by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Man, are we fucked. And you either get it, or you don’t. You either see the macro trends that are leading the United States towards an existential choice of autocracy, civil war or military junta or you don’t. I’m not saying I have any particular special insight — I don’t — but I am pretty good at making my abstract fears concrete.
And at the moment my biggest abstract fear is the rise of autocratic tyranny in the United States. Autocracy and fascism are very popular in the United States at the moment, with a lot of people who should know better quibbling about if the United States is a “constitutional republic” or a democracy.
So, it goes without saying that if you are a centrist in the United States at the moment, you’re complicit in the rise of autocratic fascism in the country. There is no middle ground, no room for accommodation of all views. It’s time to admit that to be a Republican in good standing is, by definition, to be a fascist pig. You don’t believe the United States is a democracy because you don’t believe in democracy, not because you think we’re actually a “constitutional republic.”
Put another way — if you’re in the news media and you feel forced to be “objective” when it comes to MAGA — you’re pretty much signing the death warrant for freedom of speech in the United States. Because that’s what’s ultimately going to happen one way or another — once Republicans are in charge again they’re coming after the free press and they’re going to do exactly what happened in Russia in the early days of Putin’s lifetime, autocratic rule.
Either MAGA friendly oligarchs will buy up any independent media that dares question the autocrat, or the state will lean on media in various ways to the point that the so-called “liberal media” will be cowed into submission. This will all happen in the context of a massive outflux of wealthy liberals to the point that by the time the process is over who knows if Hollywood will even be located in the United States anymore.
There are plenty of other places around the world that would welcome an influx of wealthy entertainment types. I’ve long speculated that Perth would be a pretty cool place for Hollywood to relocate to, even if it is in the fucking middle of nowhere.
And, honestly, I think America transitioning into an autocracy is pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point, but for one thing — Donald Trump. Is so stupid, so lazy and so often says “the quiet part out loud” that he could, unto himself, cause something akin to a Second American Civil War.
In the meantime, if you consider yourself a “centrist” you need to pick a side. The center has not held, you need to start acting like it.
