Tag: American Fascism

A Perfect Storm

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This summer, it seems as though we are determined to careen directly into a techno-government-economic perfect story clusterfuck. All three of those elements of our society could be “disrupted” in a big way for various reasons and it will all happen at the same, exact time.

The key thing everyone is missing, of course, is Trump would rather murder people in cold blood than relinquish power. And, what’s more, the press is so beholden and co-opted by the fascist Trump MAGA regime that whatever protests there are would have been REALLY BIG and last for a LONG TIME before they would be willing to give them the proper attention.

Though, I suppose if the Social Security Administration collapses then there is a good chance that Trump will be in SERIOUS TROUBLE….but not enough to be deposed. We’re suck with the fucker for the rest of his life.

So, lulz, my prediction is if there are some protests that Trump will just declare martial law and that will be that. That will give him the excuse he needs to start shooting people or rounding them up and maybe even going so far as to end regular elections — at least on the Federal level.

There’s a chance that he will let state and local elections continue as either a safety valve for discontent or make them so unfree and fair that they’re moot anyway.

Meanwhile, as all of this is happening, what might otherwise be a moderate recession might become a severe one as AI causes a huge disruption. The economy will stumble as huge swaths of it are revolutionized by extensive AI use.

At the moment, it seems as though programming and advertising will be two sectors that will be really disrupted in a huge way. They will either contract or be so revolutionized that thousands — millions? — of people simply will not be able to find a job in those fields anymore because of AI.

A lot of people are so wrapped up with how excited they are about the new developments in AI that they totally miss the cold, hard reality of this new world: I just don’t see how many jobs will be left in any number of fields because the changes are just happening too quickly.

This Musk Clusterfuck Is A Fake Out

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

What Trump wants to do is cram the US government with MAGA whack jobs to the point that even if somehow amazingly enough there is one day a Blue Administration, it won’t matter — the MAGA Deep State will ignore his or her orders. But he has to get rid of existing civil servants first, hence the need for Citizen Musk and all his bullshit going on at the moment.

Now, I just don’t believe we’re ever going to have free and fair Federal elections again. I know we’ve had some special elections since January, but I’m talking the midterms in a general way — they will happen, but they will be corrupt. The same goes for the 2028 presidential election.

Anyway, so unless something really big happens, this is it — the US government will be corrupt and full of crazy MAGA people who want to hurt as many people as possible, in as craven a way as possible to line not just their own pockets, but the pockets of plutocrats.

The Regime Risks Growing Arrogant

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There is pride before the fall and I’m beginning to worry that Trump is going to really do something crazy with the FBI to the point that people might…begin to care?

If Trump actually makes good on his desires for a police state then, at least in some of the Blue States, this is going to cause some problems. I’m a man of peace, a man of ideas, but the idea of some sort of Blue revolution does seem in the greater-than-zero range right now.

I hope, I really hope, that doesn’t happen, but if Trump uses the FBI to literally snatch people — like me! — off the street then, well, we got a problem. But hopefully that won’t happen. Hopefully.

But it definitely, at least, SEEMS that we are headed in that direction. What will be interesting to see is the reaction on the part of the population to such thuggish shenanigans.

I suppose what Trump might do is purge the FBI to the point that he has to find whack jobs in police departments in Red States to fill all those high paying positions and then he uses them to do is bidding in Blue States. That causes mass protests, he calls in Red State National Guards and, tah-dah, we’re a military police state under martial law for the foreseeable future.

After The Fall

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The United States is now an autocracy. Everything I kept ranting about for years has or is happening. The only big miscalculation I made was about protests. I thought if Trump went full tyrant from the beginning that there would be a General Strike or mass protests.

But, fun fact, no.

I know we’re still early in Trump’s administration, but it is clear to me that even if there were massive protests, there’s a good chance that the mass media is so beholden to Trump that they wouldn’t even cover any of it. I do think a prolonged General Strike with very strong leadership and a clear agenda could probably bring Trump and his regime down…but that’s just not going to happen.

People on the center-Left are just too busy being keyboard warriors to do something as dramatic as actually risk their “lives and sacred honors” in the real world. So, here we are, an autocracy.

The only lingering question is who gets to be the guy or woman who is president for 40 odd years once Trump shuffles off this mortal coil. I honestly don’t know at the moment. Maybe it’s going to be Musk, his legal inability to have the job be damned? Who knows?

I suspect the person is going to be a Trump, one way or another. And given Trump’s fascination with being a king, I wonder what would happen if he styled himself an emperor. Would anything happen? Anything at all?

What If You Held Massive Protests Against Trump & The Press Didn’t Care

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If Social Security checks aren’t cut on time, there’s a real risk of severe protests across the country. But my fear is that just because there are massive protests, doesn’t mean that the press will cover it.

In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that only if there’s a General Strike will and the economy crashes will anyone give a shit. And I just don’t see American being willing to risk their “lives and sacred honors” in the real world instead of being just keyboard warriors.

You Can’t Unring A Bell

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing about what’s going on as we slide into autocracy is we’ve reached point where everyone is learning the weaknesses of the system. So, no matter what, this is it, the end — you can’t unring Trump’s bell.

We either go full Russian-style autocracy, or we have a Great Turbulence where the Good Guys win and a Third Republic is established. There is no middle ground anymore.

I honestly don’t know which direction things are going to go. It could be either way. The only way we “solve” this problem is via something akin to a Revolution and I just don’t see Americans prepared to do that. So, I suppose I’ve answered my own question — it seems like we’re going to become a very legalistic dictatorship with two branches of government that exist, but don’t do anything.

That’s the dystopian hellscape that we’re zooming towards at the moment.

‘Implosion’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Words elude me sometimes when it comes to try to describe how bad things are right now. The system has imploded and Trump and Musk have free reign to establish a dictatorship. I really need to piviot back to working on some novels.

I need to just shut down the political part of my mind and avoid Twitter as much as possible. But my life may become rather…bumpy…very soon so that is kind of difficult to do. The outside world may demand my attention, no matter what.

But I do think that very soon — as soon as tomorrow — I’m going to focus my mind on being creative in a constructive manner, at last. I just can’t be in neutral forever, I have to do something with my life.

I’m not dead yet, as they say.

#ETTD: Kennedy Center Edition

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Trump hates the Kennedy Center for a number of reasons, chief amongst them is it’s a symbol of all the cultured people who think he’s a piece of shit (which he is.) So, he wants to remake it in his own image — going so far as to name himself to lead it the damn thing.

This is another example of how dark things are and how even if we magically get a Blue President at some point in the future that the whole context will be different. This hypothetical president will spend their entire first term just figuring out how to cobble the Federal government back together and even then, like I said, the context will be different.

You can’t unring a bell, as they say.

We are so fucked. So totally and completely fucked. And I keep reviewing how right I got so much of this. I still think the only reason why we didn’t have a civil war was Trump won. Had he lost, there was a good chance he would have demanded a civil war.

And Blues just don’t have it in them to put up any sort of fight. Fuck MAGA, fuck Trump and fuck Musk is all I have to say. I might as well use my free speech while I still have it. They’ll come for me soon enough.

Jesus Christ, Are Things Dark

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Oh my fucking God are things dark politically now and getting darker by the moment. We’ve reached a no-going-back moment: I just don’t think America is going to be the same now, no matter what. I don’t think we’re ever going to have free and fair elections again and if a Blue somehow did magically get elected the entire context of his or her administration would be different.

So, this is it, folks, we’re totally fucked.

As I repeatedly predicted with my “hysterical doom shit,” we are, in 2025, now a dictatorship. Trump is ruining everything to the point that even if we somehow put things back together, it won’t be the same. And Trump is showing other people want can be done to the point that the fascists are going to totally transform the United States no matter what.

Of course, there is a greater-than-zero chance that Trump and Musk could really fuck up, there’s a General Strike and massive protests and somehow, magically Trump and Musk are deposed. Then a civil war happens because Red States get mad and leave the Union.

So…lulz?

I just want to live in a traditional Western democracy. That shouldn’t be a big ask.

Blue Leadership Is Failing Us

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Something’s gotta give. We can’t have Blues on the backfoot forever. I would say we need to primary the entire Democratic Party, but I don’t think we’re going to make it that far.

So, in an ideal world, someone like Jon Stewart would jump into the arena and go toe-to-toe with Trumplandia. But, alas, I just don’t see that happening. We’re fucked totally and completely.

There is the chance, of course, that when Trump gets his way and totally guts the social safety net that there will be a severe push back from the population and THEN things get interesting.

But I have my doubts. I think this is it. We’re going to become a literal dictatorship — at least for the rest of my life — and we’re going to have no middle class at all and turn into something like Brazil. Ugh.