Tag: Weimar America

‘Implosion’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

At this point, it seems clear that only some pretty serious self-owns on the part of House Trump will stop a significant consolidation of power on their part. They’re very much in a position to steal the election and then continue to, in fits and starts, strangle liberal democracy in the United States.

I honestly struggle to imagine any situation where this doesn’t happen.

Or, put another way, when your only hope of saving liberal democracy in your country is the possibility that the bad guys will self-own then you got a serious problem. There’s every reason to believe that Barr is a lot smarter than Trump and our slide into fascism will happen in a rather uneventful fashion.

But there are some things to take inconsideration.

One is Newt Gingrich, Charlie Kirk and a seemingly endless parade of other MAGA-Qanon “thought leader” are chomping at the bit for a civil war. Obviously, I think Trump is going to steal the election rather easily, but there’s a chance that the Right has so whipped itself into a frenzy that they might prompt something akin to a civil war simply because they can’t control themselves.

Remember, the key to any Trump victory is apathy on the part of the average American. The moment their own, personal experience is dramatically disrupted, there’s a chance a lot of people who otherwise don’t care about politics might get woke.

That would change the dynamic of the whole situation rather dramatically.

Another thing to think about is even though Barr is well on his way to turning the United States into an autocratic managed democracy, Trump is still his boss. And a fish rots from its head.

But, I think all of that is just white noise. There’s not going to be a civil war and our fall into fascism is going to be continue to be slow and methodical. For that not to happen, a lot of center-Right people would have to really shock me and I just don’t see that happening.

This Is Going To Be An Unusual Election, No Matter What


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have said before that there are two different “tracts” when it comes to the 2020 election. On one track there is the traditional political dynamic of an American election. That track is what Biden is using.

Meanwhile, on the Trump side, politics is a moot point. It’s about tribalism and, if need be, force of arms.

In other words, the only valid outcome of the 2020 election for Trump supporters is a Trump win. Even if he does win, they probably are so ready to to knock some heads, that violence may happen anyway.

The point is — I continue to grow really aggravated by Blue Check Liberals who are completely oblivious to the cold hard fact that MAGA-Qanon is going to lie, cheat and steal (and maybe blow shit up) if it appears as if Trump isn’t going to win.

I still think Trump is going to “win” outright on Election Night for a number of reasons. And, really, if he doesn’t, then every day he’s not victorious is another day that we careen towards significant violence on the part of the Right. It doesn’t matter if they believe their own bullshit or not, someone, somewhere will and then there will be a reaction and then, well, yikes!

But that really is the absolute worst case scenario. More likely what’s going to happen is a combination of fucking with the postal service, the bullshit Durham Investigation and the Russians hacking directly into our election systems will hand Trump a victory pretty early on in the process.

Good luck, folks, you’re going to need it.

My Current Durham Investigation Predictions


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems to me that this is going to happen: Barr is going to come out and announce with great fanfare sometime in October that Durham’s “preliminary” findings are that Obama and Biden were directly involved in criminal spying on the Trump Campaign in 2016.

The implication will be that “for the sake of the country” they will hold off on actually indicting them until after the election.

Now, that’s the most logical outcome of this bullshit investigation into what was a legitimate and normal investigation into shenanigans on the part of the Trump Campaign.

But there is another option.

Trump / Barr might get REALLY GREEDY and they don’t do something as benign — but important — as doing something with the political potency of the Second Comey Letter.

No, they give the craven MAGA-Qanon hoards what they want — to see Obama and Biden frogwalked.

Now, none of this would happen in a political vacuum. Such an abuse of power on the part of the Trump Administration would likely cause rage in a lot of unexpected quarters. But Trump wouldn’t care — he gets the twofer of finally seeing Obama in “jail” and shaving off enough points of Biden’s lead due to the confusion right before the election that Trump can win just like he did and go about consolidating power.

I can’t predict the future. I don’t know what’s going to happen. But there is, at least, something of a spectrum to think about. I think a lot of my angst is for nothing because Barr is going to give Trump all the legal justification he needs to steal the election and do whatever the fuck he wants.

Ugh.

The American Political Crisis of 2020


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


Trump isn’t Hitler.
The thing I often say is that history is given value and a narrative after the fact to make it easier to understand. While you’re actually living through it, you have no idea what is going to happen. Everything seems a chaotic series of random events.

So, we look back at the rise of Hitler and see that it was “obvious” that someone like Hitler was going to come about for various macro reasons. In fact, I would say the rise of Trump in the United States has definitely give me far more understanding of the historical context of Hitler than I had before.

Looking at Hitler’s rise then at Trump, it’s easy to make the assumption that our goose is cooked. While Trump is unlikely to try to take over the world like Hitler, he is probably going to significantly re-arrange not only the United States but the global order once he successfully steals his second term. And, in fact, I have come to believe that that is a forgone conclusion.

And, yet, the Wilmer Republic and the First American Republic are sufficiently different on some major, existential metrics to warrant doing a little bit of comparative political analysis. I’m not an expert on the rise of Hitler, but I know enough to give you a reasonably educated opinion.

One of the key differences between Hitler and Trump is Hitler was dealing with a homogenous European country with a history of autocratic rule. The United States, meanwhile, is far larger, has a significant non-white population and generally has a strong liberal democratic tradition.

And, yet, obviously, America’s democratic norms, traditions and institutions are all rotting to the point of non-functioning. As such, an extremely compelling case can be made for Trump following an almost identical path to absolute fascist power as Hitler. And very soon — probably about 18 months.

There is a known unknown, however, that make me question that snap judgement. It’s Trump himself. Trump has benefited from astonishing existential problems in the American political system that pretty much protect him from any form of accountability. He, quite literally, is an absolutely deranged version of Being There’s Chauncey Gardner.

It’s very possible that Trump, being the deranged moron that he is, could make a massive strategic miscalculation. He is so used to getting away with everything, that he rather abruptly (using Barr) makes a significant power grab. The power grab is so brazen and ham-handed that it sets of a cascading set of event that lead to the one thing that Trump can’t afford — the average person getting woke.

Even with this unknown, I still think Trump is going to pull it off. And, really, there’s only one last thing that might stop Trump from totally consolidating power. If Trump does consolidate power, he has two “flavors” of fascism he might choose from. He could go to autocratic managed democracy like in Russia, or he could go the Hitler route which is far more capricious, vicious and cruel.

If Trump had but a mere modicum of self-control or actual political ability, he has the Russian-style autocratic managed democracy in the bag. He can do that no problem. And, in all honesty, I think that’s our fate. It’s all over but the shouting. Just like impeachment, I’m going to do all this speculating about possible outcomes other than acquittal and then the very outcome I knew was going to happen all along, happens.

But we know that not only is Trump a self-own artist, he’s stupid and greedy, so it’s at least possible that he will attempt to go the Hitler route and go full despot before America’s self-perception has changed.

It’s at least possible that should he go full-despot and a lot of center-Right but not MAGA people are finally, finally, FINALLY forced to have an opinion about Trump one way or another that they may say fuck this and side with the “resistance.” As such, the United States might be looking less at a Second American Civil War and more at a Second Revolutionary War.

What I mean by this is the existing power structure of the United States might be completely swept away. It wouldn’t be like the Civil War where the North’s economic and power structure took over the defeated South’s, thus uniting the country under a common vision.

Nope. It could be that the two sides go at it in such a way that new leaders woud bubble up to prominence for no other reason than a complete failure of the old order. I find this extremely unlikely, but it is something to think about.

I say this because most of the existing power structure of the center-Left is completely ineffectual. If there was actually some sort of “revolution,” they would be the first to go. People with vision and guts would take over and make a lot of very hard decisions for the country that to date we’ve simply muddled through or punted down the road.

But such a dramatic change would have massive consequences and require a tragic and significant loss of life. (So, I really don’t want that to happen.)

Let me be clear this post is more about me making my abstract fears concrete so they don’t bother me so much. I think, really, the only issue before us a few more people might realize the jackboot is on our face, but there won’t, in real terms, be that much of a chance in any one person’s daily life — yet.

The United States’ Three Fates: Fascism, Civil War or Revolution


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

A lot of options face the United States right now but one — a peaceful transfer of power. That’s just not going to happen. Either Trump wins outright and we slip into tyranny or there is a civil war or revolution.

Fascism
In this scenario, Trump “wins” a second term and he continues to consolidate power gradually to the point that he gets those “12 more years” he keeps ranting about. This will happen either because he purges the media so, lulz, or he gets a Constitutional Convention. I will note, however, that Trump is not expansionist. The country is more likely to pull all its troops from everywhere across the globe and turn into something of a Hermit Kingdom. This, of course, will likely cause something akin to WW3. I could definitely see the United States form some sort of alliance with Russia after it leaves NATO. But it’s very likely that Qanon will be given free reign to round up and murder people a la the Khmer Rouge. Or, at least, Qanon would act in conjunction with a concerted effort to fill ICE Camps with the same types of people that Qanon wants dead.

Civil War
This would happen if there were dueling presidents, with a “Blue State” president and a “Red State” president. A lot depends which side gets the U.S. Military as to how, exactly this particular situation plays out. This is kind of a worst case scenario. A lot of things would have to go wrong for Trump for things to grow that dire. But he is a massive self-own artist, so anything is possible.

Revolution
This is much like the civil war scenario. The difference would be that even the U.S Military implodes and no institution is spared a radical transformation as the Red and the Blue go at each other’s throats.

And, remember, none of this would happen in a vacuum. The DPRK and the Russians might get involved. And maybe even the EU. But we have to begin to think seriously about how for the first time in living memory, the United States may be an active battlefield. Good luck.

How Would We Know If A Second American Civil War Was About To Start?


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Let me be clear — I still don’t think we’re going to have a civil war in the United States. The most logical situation this fall is due to the Durham Investigation, ratfucking of the postal service and direct hacking by the Russians, Trump is going to “win” on Election Night.

Any political violence will be simply Far Right weirdos getting a little ahead of themselves. Trump will lulz that, though. By about February 2021, Trump’s consolidation of power will be complete and we won’t even know that Little Green Men are snatching people off the street and pushing them out of windows.

A series of things would have to go wrong for us to find ourselves in a dueling POTUS scenario. But let’s say that happened.

Desperate Attempts
If the original Civil War is any indication, there will be a number of panicked attempts to keep the country together. Constitutional Amendments will be proposed. There will be threats of succession as barging tools. Even a military-brokered “Unity Government” proposal.

Storming FOX
Things will begin to grow demonstrably worse when FOX News and other conservative media outlets are physically driven out of NYC by Blue mobs. Their staff will be forced to decamp to a safe Red State, maybe, Tennessee or Mississippi? This will enrage Trump and Red State people and things will only escalate.

Political Violence
As the final bolts begin to pop off civil society, it would make sense that a number of well-known liberals will be murdered in cold blood by bloodthirsty MAGA-Qanon people. This will happen because Red States are still taking the situation far more seriously than Blue States.

One crucial issue is which POTUS does the U.S. Military side with? Barr will have laid the legal groundwork for Trump to “legally” be president. As such, that will be the final moment of truth.

There’s a big difference between the U.S. Military putting down a Red State rebellion and them putting down a Blue State rebellion.

Regardless, good luck and God speed.

Prediction: Election Night 2020 Will Be A Dud


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Liberal democracy in the United States is dead. We’re now nothing more than an autocratic managed democracy. We are Russia and Russia is us, at least on a political level.

We’re in the twilight of the First Republic. Soon enough Trumplandia will be officially founded and we’ll have about 40 years of fascist tyranny at the hands of House Trump ahead of us very, very soon.

I say this because all the macro trends point to it. For Trump to be this popular after being an “asshole” as former Vice Magazine Tim Pool would say, is a testament to how, on a structural level, the First Republic is kaput. It all happened very quickly, but in hindsight, the history books will go on at great length about how it was all very obvious how this was going to turn out.

There is a lot of sturm und drang on Twitter about what may or may not happen on Election Night and afterwards. But I’m of the opinion it’s all going to be a huge letdown. By the time it actually happens, most politically aware people will see that 2020 is going to be a replay of 2016.

Biden wins the popular vote and Trump squeaks by in just enough states that he wins the Electoral College and fuck you. Here is why I think this.

  1. The Russians
    The Russians are going to hack directly into our election systems, giving Trump a result identical to 2016. Maybe even a little bit better. The polls will tighten just enough that this will hide the ratfucking at the hands of Russian hackers. A lot of people will be left scratching their heads about the details, but Trump will still be in power and fuck you.
  2. Kanye West
    As part of the above electoral ratfucking, the Russians will move just enough votes to Kanye to give their hacking some cover. Trump and the Russians are now actively working together to steal the election so even if someone begins to question the outcome, we will never find out until it’s a moot point.
  3. The Durham Investigation
    This is going to be the Second Comey Letter of 2020. Really, the only issue at this point is will Barr get greedy and indict Biden and Obama directly, or will he somehow simply get so close to Biden that there is just enough of a whiff of criminality that Trump wins.

This doesn’t even begin to address postal service ratfucking.

I absolutely, 100% believe this is going to happen. I say this because we are so far down the road to tyranny that something pretty spectacular would have to happen for the final embrace of fascism not to happen. And if it doesn’t happen, there are a lot of bloodthirsty MAGA-Qanon people who are going to start murdering people in cold blood to make sure it DOES happen.

It’s kind of irritating that so many people are oblivious about our decent into autocratic managed democracy. They’re going to get really upset. So upset, that there might be massive protests, which House Trump will only use as an excuse to knock some heads.

We are completely, absolutely doomed. There’s no going back. There may be a few moments of false hope, but there’s absolutely no way House Trump is ever power for any reason. They would rather burn the country to the ground than let that happen.

So, lulz, nothing matters.

No One Is Going To Save Us


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Someone in Europe looked at this site for about 20 minutes. I don’t know what they looked at — they were able to hide that information — but they first came in with abrupt wave of viewers from Europe and Russia, so it leads me to believe they might be connected to the Russians.

I really am pulling all of this out of my butt, but given what they were originally interested in — my talk about Russians hacking directly into our election systems as part of a quid pro quo with House Trump — it seems reasonable to assume that maybe my paranoid rants might be a bit closer to the truth than I originally realized.

But, really, the point is no one is going to save us.

The Russians are going to successfully hack into our election systems and if there are any suspicions about it happening, House Trump will simply stone wall the whole thing until after the Electors vote. After Trump is safely in his second term, he can purge the media and, by the way, fuck you.

And, honestly, there’s only one person who could possibly fuck up this perfect crime — Donald J. Trump.

He’s such a massive self-own artist that in his craven desire to absolutely win, he could very well fuck everything up at just the right moment so there is at least the illusion that we might punt the death of American democracy down the road a little bit.

But that’s really a stretch.

I mean, the moment election night is over, the clock starts ticking. And, even then, for Trump not to win outright election night, a lot of things would have to go wrong for him. So, it’s easy to imagine a situation where by the time we figure out what the Russians did with House Trump, it’s way, way, way, way WAY too late.

It’s not like the Electors are going to do anything. Though I still think human Electors are, by far, the weakest link in the entire Constitution. It’s a liberal fever dream to think Electors might have the wherewithal to change their votes if it became clear that Trump directly conspired with the Russians to rig the election. And, really, things are so fucked up in the United States that we could actually HAVE proof that happened and Trump would simply throw Rudy at the press just long enough for the Electors to vote and, by the way, fuck you.

What’s more, I don’t think Twitter liberals appreciate the harder it is for House Trump to steal the election, the more likely something akin to an actual civil war will break out. MAGA-Qanon is chomping at the bit to murder people like me and it is extremely easy to imagine a situation where things get completely out of control and the entire country implodes — leaving House Trump on top.

But the point is — we’re fucked. House Trump has won. We’re going to continue to slide into an autocratic managed democracy in fits and starts until by 2024, the very idea of a free-and-fair election will be quaint. America will be Russian and Russia will be America. Politically, we will be identical. And that doesn’t even take into account House Trump demanding a Constitutional Convention so its rule can be codified.

So, really, I would suggest you either get out of the country or start thinking how you’re going to avoid being pushed out a window. It’s very possible that MAGA-Qanon will go full Pol Pot on us and there will be American Killing fields. The process of dehumanizing liberals et al is pretty much complete. Trump will just tell the U.S. Military to stand down while MAGA-Qanon descends upon major metropolitan areas and murders everyone they don’t like –which is a lot of people.

As far as I can tell, House Trump will have Putin-levels of control over the country for at least 30-40 years. The dead hand of demographics, however, will begin to make their power a bit more untenable.

Then history will, again, wake up and we’ll see what happens next.

Maybe a 2nd Republic will be founded. Who knows.

The New Normal



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We have to accept that the United States is no longer a liberal democracy. We’re now identical to the autocratic managed democracy of Russia. Really, at this point, the only issue is how quickly the end of the free press comes. My guess is it will happen rather abruptly sometime in 2021.

It will all happen “legally,” in the sense that no laws will be broken, but there is going to be a shit-ton of abuse of power. A combination of threatening to take broadcaster’s licenses and an “German industrialists” will fix the problem of the so-called “fake news.” We’ll wake up and CNN will be identical to OANN. And the New York Times will be force-nationalized then spun off to Rupert Murdoch.

Once the free press is dead, then Trump will have a free reign to do whatever the fuck he wants. We simply won’t even know he did it.

By 2024 the United States and Russia will be literally identical on a political level. Throw in Trump at some point demanding a Constitutional Convention and the First Republic has fallen. We’re just in the gauzy twilight period between the fall of the First Republic and when Trumplandia is strong enough that we notice how much things suddenly suck.

Something truly extraordinary would have to happen for Trumplandia not to come into existence. And, just like with impeachment, no one and nothing is going to save us.

In passing, I will casually note that Trump a self-own artist who only continues to survive because the tribal nature of post-politics America. He has an entire edifice designed specifically to enable him. And, really, the very thing that Trump seems to long for so badly — some sort of unprecedented political violence –is the very thing that might actually hurt his dream of becoming the Dear Leader.

Once you start murdering people for political reasons — as is already beginning to happen — the traditional rules of politics stop functioning. It’s a least possible that some pretty surreal and unexpected things might happen for no other reason than Trump is so dumb that he doesn’t realize that politics is actually good for him.

Anyway, I think a lot of the angst about a civil war is going to turn out to be overwrought. Trump has half a dozen things he can use so he “wins” on election night. But, like I said, he IS a self-own artist, so it’s at least possible that if we have some sort of “civil war” happens solely because Trump is a fuck up.

All I can say is either get out of the country now or be prepared to take a side. You’re going to have to risk the things that are important to you in the real world if stay in the United States. Get out while you still can.

Jesus Christ Is Hollywood A Mess


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Hollywood is currently so out of fumes that it makes you wonder if we’re finally at the end of the post-9/11 Era, at least when it comes to the arts. Hollywood has squeezed ever penny it could possibly get out of the MCU and all of the major franchises are in various stages of clusteruckery.

It’s possible that the last big Avengers movie might be it. That might mark the end of about 20 years of Hollywood history. The question, of course, is what happens next.

As I’ve said before, I think the 2020 election is going to decide what happens. Given that something truly astonishing would have to happen for House Trump not to end the Republic by winning the election, I would lean on the side of Hollywood entering its late Weimar Republic stage. As House Trump strangles freedom after freedom in quick succession, it seems as though it is only a matter of time before it comes after Hollywood.

Hollywood is going to face an existentialist choice.

Does it allow itself to be enveloped by House Trump or does it bounce? Given the fast majority of major Hollywood producers are “Germany Industrialists” in their politics, I think we all know the answer to that question. But I guess it’s somewhat possible that some of Hollywood might decamp to somewhere like Australia…maybe Perth? because of the weather and land requirements it needs. Though, honestly, given how much is done on a soundstage with CGI, some of the coming Hollywood diaspora might endup in Great Britain.

But, on a broader level, it makes you wonder if we do manage to have some semblance of normal life in the next four years, what will it look like? I can’t think of a single major Hollywood franchise that has not either been played out or driven into the ground. Right now, both Star Wars AND Star Trek are dead in the water for various reasons.

As such, it would seem to make sense that given how art abhors a vacuum, that something completely new might pop out pretty soon. Or, if you really wanted to be depressing — given how everything sucks — you could say that the economics of Hollywood has changed so drastically that we just going to tread water until AR / VR (MX) finally matures enough that mainstream storytelling goes in that direction, with some sort of fusion with the video game industry occurring.

Given how dark things are right now, I don’t have much hope. And, yet, history has shown that someone, somewhere may very well do SOMETHING original that is both a creative and financial success for Hollywood. But it could be that “woke” Hollywood is the future of things and we’ll have to wait, like, 40 years until the founding of a Second Republic for everything to get sorted out.

Ugh.