This is very, very silly, but it’s a fun twist on a very, very serious issue — what the fuck are we going to do about Tyrant Trump? I’ve gotten it into my head that rather than calling people who oppose Trump “Blues” or “NeverTrumpers” you could use the rubric “Blue Meanies.”
I like this because even though the Blue Meanies are ultimately defeated by the The Beatles in the movie, they’re pretty cool and they get shit done. They instill fear in their opponents, too. I like using this term because there is an whole iconography you could tap into.
So, technically, you could wear, say, a Blue Meanie lapel pin and no one would — at least initially — would know the political significance. But I think that while this is a cool idea, it’s just too silly for anyone to be willing to embrace it. It is fun to think about, however.
I like the idea of otherwise serious people thinking of themselves as “Blue Meanies” hell bent not on destroying Pepperland, but, rather saving America’s birthright of democracy. They’re only “mean” because they’re pissed off at Tyrant Trump and his ilk and they want things to go back to normal.
Anyway. Barring some indication that anyone cares about this idea, I’m going to try — TRY — to not mention it again because I’m afraid I’m making a fool out of myself.
It’s telling how different the two sides see the prospect of a Trump second term. The Right thinks the Left is completely nuts for worrying about it at all. And, yet, it definitely SEEMS from all available evidence that we should be extremely worried about a second Trump term.
The key issue being, Trump seems to think the Insurrection Act is magic fascist pixie dust that he can use from day one to impose his will on Blues who don’t want to live in a white Christian ethnostate. The key thin is, if you live in the rural part of a Red States, life is unlikely to change all that much for you in a Trump second term.
But for anyone living in either a Blue State, a Blue City in a Red State or the Blue part of a Purple State — holy shit, should you be worried. I think this because it seems as though Trump wants to rule those parts of the country as not just an autocratic thug, but as an actual military dictator.
Him doing that would be a very unstable, volatile situation with no ready endgame. We could see a MAGA counter revolution, then a coup then a National Divorce then a civil war / revolution. Or not. Maybe the Right has it all figured out and I’m bonkers to worry so much.
Only time will tell. No one can predict the future — especially me.
I was called “downright insane” on Twitter just now and I don’t quite know how to respond. The person in question didn’t like my suggestions as to how to bring down Trump in 2025, apparently.
My first reaction is, of course, “Fuck you.”
My second reaction is, “If you ain’t got haters, you ain’t poppin.”
My THIRD reaction is, “Hmmm. Interesting.”
I get why someone would think I was bonkers by what I was proposing. And, yet, the worst thing anything anyone ever said about me was a I was “delusional jerk with a good heart.” As such, I just have to accept that I can come across as a crank to some people — especially people who disagree with me politically.
But I get that I can come across as bonkers. Doesn’t mean I’m going to change anything, though.
I know the Blue Meanies are the bad guys in the movie who are defeated by The Beatles. I just find the idea of Blues turning into Blue Meanies for a little while in 2025 because of Tyrant Trump amusing.
Maybe Blues need to become Blue Meanies to save America. (Wink)
Potential Scenarios for late 2024, early 2025:
Trump Loses — gives up It’s a real possibility that all the wet dreams of earnest, well meaning liberals like Mueller, She Wrote will come true and lulz, not only does Trump lose, but he just gives up. The “Good Guys” win and that’s it. We punt our structural problems down the road another four years.
Trump Loses — demands a National Divorce In this scenario, Trump loses, but instead of just slinking away, he frantically demands a National Divorce. A lot — A LOT — would depend on, say, Texas in this scenario. There is a greater-than-zero chance that Texas could very well call up a Secessionist Convention if Trump demanded a National Divorce. This would, in turn, cause a civil war.
Too Close to call (1876 / 2000 endgame) If this happens, then, holy shit are we in trouble. The country would collapse into civil war and revolution. If we just didn’t know who the next president was going to be…whoa buddy. Chaos. Violence. Collapse. Fourth Turning.
Biden Loses — It’s a Lulz If Biden loses and 1 million smug Twitter liberals leave the country ASAP, then, lulz, we turn into an autocracy and that’s that. We wake up in a few years and President-for-Life Trump is invading Canada for some dumb reason.
Biden Loses — Glorious Revolution In this scenario, Trump wins but goes full Tyrant in such a way that Blues stand their ground and organize things like a General Strike and or a Women’s Strike. The U.S. Military, rather than being Trump’s SA goons, stands down and maybe uses the guise of the 14th Amendment to overthrow Trump and we have President James Mattis for a few months until a Constitutional Convention can be called up.
The 1872 Election Endgame Look it up. It’s bad.
I’m not advocating anything! I just like to run scenarios. It’s a way to make my abstract fears concrete and, as such manageable. As such, let’s imagine Trump goes “full Tyrant” as soon as he’s sworn in on January 20th. We already know he wants to invoke the Insurrection Act on day one.
Now, remember, Tyrant Trump is going to be a military dictator in regards to Blue States and just a regular olde autocrat when it comes to Red States. As such, it seems this will be a very, very volatile situation because Red States will be treated a lot differently than Blue or rebellious parts of Purple States.
And the key thing to remember is we would have no idea if any attempt to depose Tyrant Trump would…actually work. It could be that any attempt to bring him down would only make him stronger. That’s what happen in Turkey a few years ago when there was a coup attempt against their autocrat. He’s still there, more powerful than ever.
We may all be Antifa in 2025, if Tyrant Trump goes full tyrant.
But here are a few ways I could imagine we might force Tyrant Trump out of office
General Strike / Women’s Strike Things would have to be REALLY BAD for anything like this to work. It’s just not in American political DNA for average Americans to strike en masse nationally for a specific purpose. It’s much more of a European thing. But Trump goes full tyrant (at least in Blue and parts of Purple States) I could see Radical Moderates popping up to the point that a General or Women’s Strike might actually be practical. Even if it was just the major Blue States, if there was a General or Women’s strike, that would really cripple the national economy to the point that you MIGHT get the U.S. Military to either stand down or even go so far as to topple Trump altogether.
Overreach On His Part There is a chance that Trump goes nuts against Blue States. He goes sucked into throwing more and more troops at Blue States to the point that there is a general uprising against him there because he will be a military dictator there. This could cause the Blue parts of Purple and Red States to rebel as well. There would be growing pressure on the U.S. Military to just stand down or to even to topple Tyrant Trump altogether. Maybe. It’s at least possible. I can hear Tom Nichols telling me I’m full of shit as I write this.
Use the 14th Amendment to Force Him Out (With Help From U.S. Military) There is a lingering unresolved issue surrounding Trump’s eligibility to be president because of the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment. Now, remember, during Reconstruction the Constitution’s demand that states of a “republican form of government” gave Radical Republicans what they needed to prevent defeated slave states from returning to the Union. So, I could see out of sheer desperation — and some legal cover — that a very, very distressed U.S. Military might say, “Well, the 14th Amendment says Trump isn’t even POTUS.” That would at least potentially get red of Trump and his Veep. I would be cool with that, even if it meant we were stuck with President Johnson. (Again, I’m not advocating anything, just saying this as a general sentiment.)
A Specific Demand For a Constitutional Convention Any attempt to overthrow Tyrant Trump would have to be done in the context of specific demands for structural political reform. For me, that would mean deposing Trump and MAYBE a military junta that would rule specifically long enough for a Constitutional Convention to be held. So, we might have President Mattis for a few months while all of that was going on.
A Social Media App Designed To Organize National Direct Action One thing that might help bring down Tyrant Trump would be a social media app designed specifically with organizing direct action like strikes built into it. That’s just a daydream.
All of this is just a daydream at this point. I absolutely fucking hate violence of any sort. I would rather just leave the country that have to worry about violence. But, all of this is political mental masturbation to make me feel better, to not feel so helpless in the face of macro historical and political trends I can’t control.
And remember — it could be that any attempt to depose Trump that was successful would just cause a National Divorce and, as such, even more tragedy. So, hopefully, we won’t have to worry about it. Mueller, She Wrote keeps telling me someone or something is going to save us, right?
I have noticed a bit of an uptick in interest in ROKon Magazine. What happened with the magazine changed my life. And I still think that there are only two people who could properly tell the story — other than me — Phoebe Waller-Bridge or Emerald Fennell.
If you want to know what happened with the magazine from my POV, here’s the below:
You know, you take yourself wherever you go. And I’m at a point in my life when I can’t get rid of all the evidence that I’m a drunk crank kook and have been that way my entire life.
My heroine looks like Corrie Yee in my mind as I write her.
My fear is, of course, that in about a year, when I start to query my first novel that I will see agents crawling around this Website doing due diligence on me and obviously being shocked at what a drunk crank I am.
I’ve talked about these fears before, but as I get closer to zooming through the third draft of this novel, I find myself thinking about it yet again. I just don’t know what I’m going to do.
I suppose, in the end, I do nothing.
Slings and arrows and all that. I just have to accept that I may suffer something of a “kook tax” yet again — the liberal white women who I believe make up the vast majority of literary agents may be aghast at what a freaky weirdo I’ve been as I written — and talked — over the years at great length, in vague terms, about what I hope is a six novel project.
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