Be The Power
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
It’s pretty bad when you can’t even reference things in the news because you’re afraid an app’s algorithm will freak out. But, here we are, one day before election day with that very problem.
Anyway, I can’t wait for all of this to be over. I don’t know if I’ll do much of anything on Election Day itself other than stew in my juices and worry.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Well, I’ve finally reached total creative lockup when it comes to doing anything of note while I wait to find out who will be the next POTUS. All I can do is just stare out into space and wait.
It sucks.
My fear is, of course, that we won’t know who the president is going to be for months and THAT will keep me in my current state. Or we know that Harris has won, but Trump flips out and somehow manages to provoke the Proud Boys into doing significant political violence around the country while we lurch towards Certification Day.
Anyway, I have vowed to myself to start working on my novel(s) again on Wednesday morning. I can’t be in neutral mentally, emotionally and creatively for the months it might take to figure out who POTUS is going to be.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Well, the inevitable happened — the FBI looked at this website. Now, a lot goes on with this site that I can’t see in my Webstats, but this time I definitely saw a ping from the FBI.
The ping was someone looking at my old scenario whereby it was Blues, not Reds who tried to leave the Union. I no longer think there would be a secession by Blues, it would be more of a “recognition” crisis than a “secession” crisis. It would be a lot murkier problem because the war aims wouldn’t be the clear cut of: we’re leaving the Union.
It would be more like, “We don’t recognize Trump as POTUS.”
Meanwhile, I continue to believe that Red States are one “truth” on the part of Trump away from taking serious steps to secede. Or not. What do I know. But I am really, really anxious about the next few months, no matter who wins.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
In general, it’s looking more and more like the 2016 election of Donald Trump was something of a political historical fluke. Just the right set of conditions were in play at just the right moment for it happen. And Trump has been riding off of the fumes of that win since it happened.
This raises the question — if he loses AGAIN on Election Day 2024, what does that mean? One thing I don’t think it means is the end of MAGA. The political movement is such a force of political nature that what might happen is Trump fades while some new, young fascist slips in to take his place.
I say this because I think American democracy is on its last legs for various political, historical and economic reasons. So, even if Trump doesn’t turn us into a Hungary-style autocracy, someone else will soon enough.
One lingering fear I continue to have is that if Trump loses in a landslide that he is going to start ranting about the need for a National Divorce because Reds are “unwelcome” in the Union. I don’t really think he’s going to do such a thing, but I do worry about it.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Even though it seems as though all my over wrought fears about a civil war are just that, there remains a little part of me that worries — worries a lot. Sometimes, it seems as though we’re one “truth” away from civil war in the sense that all Trump would have to do is “truth” out that there needs to be a National Divorce.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, what happens if Reds attempt to brazenly steal the election from Blues if Harris wins? Then what are we going to do?
It seems to be that for the next few months the fate of the United States may rest with the power of the U.S. Military in the sense that if things do go bad, the military will have to step in to keep the country together.
Or something. Something like that.
And, yet, I’m not prepared to believe that is really true. It could be that no matter what, the country is a lot more stable than I realize and, as such, we have nothing to worry about.
That’s what I hope is what is going to happen, at least.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I was at a nursing home recently when I overheard a visitor say something along the lines of, “You can’t vote for Kamala Harris, she’s the devil’s choice.”
Oh boy.
That doesn’t really encourage me that if Trump loses there won’t be significant political of some sort. Today, I was running in my mind one of the many dark scenarios that might happen if Harris wins and…oh boy. I can just imagine Virginia imploding into Red and Blue parts that want to destroy each other.
I still don’t know what I’m going to do, in practical terms, if something like that happens.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I have no particular special insight into what’s going on with the election at the moment, though I will note that I am seeing just a tiny trickle of people interested in my lazy coverage of the whole Trump blow job thing. And, as an aside, I continue to worry that some big bombshell is going to drop that derails the Harris campaign at the last moment.
But I’m hoping that she wins and we can put MAGA to bed once and for all.
And, yet, there’s something else I’m worried about — if she does win by a landslide, there is a greater-than-zero chance that Trump could begin to rant about the need for a National Divorce because Reds are “unwelcome in the Union” or some such bullshit.
If he were to say that, I think Texas would take him up on the offer without blinking and eye. That, in turn would cause many other Red states to follow suit. Anyway, all I can do is hope that that doesn’t happen, huh.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
If Kamala Harris wins the 2024 election, we will have at least bought ourselves some more time. There’s every reason to believe that the macro demographic trends that led to Trump will continue and four years from now someone — maybe Trump? — will still be angling to make us a fascist state.
I just don’t see our fascist problem going away any time soon.
But if she does win, I think it means America collectively decided that we were willing to fight for our democracy after all.
My main fear is, of course, that Trump will lose, but “win” by cheating in some way. If that happens, holy shit are we going to be in dire straights. But we have to hope and pray that that won’t happen.
We have to have some faith, I suppose. Some faith that Trump won’t at least *successfully* cheat. But I do think if Harris wins that the next four years are going to be pretty dramatic one way or another.
How dramatic and why they will be dramatic, I don’t know. We’ve been really lucky the last four years — outside of January 6th.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
If Trump wins, then I think it means that this is who we are in 2024 — a nation that has finally sunk into fascism. Our democracy has been on its last legs for some time now and if Trump wins — even if he does so by successfully cheating — then I think This Is It: America has decided it’s no longer an idea but a nation of “blood and soil”
I have long thought that someone like Trump, if you were doing psychohistory, was bound to pop up in our political history at some point because of demographic changes. Trump has always been just a vessel, an avatar for some fucked up shit going on in our body politic.
He’s not a great man. Far from it. He’s too lazy and dumb to be a great man. But if he wins on Election Day, then it will mean that the greatest counter-revolution since 1860 is about to take place.
But if Trump wins — even if he has to cheat to do so — that’s it. We’re going to slide into an autocracy much like Hungary, if we’re lucky, and Russia if we’re not.
And, yet, there is a risk that Trump is so dumb and lazy that he’ll go full tyrant on us from day one and, well, who knows. Maybe the US Military will have to step in and depose the motherfucker. (Not that I want that, but it something to muse about in the abstract.)
Anyway. If Trump does win, holy shit are we in for some fucking chaos.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Sometimes, you just have to throw your hands up and move on. If things were “normal” then Trump mimicking giving his mic stand a blowjob might mean something to someone.
But, alas, it will mean nothing.
Sigh.
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