Month: January 2019

The Case For Radical Resistance — Embrace The ‘New Rules’

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

One thing that’s interesting is Trump appears to be fishing for some new catch phrase to lob at people he doesn’t like and he right now is talking about “Radical Democrats,” which doesn’t have the marketing umph of what I think we should call ourselves, which is “Radical Resistors.”

So, it seems only a matter of time before it clicks with Trump and all he’ll do is talk about Radical Resistors and how evil we are. This, of course, probably will make Blue Check Liberal Intellectuals wring their hands and clutch their pearls in dismay, saying self-adoption of the phrase is a “gift” to Trump and MAGA.

You know what I way about that?

I say fuck that.

You know what Radical Resistance is to me? It’s that feeling of anger you get after listening to Pod Save America. That sense that something is deeply wrong with the political culture of the nation you love and yet it seems as though there’s this weird asymmetrical dichotomy in the eyes of the mainstream press.

The press — whom I love — still has their fair set of problems, and their conspicuous double standard for MAGA and Radical Resistors is one of them. MAGA is quite proud to run their political game under completely different and “new” rules than what the Democrats typically use. I say, why not adopt these “new rules” as well at least in the short term if that’s what’s needed to have a functioning governent.

At least in the short term, The Resistance needs to throw aside it’s politeness and throw down the gauntlet and pick up the rubric Radical Resistance. Both sides are in the Thunderdome, but only one side realizes it. The Resistance needs to radicalize on an ideological level for a very specific reason — the future of the Republic is at stake.

And, really, the ideology that I propose isn’t even really all that radical. Simply demand that if a Democrat wants your vote, they have to be in favor of the immedate opening of impeachment hearings and the eventual impeachment and conviction of Donald John Trump.

Everything else is just white noise.

I get the sense that people are slowly radicalizing, but maybe because they’re busy, like, having a life, they haven’t spent the time needed to figure out exactly the ideology of their growing anger. I propose that we name ourselves Radical Resistors as a homage to the Radical Republicans and bumrush the Freedom Caucus.

But this is more a liberal progressive daydream than something I think might actually happen. I guess because of the rise of people like AOC, I’m slowly turning into a Democratic Socialist. But even AOC has disappointing me in her wishy-washiness when it comes to the topic of impeachment.

Again, let me note that there would be any debate about the need for impeachment — at a minimum — at this point is kind of flabbergasting. Someone, somewhere with some power needs some backbone. Someone needs to kick the powers that be in the ass and get them to do their job

If you want to say adopting the phrase Radical Resistor is a “gift” to MAGA, then so be it. But get out of our way, we have a Republic to save.

‘millennial burnout’ — #Lyrics To A Pop Rock Song

Just like trying to tell a story in verse meant to be sung.

millennial burnout
Lyrics by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
Please give credit if you produce or perform

The sky’s the limit on my student loan debt
But don’t you fret I got a cat to pet
She’s a real cutie with a nice booty
Let’s me feed her avocado toast
While our clothes are at the laundromat
We’re too poor to buy a house
It’s all part of

millennial burnout
millennial burnout
millennial burnout
millennial burnout

We’re fighting a two front war
Living with our folks with a roar
People think we’re lazy
But I just think they’re hazy
‘Cause I work two jobs with a degree
Won’t someone take care of me

The jet set worry about their miles
While I’m rolling my eyes
‘Cuase I got not staycation on my horizon
I’m so broke I can’t get no help
That student loan debt is making me flip

millennial burnout
millennial burnout
millennial burnout
millennial burnout

(bridge)
X marks the spot
Out out it ain’t coming out
Maybe in the year 3000
I’ll have it all figured out
But for now
All I can say is
I got

millennial burnout
millennial burnout
millennial burnout
millennial burnout


‘Do You Got A Man’ — #Lyrics To A Dance Pop Song

This is just me letting off steam. No one cares. It’s supposed to be a pop rock song.

Do You Got A Man
Lyrics by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
Please give credit if you produce or perform

I see you walking near me
The way you strut is making it rough
Making it rough for me to ignore your stuff
So all I gotta say much to my dismay is

Do you got a man?

Do you got a man?
What’s his name?
What’s his game?
Do you got a man?
Let me ask you one question
Do you got a man?
Do you got a man?
Do you got a man?

Other girls got boys on their arms
I know if I chat them up a risk harm
But you’re a babe for all to see
So not knowing your status
Is really letting me have it

I promise if you’re free
I won’t say anything to make you flee
But I might ask you out
That’s for sure without a doubt

Do you got a man?

Do you got a man?
What’s his name?
What’s his game?
Do you got a man?
Let me ask you one question
Do you got a man?
Do you got a man?
Do you got a man?

(bridge)

Once you’re mine
It will be sublime
Other people will know
Don’t you know
So they don’t have to ask
That I’m your man

Do you got a man?
Let me ask you one question
Do you got a man?
Do you got a man?
Do you got a man?

The Audacity Of A Mobilized Center — We Need A Radical Resistance

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

It’s pretty self-evident that the Democratic Establishment in Washington is completely useless right now, at least for people like me. I’m a high information independent voter who was among the first in my district to vote Election Day because I wanted to vote for a Democrat. I felt that if a Democratic majority in Congress simply showed up to work in January, we’d have impeachment hearings by the middle of February.

Sooooo… here it is nearly the end of January…and nothing.

We’re set to have the Cohen hearings in early February, but that’s pretty meh. Why is it so hard for Democrats to be as fucking bloodthirsty as Republicans when it comes to investigating the president of the other party. What is wrong with you dumb-dumbs?

I guess I’m radicalizing in a strictly ideological manner. In other words, I’m NOT one to, like, start building pipe bombs in my apartment. Fuck that. I’m a man of peace and I don’t wish physical harm on anyone I disagree with politically. Even punching Nazis, while cute to talk about, makes me queasy in any real terms.

But I do think once you establish what the ideology of the Radical Resistance is, that the rest falls into place pretty easily. Massive peaceful protests are pretty much the only weapon the people have at this point, apparently.

Yet that’s not going to happen as long as the economy is doing well. So, all I can do is just vent online and hope the FBI doesn’t knock on my door — even though I’m definitely NOT advocating violence. Using my Constitutional rights to public assembly, yes, violence, no.

I am very frustrated, regardless. And I can talk and write fairly well, so it at least makes me feel better than I’m playing little drummer boy in that regard. But probably what’s going to happen in a best case scenario is at some point between now and August 2019, the economy will go south (because of No Deal Brexit?) or the Mueller Report will drop or something REALLY bad will be reported about Trump.

I don’t know. I’m just frustrated and I find myself thinking up different angles for the topic of Radical Resistance. So, that’s what’s happening. I wish people would start to talk about this concept, though. That would be pretty cool.

If we could get the center radicalized then we could get rid of Trump. But, alas, it’s surreal how cagey Democrats in the House are about even looking into Trump at all. Fuck that. Come on guys take a stand for once.

Pod Save America & A Potential Radical Resistance Movement

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I’m decompressing a little bit again from developing the thriller I’m trying to write and as such I have a lot of urge to write about something near-and-dear to my heart right now — the possibility of a Radical Resistance and its ideology.

The main problem, as I’ve mentioned, is time.

The economy is doing too well and generally there’s no political will-power to do anything about Trump’s treasonous, felonious illegitimate and tyrannical regime, so I guess we’re stuck with it for the forseeable future.

Having said that, if the guys of Pod Save America might gently broach the subject of a Radical Resistance to their multitude of listeners, maybe the idea might strike a cord. Just because 37% of the electorate are in a lobotomized MAGA cult, doesn’t mean the rest of the population has to lie down and cover itself with leaves.

Right now, I feel a lot of high information voters feel like me, but they don’t quite know how to articulate their ideology. If the people of Pod Save America were to say if you want to say fuck it, demand Trump is impeached immediately, regardless of when it becomes politically viable under the cover of the magical mystery Mueller Report then you a Radical Resistor.

That’s it, that’s your ideology for the Radical Resistance.

It’s not violent at all. I’m thinking a lot less Weather Underground and a lot more, maybe using Rage Against The Machine’s Renegades of Funk or John Lennon’s Power To The People as protest anthems during the course of massive rolling — and peaceful — protests across the country.

Really, that is where Crooked Media sure could come in handy in making this vision a reality. Simply saying don’t be afraid to call yourself a “radical” in the sense that you are a one-issue voter for the immediate future — impeach Trump NOW.

We really need to channel our inner punks and AOCs and stop being, like, uh, Joe Biden? We need to say fuck the Establishment, fuck the Powers That Be. We need a radical centrist movement that simply says enough is enough — Trump, at the very least, has to be impeached by the House immediately and any Democrat who doesn’t support doing that risks being primaried by the base in 2020.

Though if Trump lasts to 2020, we really are fucked.

So, I guess if I could get a “many people are saying” reference on PSA, that would rock.

Not that it’s going to happen.

Radical Republicans, ‘New Rules’ & Radical Resistance In The Age Of Trump

By Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

When I talk about “Radical Republicans,” I’m talking about the Radical Republicans of Reconstruction, not, like the modern Freedom Caucus. So, in a sense, I guess that’s something of a letdown to people who might hate-read this blog.

But anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is there is historical precedent for all my talk of Radical Resistance. It’s been done before and done well. Yet it happened after a war, so, shrug. I think Trump is going to survive and prosper, given the existing conditions.

Republicans are always talking about “new rules,” and maybe if the Resistance to Trump grew a bit more radical on an ideological level, we might come up with our on set of “new rules.”

But, of course, no one listens to me.

A Brief, Practical Guide To Radical Resistance

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

For me, the concept of Radical Resistance is more of an ideological issue than an excuse to, like blow stuff up. I am very much more MLK than Lenin in that respect (not to sound too painfully self-aggrandizing.)

So, briefly, the issue is more what people could do collectively if we could somehow radicalize the proletariat, shall we say, on this issue. That’s why getting the #NeverTrumpers on board would be great — those guys are really smart and could articulate to a lot of more conservative people why they should, say, contribute support through advocacy and money.

As I have mentioned, there’s a fatal flaw to all my talk of Radical Resistance — time. What I propose would have to happen, like, now, for it to matter. If we don’t get Trump by August 2019, then we don’t get him until sometime after 2020, if ever.

In some respects, what a Radical Resistance could do is limited in the short term unless it catches on in a big way quickly. You could go to a protest, advocate online, that kind of things.

But what we need is something, I personally, can’t provide — an app. I can articulate the need, but building an app to connect a radical resistance movement together immediately is not something I have I have natively in my skillset.

Or, on an even more basic level, I guess the issue is I know how quixotic this is. Some external event would have to happen at this point for there to be the opportunity for Radical Resistance.

All this talk of Radical Resistance is more my personal frustration with House Democrats than anything else, I guess. So, in that sense, I guess this post is kind of pointless. Or I’m not smart enough.

Or both.

Lordy, There ARE Tapes

By Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Tonight’s mystery — what “tapes” was Rudy talking about in that interview? Are we talking Cohen Tapes, or new tapes that we didn’t know about?

Who are the tapes with?

Radical Republicans Redux — Radical Resistance In Historical Perspective

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I fancy myself something of an armchair historian and I’ve always thought Reconstructions Radical Republicans were badasses. They took their fight to the top and pretty much ran the country during much of an extremely turbulent period in American political history.

So, it seems to me, we need to tap into our race memory and gird our loins for a political war against the Trump Administration now, and not until the Mueller investigation wraps up at some magical mystery moment in the potentially far distance future.

Let’s put things in perspective — we have the president dead-to-rights on a massive coverup and violation of campaign finance laws. And what is Congress doing about it right now? Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Not a damn thing. Meanwhile, there are 17 (!) open, active investigations of the Trump Administration and we’ve learned that the FBI believed that “obstruction was collusion” enough to open up a counter-intelligence operation against the President of the United States when he abruptly fired James Comey because of the FBI’s Russia probe.

But again, what is happening right now? Nothing. Not. A. Damn. Thing. As such, it seem pretty obvious something, anything political needs to be done. We need to get radical, we need a Radical Resistance.

We’re all supposed to sit back and let Trump politically destroy every democratic norm he can think of while we either eventually get the Mueller report or we’re given the option to fight it out with a bunch of circle jerking plutocrats who are actually quite pleased with the fetid, traitorous, felonious tyrannical racist, misogynistic Trump Administration.

I often vacillate between simply shrugging and saying Trump is president and there’s nothing I, as a lone citizen can do and being apoplectic and talking about starting a political movement such as this liberal fever dream I’m writing about right now.

No one listens to me. No one. And, really, all of this writing I’m doing about this idea is simply me decompressing from doing a huge amount of developing on my novel I’m attempting to write.

But enough of that aside — I guess what makes me so angry is this is not some sort of cryptic political observation that only tinfoil hat cranks without any credibility are noticing. This shit is right there in front of everyone’s face and yet Democrats in Congress are following this surreal political calculus whereby only until the shithead MAGA people see the light and decide to support impeachment will they then follow the will of the people who voted for them specifically because they expected them to at least, like, uh, do their job?

Invesitgate something actively, and immedately?

Another way of articulating all of this is maybe the Democratic base should take a few plays for the “New Rules” GOP and go for the political jugular as well. We need to get politically woke and radical in way not seen since the end of the Civil War.

We need to bring back the spirit of the Radical Republicans. Break something. Stir some shit up until the milquetoasts in Congress get their act together and AT LEAST impeach Trump. I honestly don’t care what happens in the Senate. Fuck them. I just want Trump to have the stain of impeachment on his record when he gets stroked by plutocrats in 2020.

I don’t think THAT is too much to ask.

Making Common Cause With #NeverTrump Conservatives Is An Urgent Need Of The Radical Resistance

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Let me be absolutely clear about a few things — 1) no one listens to me. 2) I’m a man of peace, but I’m also a man of ideas.

As such, I hate violence and I hate conflict. But in extreme cases, such as what’s going on with the fetid rotting pond scum known as the Trump Administration, I willing to engage in, if nothing else, a little bit of ideological wargaming.

What I mean by that is, I don’t want anyone to get hurt, but fuck, man, we have to do something about the Trump Administration and telling me to “wait for Mueller” or “wait for 2020” just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Thus, from a strategic standpoint, if we want to radicalize (at least a little bit) the fortress of married “purple” soccer moms in the exburbs of Philadelphia, we could do a lot worse than getting #NeverTrump intellectuals such as George Will (and others) to become the Tom Paynes of the Radical Resistance. We need them to articulate the very specific, very simple –and yet right now extremely provocative — demands of the Radical Resistance in a calm, cogent manner that won’t freak otherwise pretty placid centrist-liberals out.

It’s going to take everything the Radical Resistance has (which of this writing is just me, like, talking to myself on a blog no one reads) to simply get the basic demand of impeachment hearings begun in the House. I honestly don’t see simply being a wee bit more urgent when it comes to scheduling House hearings of the Trump Administrations high crimes and general fuckery too be too much to ask.

Why is it that Republicans when they controlled the House got to conspicuously stroke the base when it came to impeaching Obama for bullshit, but when we have massive amounts of un-Constitutional bullshit going on under the Trump Adminstration…nothing. Crickets. We have to wait until Feb. 7th until Michael Cohen testifies and even then the way things are going, Trump may get his wish and scare Cohen off from testifying in the first place.

So, it seems extremely urgent to get people such as George Will to wade into the rhetorical waters of Radical Resistance. Yes, I know Trump long ago lost most of the American intelligentsia, but I’m not really seeing the Howard Beal moments I’ve long been hoping for. The blue check podcasters of Twitter talk a good talk, but they aren’t, like, on TV demanding impeachment proceedings every time they are on TV or on a podcast. If we could get that to happen — why I’m saying “we” when it’s just “me,” I don’t know. I guess it makes me feel better.

I really respect the intellect of the #NeverTrumpers and if they could throw a few rhetorical bombs now and again maybe, just maybe, this Trump nightmare might end sooner rather than later with impeachment…and conviction.