratic state in all but name at this point and it’s only going to get far, far worse.

There just doesn’t seem to be any way to stop it, baring significant upheaval in a way not seen since the Civil War.

In fact, the only thing I could possible see causing the type of reaction against the MAGA Right that is needed is if Trump, like, started to seize or brazenly purge the major broadcast networks. And not in the round about way he’s been doing — it would have to be at his express direction.

Or if Trump started to round up people — like me! — for what I said online, then, yeah, that would catch people’s attention because freedom of speech is so native to the American experience.

But…who knows. Who knows what is going to happen.