Tag: The Red King

Anocracy In America

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems as though the United States has hit a political iceberg and it well on its way to sinking into the icy seas of fascism. But, at the same time, I just don’t know.

It could go either way.

It could be that some sort of off ramp happens because of an unexpected black swan event and America will just muddle through and all my dystopian hellscape scenarios will be seen as laughable. But there is a greater-than-zero chance that This Is It.

It could be that we’re very, very fucked and late 2024, early 2025 will see some unpreceded things happen one way or another. The spectrum ranges from civil war because Trump loses the 2024 president election to Trump winning in 2025, and being such an idiotic tyrannical madman in 2025 that he is somehow deposed and when that happens…there is a civil war.

But lulz, who knows.

I think there remains a really good chance that everything is going to work out fine. I definitely hope that is going to happen.

But things are still too far out at the moment. I can’t make any sort of prediction for sure one way or another. It could be that WW3 breaks out, or it could be that something akin to a civil war breaks out because of what’s going on at the Texas border.

Only time will tell.

The Mad Red King

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The key thing to remember about all of this “dictator” talk by Trump is he just wants that idea rolling around people’s minds should he get re-elected. It will, in his ding-dong brain — give him more wiggle room when it comes to what he can actually do.

While I hate to compare someone as lazy and dumb as Trump to an actual Great Man of history, it is easy to compare Trump as Julius Caesar. Just like Caesar, Trump could be a transitional figure for our hobbled Republic. It could be that for no other reason than Trump is old, fat and lazy as fuck that it won’t be him who turns us into a Russian-style autocracy, but, rather his next Republican successor.

But all of this won’t happen in a political or historical vacuum. The United States is not a one-to-one with the late Roman Republic, as much it might be easy to assume that it is. The US is more likely to collapse into revolution and civil war than it is to peacefully transition into autocracy — especially under the ham-handed “guidance” of someone like Trump.

And, remember, after Caesar’s death, there was a huge civil war. So, I think rather than us assuming Trump is an American Caesar, we need to think seriously about the global implications of the world’s hyperpower buckling into autocracy, revolution and civil war.

Does The USA Need A ‘Dictator?’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The short answer is: fuck no.

We could see a few of these in late 2024, early 2025.

The longer answer is — it’s complicated. I think there is a good chance that through a combination of Executive Orders and using the pardon power that Trump could probably be something akin to a dictator in 2025 should he win in 2024.

But the thing that the liberal popinjays on Twitter miss is the nation’s slide into dictatorship would NOT happen in a vacuum. People would get pissed! As such, if he did such a thing, I think the following MIGHT happen — Trump is somehow “deposed” and we might get something akin to a military junta with someone like James Mattis as acting president.

That is all VERY SPECULTIVE.

But the point is — it’s at least possible that late 2024, early 2025 could see some amazing, unprecedented political and historical events take place. What’s more, if the USA implodes, the the entire post-WW2 global order will implode, too.

We could see about 1 billion people around the globe die DIRECTLY because of ding-dong Trump being such a fucking idiot.

Trump Isn’t Hitler. He’s Pol Pot

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While it’s easy to compare Trump to Hitler — and the two men do share a lot in common — I would suggest someone else to compare him to: Pol Pot. The reason why I say this is, if the worst happens, I could totally see Trump demanding the cities be emptied for some sort of American Killing Fields.

Pol Pot

Or maybe it wouldn’t be Trump but someone vaguly acting in his name would would do it.

But the point remains — Pol Pot hated a lot of the same types of people that Trump and his movement hates.

If things get really, really bad in the USA as it transitions to Trumplandia…oh boy.

A 2024 Black Swan: What Am I Missing?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If 2020 proved anything, it’s that I just can’t predict the future. As such, I keep searching my mind to think up what I could possibly be missing about late 2024, early 2025 that would somehow give us an offramp from all my “hysterical doom shit.”

At the moment, I got squat.

It seems we’re going to lurch into a very dark and turbulent fate starting around November 2024 and things could be pretty rough for a number of years after that.

Or not. I just don’t know.

The most obvious thing that might throw everything up in the air is some sort of “health incident” that one or both of the old codgers who are running for president might experience. As for Trump, I don’t wish physical ill on him for no other reason than if ANYTHING happened to that fucker, the country might collapse into severe political violence not seen since the death of Martian Luther King Jr — only this time it would be red necks burning things to the ground because they believe the “deep state” did in their false prophet.

I suppose maybe a war — DPRK, I’m looking at you — might throw things up in the air. Then Biden would be a War President and he MIGHT be able to unite the country just long enough to defeat Trump.

If — God forbid — Something Happened and Biden was no longer the nominee, that would REALLY scramble things a great deal and things could go in directions no one — least of all me — could predict.

As an aside, I will note that it definitely seems as though Republicans may lose the House this year, which would que up Trump being impeached sooner rather than later if he went “full tyrant” on us. Throw in an actual effective General Strike and it’s at least possible THAT would be how we got rid of that malignant ding-dong.

But all of that is VERY speculative.

I have no idea what is going to happen. I just want to live in a peaceful, prosperous America that has a functioning democracy. That should not be too much to ask.

When MAGA Fascism Becomes Personal

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Talking to my conservative relatives — whom I love dearly — I am taken aback by how while in general they’re all-in for rounding up 20 million undocumented people and their families and forcibly removing them from the country, they…really haven’t thought through the implications of doing such a thing.

They just, in general, want brown people out of the country so white people can be on top again. Or something. Something like that. I have tried my best — to little success — to make this extremely abstract issue (in their minds) as concrete and personal as possible. I point out that a lot of the people who would be deported would have adult children who are Americans and they just wave this concern away.

“Oh, I haven’t really thought about the specifics,” is what they tell me.

And Trump has specifically said he wants to do away with birthright citizenship as soon as he’s in office again. I’ve pinned my conservative relatives down NOW to establish that at least as of early 2024, they believe that if you’re born in America, you’re an American citizen.

I have a feeling despite having done that, that once the MAGA propaganda and talking points of the issue are issued once Trump does do away with birthright citizenship, they will just chuckle and not answer when I point out that they have had a change of heart.

The ONLY THING that gives me some hope is how ill-thought out much of the tyrannical MAGA agenda is. First and foremost, there’s no MAGA SA. And any of the various options that MAGA might use to create such stormtroopers will take time to build out. Also, the moment people married to brown men and women find themselves stopped an interrogated about the citizen status of their mate….there is going to be a lot of hell to pay.

As I keep saying, maybe some Black Swan event will give us an exit ramp that allows us to not to have to worry about MAGA fascism in the United States…but I dunno. I’m just not one to not at least game out various scenarios. I like to make my abstract fears, concrete.

Blues Need To Get ‘Woke’ About The Dangers of MAGA Fascism In The USA

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that it’s mainstream Republican orthodoxy that the insurrectionists of January 6th are “hostages,” I wish members of the center Left would gird their loins for the battle royale we face. My fear is that it won’t be until Trump is re-elected and he goes full tyrant that a lot of center Left people will stop being keyboard warriors and start to think about how they can address MAGA fascism in the real world.

I’m not advocating anything. I hate violence. I’m a man of peace, a man of ideas. But I am saying that just telling people to “vote” or “pass it on” on Twitter won’t mean jackshit when 500,000 armed, weaponized ICE agents are running around snatching people off the street if they don’t have their “papers” or if they’re “an enemy of the people” because they wrote that Donald Trump can suck their cock on their little blog that no one reads.

I just want center Left people to get “woke” in the real sense of the word — they need to change their mental frame of reference. Center Left people need to realize that we may be going to the show in the sense that all my hysterical doom shit may be just….the reality that we’re going to have to live with in just a few months.

How likely is all that? I don’t know. I can’t predict the future. All I know is the center Left can’t allow itself to be sucker punched in January 2025 when Trump does exactly what he has been saying he will do for years now — become a tyrannical dictator who rules over Blue portions of the country as a king.

A Red King: Tyrant Trump & The End Of American Democracy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

A lot of people are still being very delusional about Trump. They think through some combination of rainbows and unicorn farts, Trump will simply fade away and we can go back to normal. Sadly, barring some sort of Black Swan event in 2024, Trump remains 60,000 votes in five swing states away from being POTUS again.

The question is, how, exactly will Trump end American Democracy?

Logically, what would happen, if form follows fascist function, Trump would soon after getting re-elected demand a Constitutional Convention that will make “America First” changes to the Constitution in such a way that Trump never leaves office.

But there are at least two issues to consider.

One, Trump is old as fuck and while he can destroy American democracy, it will be up to his successor to be in office for decades to come. Second, if Trump literally begins to snatch people he doesn’t like off the street, There Will Be Consequences.

And, yet, may be I’m being too sanguine. Maybe if 1 million smug Twitter liberals leave the country and take their smug, circle jerk podcasts with them, that will be that. American democracy will be snuffed out and we’ll all shrug.

I can’t predict the future. Anything is possible.

The 20 Million Body Problem

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I totally validate the idea that there is a “crisis at the border,” I do have a problem with anyone who suggests we try to deport all those people en mass overnight. Not only would you would have to spend billions to build out the existing ICE infrastructure, but you’re setting yourself up for a huge amount of abuse by doing so.

There are just a huge number of problems with trying to deport 20 million undocumented people. You thought tearing families apart at the border was bad, just wait until its 20 million people who have contributed a great deal to the country over the last 20 or more years.

And I simply don’t believe people who scoff at the idea that the new, greatly expanded ICE infrastructure would not be horribly abused. You would have to be prepared to “check the papers” of people on a regular basis. That would be a fundimental change in how everyday Americans interacted with the government.

The whole endeavor would make the country a lot — A LOT — more unstable. The economy would collapse and the fabric of the country would be torn to shreds. And, yet, here we are, with ding-dong Trump seriously talking about deporting 20 million people.

Like I said, I accept that there is a crisis at the border, but I would prefer to come up with some solution other than destroying our freedoms to address the issue.

Is Trump Supposed To Be Above The Law?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There is something very curious about the reasoning of the anti-anti-Trump popinjays who blather on about how horrible it is that the Colorado Supreme Court took the wording of the 14th Amendment at face value and banned Trump from the ballot.

It really seems as though they think Trump should be above the law. They rather wanly use the fall back position of, “let the people decide,” and, yet Trump keeps breaking the law so they tie themselves into a logical pretzel to explain why what we all know to be true, isn’t true. Yes, Trump broke the law. And yes, Trump incited an Insurrection on January 6th.

But to according to anti-anti-Trump conservatives, holding Trump accountable is The End Times. All of this leads me to wonder if they have *any* red line. Is there *anything* Trump could possibly do that would make them side with small-d-democratic forces in opposition to Trump?

And it gets worse.

What happens should Trump be re-elected and he goes full-tyrant on Blues? Are they going to sit on their hands when Trump weaponizes the existing ICE infrastructure to put not only undocumented people in camps, but Jews, the mentally ill and gay people?

Will even that be acceptable? Will they just shrug and say, “Well, that’s what people voted for.” It’s all very sad because most anti-anti-Trump people are smart and well educated.

Anyway. Who knows what will happen.