Tag: Mad King Trump
When You Reach A Fork In The Road, Take It: America’s Political Choice In Late 2024, Early 2025
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Here are my personal opinions as to why each one of the potential endgames might happen.
Civil War (Right)
* Trump simply will not accept defeat.
* As such, faced with the possibility of going to prison, Trump might demand a National Divorce to keep his sorry ass out of it.
* They say you go bankrupt gradually, then all at once, so the moment Trump begins to rant about the need for a National Divorce, it’s possible that states — probably starting with Texas — will take him up on it.
* Because of corrosive issues like abortion and guns, it’s possible that the whole system will collapse given some added pressure.
Punt
* Something unexpected could happen like happened in 2020.
* It’s always possible that even if Trump demands a National Divorce after losing, Red States may choke and not initiate a Secession Crisis.
* There’s no evidence that we’re actually on the cusp of a civil war.
Revolution (Left)
* Trump is so stupid and so lazy that rather than do basic autocratic moves, he could go full tyrant — in Blue States at least — in such a way that pisses people off so much that they want to overthrow Trump.
* It’s possible that Trump could be so brazen and chaotic in his tyranny in Blue States that people who would otherwise be pretty chill with an *autocrat* will freak the fuck out if Trump is actual *dictator*.
* Any sort of “revolution” against Tyrant Trump would be extremely risky and might only serve to make him more powerful in the end.
*It’s possible that because so many smug liberals have left the country after election day that there won’t be any leadership left to direct any sort of “revolution” against Tyrant Trump
The Red King: Trump Will Rule Blue America As a Tyrant
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
It is clear to me that Trump’s “dictatorship” will actually be more of a hybrid than a true dictatorship. He essentially wants to use the power of Red States to force Blue States to submit to his will. This is, of course, a very volatile situation with no apparent endgame.
It’s not like Trump is hiding what he wants to do, though. In the now notorious Sean Hannity interview, it went out of his way to use the word “dictatorship.” I can only imagine that this is a bit of FUD on his part. He wants to stoke the energy of the base while scaring the shit out of, well, people like me.
Trump says there are two things he wants to do for his “one day dictatorship.” He wants to close the border and “drill baby drill.” Why he couldn’t do either one of those things by using the traditional governance in the United States is something of a mystery. (America is pumping out oil at an unpreceded level.)
Given what we know how ding-dong’s mind works, by the time the election rolls around, he will pretty much be saying “I WILL BE A DICATOR” at the top of his lungs. And people will still vote for him.
I just don’t see how this is going to work. Yes, he could re-imagine the U.S. Military in his own imagine. But for two things — one, the American Military is a democratic institution on an existential basis. And two, what ding-dong really wants is an SA to knock heads. And the Blue portions of the US are so huge and populated that…oh boy. He would have to organize and build out an American SA of no less than 500,000 shock troops.
It would take time to do that. And the whole country could be collapsing into political chaos as he was calling up the “good old boy reserves” in rural Red States. It would just take time. The Nazi SA was built out over the course of a decade. Tyrant Trump has made it clear he wants to be a dictator from the get-go, so, I dunno.
It will be a curious time in American politics and history.
King Trump For a Day
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
What are we to make of this? There are two things to take into consideration. One, Trump lies all the time, so it seems as though it may be more than just “one day’ that he wants to be a tyrant.
Meanwhile, in the past at least, Trump was too dumb and lazy to actually do some pretty basic autocratic things. That may have changed, however, for various reasons. It could be that Trump could very well do all the autocratic things that he promises to do — “on day one.”
This brings up the issue of my own personal exposure. While I think I’m *fairly* safe — at least at first — my concern if we really are transitioned into a military dictatorship that things could get…hot…for me where I live. I could become one of millions of American who flee my home to somewhere that better fits my own personal politics.
But, it gets worse.
Virginia where I live is actually two states one Blue, one Red, fused together who hate each other. If there is any sort of “National Divorce” or even a “Glorious Revolution” Virginia is going to implode into intra-state civil war. The whole thing would be a massive clusterfuck with no ready endgame.
And, yet, here we are — it definitely seems as the moment that a Trump second term, with all its hellscape elements, is now inevitable.
I’ve Figured Out Trump’s 2025 Strategy
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Some scenarios for the day after tomorrow:
- Trump Loses — gives up
It’s a real possibility that all the wet dreams of earnest, well meaning liberals like Mueller, She Wrote will come true and lulz, not only does Trump lose, but he just gives up. The “Good Guys” win and that’s it. We punt our structural problems down the road another four years. - Trump Loses — demands a National Divorce
In this scenario, Trump loses, but instead of just slinking away, he frantically demands a National Divorce. A lot — A LOT — would depend on, say, Texas in this scenario. There is a greater-than-zero chance that Texas could very well call up a Secessionist Convention if Trump demanded a National Divorce. This would, in turn, cause a civil war. - Too Close to call (1876 / 2000 endgame)
If this happens, then, holy shit are we in trouble. The country would collapse into civil war and revolution. If we just didn’t know who the next president was going to be…whoa buddy. Chaos. Violence. Collapse. Fourth Turning. - Biden Loses — It’s a Lulz
If Biden loses and 1 million smug Twitter liberals leave the country ASAP, then, lulz, we turn into an autocracy and that’s that. We wake up in a few years and President-for-Life Trump is invading Canada for some dumb reason. - Biden Loses — Glorious Revolution
In this scenario, Trump wins but goes full Tyrant in such a way that Blues stand their ground and organize things like a General Strike and or a Women’s Strike. The U.S. Military, rather than being Trump’s SA goons, stands down and maybe uses the guise of the 14th Amendment to overthrow Trump and we have President James Mattis for a few months until a Constitutional Convention can be called up. - The 1872 Election Endgame
Look it up. It’s bad
Here’s how malignant ding-dong Trump plans to rule starting in late January 2025 if he wins re-election.
On a basic level, his animal brain knows he can rely upon Red States to give him free reign to be a more traditional autocrat. As such, he realizes he has two things standing his way — Blue States and the “Deep State” found lurking within the Federal government.
So, what he believes he can do is purge the Federal government of anyone who opposes him, knowing that he can rely upon the MAGA hacks of SCOTUS to back him up. He will also use his pardon power in a gratuitous manner to allow his fascist toadies to do any number of otherwise illegal things.
Then what he does is “crush” opposition in Blue States using the U.S. Military using the Insurrection Act. So, in Blue parts of the country Trump plans to rule not as an autocrat, but as a military dictator. Meanwhile, he will browbeat the national press so no one will know how bad things have gotten in Blue States. Remember — in an autocracy, communication can be a weapon. I could even see domestic social media being regulated to an unprecended extent as 2025 progresses.
Ok. There are some weaknesses to this plot. The key one being the United States is pretty porous to the point that if the U.S. Military was killing thousands of people in Blue States, it would inevitably be discovered in Red and Purple States. ALSO, I’m not 100% sure that the U.S. Military is totally prepared to be Trump’s MAGA SA-like goons.
But I have to give Trump credit, he’s a lot closer to being the type of autocrat he admires. But there are at least two issues he simply can not avoid — the whole setup will be EXTREMELY UNSTABLE and he’s fucking old.
I feel better now, though. I have figured out what we’re up against should Trump win in 2024.
A Bridge Too Far
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Any understanding of what Tyrant Trump is chomping at the bit to do should he win re-election gives every indication that he doesn’t want to be an autocrat — he wants to be a military dictator.
There is a big difference between being an autocrat and being a military dictator. An autocrat — usually in the beginning at least — is willing to play by the rules of civil society. That has been a go-to play for every autocrat since Augustus Caesar.
And that’s what I’ve always assumed Trump would do. I thought he would use the basic elements of being a strong man as seen in Russia, Hungary and Turkey. But from what I can tell from his obsession with the Insurrection Act, Trump really does want to go full tyrant by being a military dictator.
His decision to go full tyrant maybe be out of a combination of how stupid he is and the simple fact that he doesn’t have a MAGA SA to knock heads. He thinks invoking the Insurrection Act is like fascist magic pixie dust that will solve all of his problems, being too stupid to realize if instead of “four dead in Ohio” we have “10,000 dead in LA” that the American populace could, collectively freak the fuck out.
EVEN IF Trump had some sort of an organized paramilitary arm of MAGA, the US of 2025 is not the same as Germany 1933. The United States is huge, decentralized, diverse and has a long, long tradition of a free society. You would have to have at least 500,000 MAGA SA members who could swoop into restive Blue States and knock heads.
And simply using the U.S. Military — an democratic institution itself — to get what you want just isn’t going to cut it. At least, I’d like to think so. I suppose I’m giving the U.S. Military too much credit by thinking that if there was some sort of collective action like a General Strike or a Women’s Strike that that might be enough to cause it to stand down — or even join any sort of movement to depose Tyrant Trump.
But there are many, many known unknowns. We’re still a year away from all of this and there is always a pretty good chance that Trump will not win, fade into political oblivion and everything will work itself out.
Potential Scenarios for late 2024, early 2025:
- Trump Loses — gives up
It’s a real possibility that all the wet dreams of earnest, well meaning liberals like Mueller, She Wrote will come true and lulz, not only does Trump lose, but he just gives up. The “Good Guys” win and that’s it. We punt our structural problems down the road another four years. - Trump Loses — demands a National Divorce
In this scenario, Trump loses, but instead of just slinking away, he frantically demands a National Divorce. A lot — A LOT — would depend on, say, Texas in this scenario. There is a greater-than-zero chance that Texas could very well call up a Secessionist Convention if Trump demanded a National Divorce. This would, in turn, cause a civil war. - Too Close to call (1876 / 2000 endgame)
If this happens, then, holy shit are we in trouble. The country would collapse into civil war and revolution. If we just didn’t know who the next president was going to be…whoa buddy. Chaos. Violence. Collapse. Fourth Turning. - Biden Loses — It’s a Lulz
If Biden loses and 1 million smug Twitter liberals leave the country ASAP, then, lulz, we turn into an autocracy and that’s that. We wake up in a few years and President-for-Life Trump is invading Canada for some dumb reason. - Biden Loses — Glorious Revolution
In this scenario, Trump wins but goes full Tyrant in such a way that Blues stand their ground and organize things like a General Strike and or a Women’s Strike. The U.S. Military, rather than being Trump’s SA goons, stands down and maybe uses the guise of the 14th Amendment to overthrow Trump and we have President James Mattis for a few months until a Constitutional Convention can be called up. - The 1872 Election Endgame
Look it up. It’s bad.
What If Trump Goes ‘Full Tyrant’ During His Second Term?
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
In general, Americans are collectively pretty chill. It takes a whole lot to rile us up. We’re not French, after all. In fact, the last time we really got ornery was in the late 1960s, early 1970s in the context of the Vietnam War. Once The Draft ended, then, lulz, everyone just wanted to shake their booty and being politically engaged was a thing of the past.
A book I really enjoyed as a young man is William Safire’s “Freedom,” which is a huge tome of a novel that deals with the early days of the Civil War leading up to the Emancipation Proclamation. The book deals with what I would call “Radical Moderates.” This is epitomized by when one of the characters says, “We’re all Abolitionists now.”
The average person in 2023 has no comprehension as to how radical freeing the slaves being a war aim was in 1862. So, in a sense, if you want to know what a Radical Moderate is, just think of how President Lincoln only gradually warmed up to the idea of freeing the slaves.
ANYWAY.
The point of all that is — if Trump goes totally bonkers and full tyrant, what happens? Anything? All the signs point to Trump winning in 2024 and then, in a very, very fucking erratic manner, shoving tyranny down the throats of Americans in an unprecedented manner.
And, as an aside, remember — if Trump does happen to lose, there’s really good chance that he will single-handedly provoke a civil war in an effort to avoid going to jail. Let that sink in.
This is where I note that general macro political trends are for the United States to drift (peacefully) into autocracy. It’s a gimmie at this point. Now, in late 2023, the United States is an “anocracy” or even, maybe, an autocracy without an autocrat.
So, if any other Republican was in Trump’s position, we would simply wake up on day 20 years from now — or less — and wonder why the United States is invading Canada to free it from the “woke mind virus.” But this is Trump we’re talking about.
He’s so stupid, lazy and idiotic that what should be a historical gimmie, could turn into a massive fucking clusterfuck. But, again, this all raises the question — how tyrannical can Trump get before there’s some sort of “Glorious Revolution” lead by Radical Moderates?
And, remember, pushing things to the limit is kind of Trump’s thing. The man has been a one man stress test to our entire political system, ranging from the courts to the election process itself. So, yeah, I could see Trump going stark raving mad and tyrannical at some point in his second term to the point that, say, there’s a General Strike of some sort that might bring the nation to its knees.
This, of course, raises an interesting idea — might the U.S. Military step in? I don’t think so. And, yet, if Trump was running around demanding the U.S. Military to do things to the domestic population that were clearly illegal and un Constitutional….maybe they would step in?
An interesting way that Trump might be deposed is the an novel use of the 14th Amendment. Remember, the Radical Republicans of Reconstruction were able to fuck with the South for a few years by saying the did not have a “republican form of government.” As such, if Trump went crazy and started to do things that the U.S. Military simply could not brook, it’s at least possible that the legal fig leaf that would be used would be that Trump was illegally in office to begin with because he was in violation of the 14th Amendment.
But all of that is just a speculative daydream at the moment. I think that while Trump is likely to go full bonkers tyrant the moment he’s in office again, that, in the end, he’ll solve all his problems with the U.S. Military by demanding a Constitutional Convention that rewrites the Constitution in the likeliness of MAGA.
If that happens, may God have mercery on all our souls.
The Strange Case Of The American Autocracy That Didn’t Happen — Yet
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
A funny thing happened on the way to American autocracy: the man history shone on to be the agent of destruction for American democracy turned out to be a big old goober. All the macro historical forces were aligned for 240 years of liberal democracy to be smothered.
And then it didn’t happen.
Pretty much Donald Trump, by being a huge ding-dong gave us some insight into the interaction between Great Men and macro trends of history. Trump was not a Great Man, he was simply an avatar for macro trends. America just barely dodged a historical bullet because Trump, personally, could not do the one thing history had assigned him to do: kill American democracy.
I keep trying to think up ways to grade Trump on an autocratic curve and I keep failing to think of anything. Would you believe that idiot Mussolini was more of a Great Man than Trump ever was. Trump, in the end, was all talk. What’s more he gave the Establishment two things it wanted from him: young hack MAGA judges and a huge plutocrat tax cut…and then he failed everyone else who supported him using any other metric.
While Trump continues to have enormous sway over the Republican Party and the MAGA New Right base, Establishment Republicans are growing really tired of his shock and jibe. They got what they wanted from him, now they want Ron DeSantis to finish the job.
But what job do they want DeSantis to do?
In general, Republicans now simply want to use the quirks of the Constitution to establish permanent white Christian minority rule. I don’t think they’ve thought beyond that — they just want to “control” the growing power of women and minorities. They want power and as much money as they can get through continued smash-and-grab tax “reform.”
And, yet, there’s a problem.
Such things don’t happen in a vacuum. Once it’s conventional wisdom that Republicans have, using the quirks of our creaking Constitution, form follows function and they’re going to start abusing the fuck out of the complete lack of oversight.
And that’s where things get tricky. Will we peacefully transition into an autocratic managed democracy or will we descend into civil war?
At the moment, I think it will all happen peacefully, because the Establishment has a vest interest in the sheeple being complacent. Gradually, however, as we grow more and more fascist in our governance, even the Establishment may live to regret how easily they gave up.
It’s pretty bad when I start thinking that the one thing I don’t want — a civil war — is the better of two bad options because at least there’s a chance the “good guys” will win.
But back to what’s going on with our undead liberal democracy. Because Trump could not do even the most basic of autocratic power plays in 2020, we are now an autocracy without an autocrat. If you know what you’re looking at, it’s all very surreal. There are a huge number of Americans who want an autocracy so much that they think Fox News is “too liberal.” They are so frightened in the abstract about “Cancel Culture” and “Critical Race Theory,” that they embrace the idea of a fascist state coming to America.
Marinate on that for a second.
We have to admit to ourselves that we’re fucked. We’re totally, completely fucked. Soon enough, voting won’t matter and we either accept that or we have a civil war to make voting matter again. Ugh. I hate even having to think about that. But that’s what we face.
The United States is careening towards a huge historical clusterfuck because Trump, chosen by the Fates to transition us into an autocracy, wasn’t a Great Man, he was just a lazy idiot.
Enjoy these few years — months? — of living in a liberal democracy. Soon enough, that may seem rather quaint.
What Was Trump’s January 6th Autogolpe Plot?
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Background
The bonkers thing about what happened on January 6th is Trump was so fucking lazy and stupid as an autocrat that he waited to the very last moment to attempt an autogolpe (self-coup). Any other autocrat would have wrapped up the theft of the 2020 election before it was even held by firing whomever stood in the way of an indictment of Joe Biden.
It is testament to what lazy, moronic brat Trump is that even a rando like me kept thinking up the most obvious ways to steal the 2020 election and Trump just could not comprehend how to do it. The political conditions existed for Trump to steal the election without an autogolpe right up until the point where the election was officially called for Biden.
The Plot
First, given what we know of how Trump thinks, I doubt there were all that many specific elements to the plot. Probably, Trump knew what he wanted — stay in power no matter what — and he just ranted about that around his toadies so much that they began to use the spaghetti method to see what stuck. For some reason, a number of opportunities for Trump to pull the trigger on the “just say it was corrupt and I’ll take care of the rest” idea — and he didn’t do it. This is is very, very weird. Why he would choke simply because of the prospect of mass resignations is very strange.
But back to the plot.
I suspect it went something like this — in a general way, Trump and his co-conspirators created the conditions for a mob to attack the Capitol in hopes that when Trump told them to attack they would and this would either buy them time or force Pence’s hand on the certification of Electors or both.
When you have a very powerful brat to deal with as normal human being, your main goal is to buy time so you don’t have to deal with their disappointment. The theory Trump had was every moment the election wasn’t certified by Congress was a moment they might be able to somehow win.
But more specifically, they probably had a two pronged approached to their autogolpe — neutralize Pence and get the election thrown into Congress where Trump and Rudy could muddy the waters on a political level so much that they might, just might, get within shouting distance of winning that way.
If they could just put enough pressure on Pence so that he refused to certify the election — even though that isn’t within his power to do — then they would throw everything at Congress. All they needed was to get the extremely poorly written Electoral Count Act involved and all the bullshit agitprop techniques that were so successful for them over the years would take care of the rest.
Once they got past the huge personal obstacle of Pence, and they got the Electoral Count Act involved, their next goal would be to get the election thrown into the House and Senate. If the House picks POTUS, then each state’s delegation has just one vote.
And that would be how Trump would “win” in such a way that gave Fox news a media narrative that would simply be Bush V. Gore Redux. Get over it, libs, you lost, Trump is YOUR president, too, (again.)
An unknown is what was Jim Jordan’s involvement in this plot. Why did Trump in the waning days of his administration give Jorden, of all people, the Presidential Medal of Freedom? Was there something specific that Jorden did over and above the call of duty in this particular plot that Trump felt forced his hand? Does Jorden know something that no one else does? He got the medal AFTER January 6th, so it sure does sound like Trump was both thanking him and making sure stayed loyal in the future, no matter what.
I do believe there was a specific, coordinated attempt to stage an autogolpe on January 6th. What I don’t think happened was it was all that well thought out or had any specific sequence of events they thought they could pull off, which was why it failed.
They just wanted to buy time, get the election thrown into Congress and then attack the process with everything they had. It’s possible that some very smart, well educated people actually did have a specific goal in mind — get the House to pick the president — but they failed because of how stupid, lazy and disorganized the leader of the plot — Trump — was.
All I know is we won’t be as lucky next time.
What Are Trump, Mark Meadows & Their Merry Band Of Seditious Idiots Up To?
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The core group of people who surrounded Mad King Trump fling off so much bullshit at any one moment that it’s very difficult to figure out what the fuck they’re talking about sometimes. But, just recently, former Trump COS Mark Meadows make it sound like Trump was plotting some sort of return sooner rather than later.
I struggle to figure out what’s going on.
Either it’s all bullshit meant to make Trump feel better, or they’re actively planning to take advantage of the potential instability caused by Cyber Ninjas “proving” that Trump “won” Arizona. If it’s the latter, then they’re actively stetting the stage for a national version of January 6th.
Here’s how it would go down.
Sometime soon — in August, maybe? — Cyber Ninjas comes out with a preliminary report that says Trump won Arizona. Trump spooges his pants and won’t shut the fuck up about how this PROVES he won the 2020 election, even if it’s just one state. This sets of a cascading set of events where Red State legislatures across the country decide to hold “Decertification Conventions” meant to appease the MAGA base. Of course, soon enough, because of Trump screaming at them, these conventions turn into “Nullification Conventions” and, soon enough, once they realize that you can’t really nullify the results of a presidential election — Secessionist Conventions.
Then Trump really does do the ultimate ask the elected members of his violent personality cult — are you going to join my new Trumplandia government?
That is kind of the absolute, absolute worst case scenario.
More likely, all of this bullshit would be used to as part of a greater media narrative for the 2022 mid-terms. They might tell the MAGA base to vote so Trump the “real” president could become Speaker and, as such, be put into the line of secession to cause who knows mischief.
The point is — the moment Cyber Ninjas comes out with their preliminary report, all hell might break loose. Or not. Everything is very much up in the air at this point.
Pretty much anything might happen. The key issue is, could Trump unto himself, be catalyst enough to force a secession crisis if he isn’t “re-instated.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.