Tag: Fuck You MAGA

America As Fascist State



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of MAGA’s favorite talking points these days is that United States is “a constitutional republic not a democracy.” They can get quite snotty about it, in fact.

Laying aside why they wouldn’t WANT to live in a democracy, this is their way of establishing the groundwork for why it’s “totally cool and totally legal” that Trump brazenly, in an astonishing fashion, steals the election in the fall. When it happens, they can shout at the top of their lungs that we rubes are fools for being enraged that American democracy is dead. “Buht America’s a constitutional republic,” they’ll crow.

As usual, this is MAGA tactically owning the moment in the short term to deflect what fucking fascists they are. Them being soooooo absolute about this conflation of terminology either gets you upset and the conversation devolves into screaming or you waste way too much time trying to explain something with, until recently, was simply assumed — there are “norms” that we all follow that make sure the while, yes, we are a “constitutional republic” we all agree that there should be free and fair elections and it’s like a bloodthirsty fight simply to get the ruling party to accept defeat in an election.

But that’s just the beginning of the clusterfuckery.

The issue of Trump’s goons snatching people off the streets of Portland to make campaign videos for the Trump campaign is another, more important issue. In general, I’ve come to believe that you can pretty much figure out if someone is a fascist by their response to this Authoritarian turn for the worse. The further they are away from “Oh my GOD, what’s happening?” they are, the more, well, fascist they are. If they’re quibbling about stupid shit how the people snatched are let go after a little while or that these Little Green Men have “police” on them, then, well, you’re talking to a fascist.

Everyone involved would be better off if MAGA simply embraced their fascism. Then we’d all be on the same page. Of course, I guess, in a sense, they will at some point down the road when MAGA pivots from any argument at all about Trump to whispering in harsh tones that people like me “should shut up if you know what’s good for you.” The implication being, of course, that Little Green Men will come for YOU now.

I would prefer if I was able to finish and sell my novel before Trump finally comes after people like me for good.

America As Trumplandia: Living In A Fascist State


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of the talking points of fucking cocksucker MAGA shitheads whenever people like me begin ranting about how Trump is a threat to democracy is that the United States is really a “constitutional republic.” This helps them “own the moment” because instead of talk about people being snatched off the street in Portland, suddenly you’re fighting over what it means to be American and the exact meaning of “democracy” and “constitutional republic.”

If you really wanted to get technical about it, Russia is a “constitutional republic,” and people getting pushed out of windows there.

It’s when you have to fight over such stupid shit that it one should take a deep breath and realize that if you’re arguing with a MAGA person, you’re arguing with a fascist. Because of a number of demographic, social and economic macro problems in the United States, we are now a fascist state.

What this means in practical terms is while in “the before times” Biden would likely win in a landslide in the fall, that’s simply not going to happen this time. MAGA fascists, when Trump uses all the levers of power at his disposal to steal the election in a rather brazen fashion, will snort and say, “but we’re a constitutional republic.”

There comes a point when you have to realize that MAGA shitheads WANT the very things you’re afraid will happen. They wants a “managed democracy” like there is in Russia. That’s what they want. It’s not like you can in any way make them care about traditional American democracy values because, well, they don’t believe in them.

All the MAGA people I talk to in my life are so absolute in their abstract fears about what progressives MIGHT do, that they won’t answer you when you asked them direct questions about our decent into tyranny. The great irony is Trump is his own worst enemy, so the only way we’re ever getting him out of office — ever — is he, himself somehow screws things up so badly that he leaves.

That could be because he finally loses his mind, or, I don’t know, raises taxes.

The point of all of this is — there’s no one to save us. The only way fascists are gotten rid of is if they lose a war. So it definitely seems we have 20 to 40 years of fascist rule ahead of us until the demographics of the Graying of America crosses that of the Browning of America.

Of The Durham Investigation


by Shelt Garner
@Sheltgarner

Now, I know how the world works, so if you’ve stumbled across the post because you’re some fucking Qanon shithead fucktard, please eat shit.

The current lingering “Durham Investigation” is only one of a host of ways the Trump Administration is going to steal the election in the fall. The Durham Investigation is looking into the origins of the investigation into Trump and Russia and given the overheated rhetoric it generates on the Right, it definitely seems as though they expect the entire Obama Administration to be frogwalked to Gitmo.

There is so much agitation about this, that I’ve come to believe that’s pretty much what’s going to happen. At some point between now and, say, mid-October, there will be bullshit criminal referrals for Joe Biden and President Obama. While Biden being charged is an obvious “duh,” Obama being charged would have a more subtle point to it: Trump would want to show what would happen if HE got charged in a sort of, “Well, if you think Obama being charged was bad, just wait until you try to charge ME.”

This is yet another concrete sign that the United States is now a fascist state. The sooner people like me acknowledge and accept it, the better. What this means in practical terms is Trump is never, ever leaving office for any reason and we need to begin making plans for what we’re going to do in Trump’s ill-gotten second term when people start getting pushed out of windows.

All I got is a novel I’m working on. Hopefully, I have a window of opportunity before freedom of speech is finally squelched for good.

#Art, The #Trump Era & My #Novel


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I feel less inclined to talk about this novel as I grow more serious and more confident that it will be as good as I hoped for two years ago. I’d rather be using my time to develop, read and write than write about writing.

And, yet, I do continue to pay for this Website, so I here I am.

One thing that is interesting is two different macro trends are rushing towards each other. On one hand, under the traditional norms of American politics, Biden is cruising towards a possible blowout win. Meanwhile, the rise of fascism in the United States indicates that lulz, that doesn’t matter. Trump is going to rather brazenly steal the election, leaving 60% of the electorate apoplectic.

The question is, of course, how is art going to address this. First, we’re all going to have to accept that there’s going to be a crackdown in the arts in Trump’s second term. The late night hosts will be purged first and foremost. Gradually, people will begin to be pushed out of windows like they are in Russia. Lulz!

But I believe there should be a window of opportunity for a novel such as mine between when Trump steals the election and when, well, things get so bad that Little Green Men snatch people like me off the street.

I have a lot to say about the Trump Era and that’s what my novel is about. My white hot rage against the Trump Administration is the source of the energy necessary to finish this novel (actually one story, two novels.) Hopefully, however, my rage against the vile policies of the Trump won’t come across as preaching in the text itself. I hope to diffuse my rage so much that you can read this novel as simply an interesting thriller and that will be that.

As I keep saying, there are some existential aspects to this story that will be a tip off to my political views, but I can’t help that. From the very beginning of this process, there have been some elements to this story that I wanted to use and I’ve worked very hard to make them organic. So they’re not going anywhere.

And, really, in the end, I believe a lot of other people will be seething with rage about the Trump Era when this novel comes out and some of the more obvious ranting in the novel will find a receptive audience.

The Demise Of The Republic & The #Novel I’m Developing & #Writing



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I feel rather powerless these days. It seems virtually everyone I know is willfully accepting the rise of tyranny in the United States. It definitively seems as though my worse nightmares from Election Night 2016 are coming true. As such, I have a lot of bent up frustration in me that needs to go somewhere. So it’s going into the novel I’m developing and writing.

The last time I was this focused on something was in 2006 – 2007 when I was working on ROKon magazine. It totally consumed me and ultimately pretty much destroyed me. What makes this different is it’s just me. I don’t have a “tribe” I have to “feed” by publishing the magazine each month. I only have to worry about myself. I keep trying to move forward with development and churning out copy.

My focus grows more intense every day when I have mind-boggling conversations with people who make “Good Germans” like progressives. They have either stopped believing in democracy or they are so short sighted they are indifferent to the red lights blinking that Trump isn’t going to allow free and fair elections in the fall.

As I’ve said before, it seems as though after Trump has brazenly stolen the 2020 election, there will be a lot of people who will want to read about the Trump Era in the form that I have come up with. Though events in Portland involving American Little Green Men make some of the previously outrageous parts of the novel I’m working on seem almost real. (Or maybe eventually real for sooner than you might have expected.)

The point is — I’m working so hard not to make this simply Resistance fanfiction and reality is changing so dramatically that for the worse that I’m feeling a lot better about the scenario I’ve come up with.

Things Continue To Move Quickly With The First Draft of The #Novel


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that the Trump Administration is simply snatching people off the street, the rage I have against it that is helping me develop and write this novel grows ever more powerful. Also, my general belief that Trump is never leaving office for any reason seems ever more accurate and, as such, the idea that at some point early in his ill-gotten second term people are going to want to read an allegorical take on this fucked up era seems ever more accurate as well.

So, I’m going to bifurcate this weekend — if I’m not developing and writing, I’m reading. If I’m not reading, I’m developing and writing.

I hope to wrap up the tactical development of my next chapter no later than the end of this weekend. I have a rhythm now and so that — combined with my white hot rage against the Trump Administration — things are really moving along.

As I’ve said before, my rage against the Trump Administration is meant to be so diffused in this novel that you won’t really notice it. You should be able to read the novel if your conservative and not really have an issue with it. There are some existential parts of the plot that you may quibble with, but I’m not changing them.

Anyway, there is still so much that could go wrong. I feel very much like a first time father, worried about my unborn child. All I can do is give this thing all my genetic information and hope for the best. This novel is very personal and specific, but as things like Fleabag show, that’s often something that people find appealing.

I have a lot of work to do.

Choreographing A Scene #AmWriting


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While the nation I love is being burned to the ground by a bunch of fucking incompetent idiots, I find myself working on a more complex scene in the novel I’m working on.

All I can say is it’s times like this when the white hot rage I feel towards the Trump Administration comes in handy. I have a scene I’m working on that requires a lot of work because it has one or two extra people in it. It’s an important scene because a lot of information is being conveyed within it meant to push the plot forward.

I have come up with a unique way to address the #MeToo movement that I think a lot of men will enjoy. The point of telling a story with a message is that, like, people actually enjoy enough to consume it. That was the big problem with the movie Booksmart — I hated that movie, even though I was empathetic to its message because it insulted me.

With the novel I’m working on, I want everyone (expect maybe fucking shithead MAGA people) to have a good time. If you’re just a regular old conservative, I really hope you’ll find something to hang your hat on. I want my protagonist to be more conservative than I am, but it’s a struggle. It’s difficult — given how fetid MAGA has made the conservative movement — for me to figure out how square the circle on that one. But I’m trying, at least.

One thing about this novel, at least in the first draft, is it’s not dark and scary. It’s no Gone Girl. It’s no The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I’m just not that type of person. But it’s the first draft still. The point of this draft is to just get the story down. In the second draft I’m going to work on tone more. I think having a dark and scary prologue will do a lot to set the tone of the novel from the beginning.

But anyway. I have a huge amount of work to do on this scene. My rage against the Trump Administration is dragging me by the collar. I’m absolutely focused — obsessed, if you will — with using what little talent I have to lay out an indictment of this fucked up moment in our nation’s history.

My #Novel & The #Trump Era Endgame


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing about working on a novel seriously, especially the type I’m working on, is you pretty much are flying blind into the future. I have no idea what is going to happen with Trump, who flies by the plot of the novel like a blackhole.

I believe absolutely that Trump is never leaving office. Never. He will steal the 2020 election then demand a Constitutional Convention that will allow him to never, ever leave office.

As such, this fills me with an absolute existential rage and I have no way to express it other than creatively. That generates the massive amount of motivation needed to develop and write a novel the way I feel is required. I have a very brutal personal editor and it’s only been gradually over the last two years that I’ve finally figured out how to tell the story I want to tell the way I want to tell it.

Of course, there’s always that .0000000000000000000000000001% chance that I’m wrong and somehow we manage to physically remove President Bonkers out of the Oval Office without him blowing the world up. In that case, I think people will still want to read this novel, but for a different reason — it will be a great way to have a macro review of the just-concluded era.

Anyway, things are moving really fast with development and writing for the moment. I’m just about to start writing Part 2 which is meat and bones of the first act. I still have a tone-setting prelude I think I want to write, but I’ll probably save that when the mood strikes me.

My Prediction For The Republican Party In A Post-Trump America


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The issue when thinking about the extremely unlikely possibility that we’ll actually physically get Trump out of the White House (no matter the outcome in the fall) is people think anything matters.

MAGA Republicans have gotten what they have wanted for 20 years — a big tax cut and a massive influx of young, hack MAGA judges on the Federal bench for 20 to 40 years. So, really, that’s what they’re going to focus about Trump going forward. That’s what they’ll pivot to.

Remember, we have about 20 years before the Graying of America crosses the Browning of America. As such, House Trump — even if somehow the lying, cheating and stealing they plan to do in the fall isn’t enough to keep them in power — will probably bounce back quite quickly. Trump will still have a Twitter account and a Rolodex of powerful people he can use after four years in office. He will, in effect, continue to be a one man Republican primary process.

And, remember, it was only six years from Nixon leaving office in 1974 to the Reagan Revolution of 1980. Six years. So, it seems pretty logical that MAGA is here to stay on a macro level, no matter what happens. When one of a democracy’s major parties doesn’t believe in democracy, well, that’s not something that is helpful to a liberal democracy at all.

Also, lurking in the darkness is a long-term goal on the part of the far Right to call up a Constitutional Convention so they can fuck everything up for good. It’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of details at this point. Either it happens in Trump’s second term, or it happens during Tucker Carlson’s first term. Or whomever.

My absolute certainty as to how doomed we are — and my absolute inability to do anything about it — is the source of the energy needed for me to develop and write a novel about how fucked up everything is right now.

The Stuff They Never Tell You About Developing & #Writing A #Novel



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of the reasons why having an endless supply of rage against the Trump Administration comes in handy is you need a lot — A LOT — of energy to develop and write a novel, at least the way I’m doing it.

I spend way too much time on simple maintenance of some pretty prosaic things. I print shit out all the times and sometimes a hole punch will malfunction on me and I have to start all over again.

I spend a lot of time staring at my printer seething with rage against the Trump Administration, believing that there’s at least a chance that my writing might make a difference in some small way.

Maybe it’s delusional, but one man’s delusion in another man’s dream, or vision.

There’s a reason why writers — and other creative types — are often pretty much just crackpots. I’m using what limited skills I have in a very focused way. So, maybe I have a shot at changing the world, maybe I don’t. I have been called both “delusional and stupid” recently. And the late Annie Shapiro called me a “delusional jerk with a good heart.”

As you can tell, me being delusional is a recurring theme with my critics.

Anyway. Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.

But I am very focused. I’m very focused on my dream of writing a novel good enough that someone, somewhere reads it and wants to know what happens next.