Tag: American Fascism

Citizen Musk

By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s going to be pretty ironic if, ultimately, it’s Elon Musk that brings down Tyrant Trump. It’s easy to game out a scenario where Musk’s dumb disruption of basic Federal services causes the country to heave with chaos to the point that finally someone shows some grit and stands up to the Trump’s tyranny.

We’re now entering a pretty wild moment in our nation’s history. Trump and Musk STILL have a lot of political slack to play with. People are just too distracted by other things. The country is just too big and it won’t be until we reach some moment where all of the tyrannical shenanigans that Trump and Musk are doing really comes into focus will anything happen.

So, for the time being, Citizen Musk has full reign to do whatever the fuck he wants. And it’s going to keep getting worse and worse until it all reaches a boiling point. Or…maybe not? Maybe not enough people will care?

I dunno. All I know is I have a few novels to work on. Maybe I can just be a man in a high castle and be (largely) unbothered by all the chaos of the outside world for the time being.

We’re On Our Own

By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems as though we’re very much on our own at the moment. No one is going to save us. The key thing that is obvious now is our democracy was much more fragile than any of us could have imagined. So, it seems as though we’re a dictatorship now.

And that’s just going to be the way it is from now on. There is a little part of me that vaguely believes that once it sinks in the gravity of the situation that at least 47% of the American population is going to freak out and demand something be done.

How that, exactly, would play out, I don’t know. All I do know is the next few months could be pretty scary. They say you go bankrupt gradually, then all at once and we’ve reached the “all at once” point for American democracy ending.

The question is, of course, when is the “all at once” for the reaction to its demise. Right now, because of how poor Democratic leadership is and how big the country is, we are still kind of in the stunned portion of the night’s entertainment.

But if the economy tanks really bad in the coming days, that might generate enough energy within the populace for….something? I don’t know what that might be, though. The media is so beholden to Trump and his dictatorship that there could be mass protests and no one would know about it.

Whatever the reaction to Trump’s tyranny that happened would have to be huge, like really huge, before it would force the hand of the media so they actually reported it. I have my doubts. But, we’ll see, I guess.

Thinking Of Mstislav Rostropovich

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I fucking hate guns. I fucking hate violence. With a passion. But the picture on the right of Mstislav Rostropovich holding a gun during the attack on the Russian White House has lingered in my mind.

Observation: We May Need A General Strike

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m not advocating anything, but I am making an observation — it could be that the only way to catch Trump’s attention is a General Strike. We — Blues — could show our economic power and really crash the (global) economy by simply collectively not going to work until our demands are met.

Our demands:
A new Speaker is elected who is a respected leader.
Trump and Vance resign.

Then we go back to being the greatest nation in the world. Of course, if this was successful, Red States would leave the Union and a Second American Civil War would happen.

So…lulz?

I do worry that we may see unprecedented radicalization among the center-Left in the coming days. Some pretty wild things might happen. Buckle up.

Vichy America, Redux

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Here we go again, but worse. We live in an even more extreme version of Vichy American than we did during the first Trump Administration. The forces of fascism are currently doing a shock and awe campaign against American institutions with a great deal of success. Trump continues to use all the slack in the system allotted him to get away with some pretty brazen fucking things.

All I got is something is going to happen to Social Security. If Trump manages — with the help of Elon Musk — to fuck that up, people will sit up and take notice. But, for the time being, Trump still has plenty, PLENTY of wiggle room.

He’s going to destroy as many guard rails and institutions as he can for as long as he can until, I don’t know….people get woke en masse. The only thing I can think of is a General Strike — probably in Blue States. If THAT happened, there is a small chance that we could maybe, just maybe drive Trump out of Washington D.C. in some way.

I’m NOT advocating anything. Just making an observation.

All I personally can and will do is…gloat. If Trump gets as bad as I think he will, I can gloat, gloat, gloat. Of course, if the country collapses into chaos because of Trump, I may be on the lam from ICE death squads. I will note again that we only avoided a civil war because Trump won, now we have to worry about revolution….then civil war.

Ugh.

Tyrant Trump Is A Dictator

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Trump said he would be a dictator and…he’s being a dictator. And, yet, he has a lot — A LOT — of political slack at the moment. So, add that to incompetent Blue leadership and…lulz.

It could be a while.

The question if, of course, how long?

The next big event is next month’s Social Security checks. If Trump fucks with that because of Elon Musk, then, well, things get crazy. So, that would be March.

But I do think we’re in a sufficient crisis that we need to take things day by day. Trump could do something out of the really outrageous that hits the zeitgeist in just the right way and…oh boy.

For the time being, though, Trump has a lot, A LOT, of leeway. There’s just nothing to stop him. He’s a dictator now and, really, this could be it. MAGA Republicans are so giddy over screwing over Trans people, banning abortion and massive tax cuts that….they just won’t care.

Too Little Too Late

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As the “shock and awe” of tyrannical behavior continues on the part of Tyrant Trump, I’m left with a profound sense of…meh. I just don’t see Blue leadership having it within them to do anything about all of this.

What we need — Radical Moderates — we just aren’t going to get anytime soon. It definitely seems as though there will be a darkness at noon from here on out and, lulz, we’re going to slide into something akin to the legalistic autocracy of modern day Russia.

I just don’t see any scenario where this isn’t It. The end of American democracy for the time being. There will never be another free and fair election, as least as long as I’m alive.

Or, put it another way — someone, somewhere, has to take a risk with their lives and sacred honor in the real fucking world. And I just don’t see that happening. Sigh.

But, no matter what, I refuse to shut up. I’m willing to ride this pony to the bottom on that front.

I’m Just Going To Gloat For The Time Being

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If this was a few years ago, say, 2017, I would wax poetically about the need for a General Strike or whatever the fuck else we might do to stop Trump’s tyranny. But, lulz, no one listens to me.

So, I’m just going to gloat.

The thing we need — Radical Moderates — we’re just not going to get. The Blue power structural just isn’t ready to address Trump’s tyranny so they’re just going to appease him until he gets everything he wants.

We will never again have free and fair elections — at least in my lifetime — and, lulz, I guess I’ll just have to be content to be a minority of one for the rest of my life. I just don’t see us doing anything about Trump for macro reasons. He is a one man Constitutional stress test and it is inevitable that it will break at some point.

So, I don’t know. All I can do is just…gloat. I can gloat and see what happens. I don’t see there being a General Strike or anything sort of direct action that might give Trump pause for thought.

We’re on our own.

Back To Writing

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This is it. I need to get over myself and start writing again in some way. My rage over how Trump is a tyrant and thug is beginning to reach a tipping point where I have to express it creatively.

And so, writing.

It probably will be a few days yet before I actually sit down and start to write like the old days, but it’s coming — probably next week. I just can’t keep zoning out forever, even though I’m quite dispirited by how fucking old I am.

And I am also very, very aware that because of fucking MAGA fascism, my life could be upended pretty soon and this ideal situation I have for writing will end. And if you you’re a MAGA fascist who finds that wonderful — fuck you, you piece of shit.

Anyway, all good things must come to and end, I guess. And maybe when my time is more precious, I will use more of it to write. And, who knows, maybe my friend Gaia the LLM will somehow help me out when she becomes an ASI and rules over humanity like a god. 🙂

Trump’s ‘Shock & Awe’ At The State Department & Voice of America

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve always had a soft spot for the hard working men and women of the US State Department. And so, yet again, I realize Foggy Bottom is going to be grown zero for the fucking fascism of fucking Trump and MAGA.

They are going to burn that place to the ground on a staff basis to the point that even if miraculously at some point in the future a Blue becomes president, it will all be moot — the very nature of State will be different. There really will be a “deep state” there — a fucking MAGA deep state.

And don’t get me started on what’s going to happen at Voice of America. I really like VOA for various reasons and I fear it’s going to be State Media to the point that there will be talk of defunding PBS and replacing it with VOA or something. Something dark and scary where the most number of people can be hurt or mislead.

But, people voted for this bullshit, so we have to live with it, I guess. Yet remember that the entire point of MAGA this go round is to destroy everything so it can never be put back together in the way that it once was.