by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
As I often say, politically, I’m the red headed stepchild of my family. Everyone else in my family is a bedrock Traditional conservative. Even though I hate talking politics with them now, I still find myself doing it and, as such, I use them as an impromptu focus group.
They key takeaway is — Traditionalists no longer believe in democracy. They’re primed and ready for the United States to transition into an autocratic, illiberal democracy like they have in Hungary or Turkey. And, as long as the transition is peacefully, they probably wouldn’t mind all that much if we ended up somewhere closer to Russia or Nazi Germany.
That’s because, from what I can tell, my relatives have only two red lines — violence and the personal. So, yeah, if MAGA freaked out and there was violence in the streets on their part, my relatives might have some pause for thought as our democracy was strangled. But as long as the transition is peaceful — lulz.
The other red line is, well, me.
So, my relatives — whom I love dearly — are looking forward to living an autocratic white Christian ethnostate because then, at last, they won’t have to worry about having their life ruined — canceled — simply because they’re conservative. They think my personal fears about fascists using hard power against me once we’re an autocracy are hysterical and ridiculous.
But we do turn into an autocracy, all bets are off. None of our rights — even freedom of speech — will be off the table. And, given my tendency to get drunk and rant in bars, it’s within the realm of possibility that at some point after 2025 I could very well get drunk, start to rant about how I think our Very American Autocrat can suck my dick and before you know it…my relative’s red line will be crossed.
Of course, it could be too late — I could be dead in a ditch somewhere at the hand of an ICE agent who was tipped off about my rant.
But at least my relatives won’t have to worry about being canceled, huh?
