Category: Media

Beware The Ides of March

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I think that because it will really begin to sink in to people by March 15 what is going on if Social Security checks aren’t cut on time that that is a date to think about. Two weeks of no Social Security money will be enough for people to flood the streets in protest, then Trump sick Red State National Guards on them, people die and then martial law is declared.

So, there you go, by March 15, my worse hysterical doom shit that I’ve been ranting about might actually happen — Trump will rule by decree and the US will become a military dictatorship until, I don’t know, Trump gets around to calling a Constitutional Convention so he can be God-Emperor.

I wish I was joking, but the way things are going, that definitely seems like our fate. There is a chance that we’ll have a zombie democratic system whereby Trump rules by decree and just ignores the other two branches of government. And that would be the long-term consequence of Trump’s second (and third?) term — we would be a dictatorship with a lot of superfluous people in the government who were ignored.

Someone Needs To Show Some Grit

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I know that Musk and Trump have a shit ton of political slack still in the system because no Blue with some power and authority is willing to, well, get arrested. Or to really go Howard Beale on their podcast or TV show — to freak out and tell people like it is: Trump and Musk are destroying the government.

I do get the sense that public hostility towards DOGE MIGHT be building. Maybe. A little bit. But we still have weeks before anything of note will happen that might make mass protests happen.

So, I guess we just sit around and watch as the U.S. government is consumed by a bunch of snot nosed tykes who clearly have never seen a woman naked, much ever gotten laid. It’s because things will be so different by the time we actually act that I think the old order is dead now and we need to start seeing the future in a different way.

We’re going to have a pretty drastic fork in the road soon — either we become a Russian style autocracy (or worse) or we do some massive direct action like a General Strike.

But, of course, the sad thing is most of this is out of the hands of Blues. It won’t be until a significant number Red voters grow disgusted with DOGE that Trump might purge Musk.

Yet, of course, we would still be stuck with Trump. Barring something I really, really can’t predict — Trump is probably going to run for an illegal third term and we’re just going to let him.

This is it. The end. Something new is being born, I just don’t know what it is yet.

Musk Is Not Going Anywhere For The Time Being (Sad To Say)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The fusion of Elon Musk and Trump, the symbiotic relationship, isn’t going anywhere for the time being. This particular useful union just has too much momentum going for it for the time being.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that not until Red State voters really, really start to feel some sort of pinch from what DOGE is doing will anything even begin to move towards being changed. MAGA is a Nazi deathcult to the point that is may literally be impossible to budge your typical voter in the Deep South when it comes to their support of Trump.

Musk might be a different matter, but he’s so useful to Trump at the moment — doing things Trump is too stupid and lazy to pull off — that Trump may just cling to him tighter and tighter.

What’s more, the Blue opposition to what’s going on is so weak that by the time people get woke to what’s going on, everything will be so transformed that we will have to start from scratch. I still believe that the old order is imploding and a new order is being born.

I just don’t know what that new order will look like. But I do know that Musk is moving fast and breaking things to the point that there is going to be no turning back. We’re just going to have to accept that we’re in a new age and see what pieces we can somehow use in a new way.

‘GovGPT’

By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems at least possible that Elon’s tykes at DOGE will come up with some sort of AI interface for all of our interactions with the government — a sort of GovGPT. That would allow them to cut the government to the bone and fill the pockets of egotistical plutocrats even more.

I have recently thought a lot about how it’s possible that using AI we may reach a new dystopian state whereby there was absolute efficiency in the administration of the government, damn the consequences.

Little did I know that we might actually be careening towards such a future in months, not years. So, I don’t know. Just don’t know what to tell you. It seems as though because of this developments my own life could be totally upended very soon to a degree I could never have imagined just a few months ago.

Sigh

Musk As Trump’s Downfall (Maybe)

By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I just don’t see any endgame in the severe crisis we’re in where things go “back to normal.” Either we become a plutocratic autocracy or we collapse and are reborn as a Third Republic in some way. That’s all I got.

The thing about Elon Musk is he’s doing all this shit that Trump is too lazy, stupid and unfocused to pull off. What gets me is all these fascist tech bros who are coming out of the woodwork in ardent support of Emperor Musk. It’s all very surreal.

I suppose it’s within the realm of possibility that Musk will do something so dumb and dramatic that even Reds will get upset. But we have a ways — a long ways — ahead of us before that happens. The end of February is going to be a big deal because that’s when Social Security checks go out.

If they, for some reason, fail to materialize, a lot of people — even Reds — will be upset and start to appoint blame. It’s possible that that will be the moment when Trump cuts Musk loose, but it will be way too late.

I can just see it now — we learn that whatever Musk’s tykes did to prevent Social Security checks from being cut will take months to fix and the thinking is that by time everyone will stop being angry and figured out how to live without that regular source of income.

Emperor Musk

By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m at a loss as to what is to be done about Trump and Musk at this point. I say this because by the time Blues get their act together, it will be too late. Musk and his tykes are rampaging through the US government at an alarming rate and by the time Blues can come up with a coherent message, the destruction will be complete.

It makes you wonder if Trump and Musk, “Trusk,” destroy the social safety net that a lot of Reds rely on…if THAT might be enough for them to sit up and take notice. I have my doubts. Reds are a now a MAGA Nazi death cult and, lulz, they want what I fear — a National Socialist autocracy.

So, lulz? Is this it? Will the United States go full empire with a Emperor and “elections” that continue, but mean nothing. The court system will continue to exist, but it will be toothless and ignored.

That, at this point, seems like our fate.

I therefore don’t think there is anything that can be done about Trusk. This is our lot from now on, the rest of my life. We will be governed by an unelected plutocrat and that’s that. Musk is so weird, I could actually seem him at some point crowning himself Emperor of America. That would be fun. Ugh.

Martial Law Appears Inevitable

By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems as though marital law is now inevitable. The scenario is this — in late February, it’s clear that Society Security checks aren’t going to go out as normal. This causes huge upheaval across the country and Trump strikes — he uses Red State National Guard troops on Blue State protesters.

People get hurt, things escalate and he declares marital law. He will probably arrest a lot of people he doesn’t like at this point — many of them elected officials. So, there you go. That’s my fear at this point.

It will be interesting to see how far the U.S. Military is going to be willing to go at the behest of Tyrant Trump. But I also think that the courts and the remaining Congress will continue to function as if they mean something when they definitely don’t.

This Can’t Last

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

They say when you come to a fork in the road– take it. I suspect that at some point between now and mid-April, some pretty fucking dramatic things are going to happen.

Probably martial law will be declared and Trump — and Musk — will rule as a full blow tyrannical dictator. The rest of the government will continue to act as if they have some sort of purpose, but in reality they won’t be jack squat.

One thing we need to keep an eye on is who is going to get arrested for no damn reason in the near future. I think Trump might start to arrest a lot of people he just doesn’t like and they will officially be political prisoners.

But I do think we need to keep an eye on Elon Musk’s skullfucking of the government. When those Social Security checks don’t go out as expected, that’s when the shit will hit the fan. That’s when martial law will probably be declared.

We just have to accept that the America that we once knew is imploding and something new is going to take its place. Either an autocracy or some sort of new, Third Republic. Regardless, things are probably going to get very, very messy.

I’m kind of trapped in the United States at the moment, so it’s not like I can escape. But I am, in general, a survivor, so, lulz. we’ll see.

Renegades of Funk

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

All I got at this point is I’m a survivor. That’s it. I have an obsession with making my abstract fears concrete, so, I really have a tendency to game out things in the future, given if a lot of magical thinking is involved.

It seems as though, for the moment, what is going to happen is Trump will rule as a dictator on a Federal level while leaving the states alone for the most part. This will inevitably change, but, for the time being, the rather decentralized nature of American government will continue.

So, Trump — and Musk — will rule by decree on a Federal basis with Federal elections being moot and meaningless. What are they going to do to Trump? Impeach him? Ha. Of course, the issue we need to think about is who will be Trump’s successor?

I think Trump is going to run for a third term, no matter how illegal it may be. And even though Musk is not a “natural born” citizen, he has billions, so I’m sure we can ignore that requirement as well. It’s at least possible — at this point — to see some scenario where Musk becomes the actual president? Maybe?

I have my doubts about Vance ever becoming president barring something unexpected. I think either Musk or another Trump becomes POTUS and they are Trump’s “true” successor.

Did I Call This Tyrannical Clusterfuck?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have be writing for years — years — about every possible scenarios involving Trump as a dictator. And now that it’s finally come, I find myself gauging how much I got right.

The key thing I got wrong was the involvement of Elon Musk. Because he is younger and more focused — and tech savvy — he is doing a lot of the things that Trump wants to do but is too stupid and lazy to pull off. How could I have possibly know this was going to happen?

What I got right was Trump would rule by decree and try to be a dictator. What I got wrong was the idea that someone, somewhere, would care. At the moment, at least, it seems Trump is going full tyrant and…lulz?

I suppose we could say there’s still a huge amount of slack in the system. America is a nation of 330 million people and it’s going to take time before a lot of people even notice that something is awry.

The question is — will it be too late when that happens? When people get woke to the fact that we’re a dictatorship now…what happens? The fear is, of course, that there will be massive protests that Trump uses Red State National Guard troops on…and away we go.

But that hasn’t happened yet and hopefully, won’t.