A Nation On Edge


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Two things are happening at the same time right now. One, we’re seeing massive in-person voting 20 days before the election. If that keeps up, we might see 30 million people vote before election day.

On the other hand, TrumpBarr will never fucking leave power for any fucking reason.

As such, we’re in for The Big Ugly.

Now, I am well aware that a lot of people think Trump’s too much of a lazy, incompetent moron coward to simply stay in power no matter what. While he is, in fact, all those things, Interior Minister Bill Barr is NOT those things. So, it seems logical to assume that even if Biden somehow wins with a massive popular vote total, Barr is going to lulz that.

TrumpBarr will use the full power of the U.S government to challenge any and every aspect of the election that hasn’t broken their way. This will go to SCOTUS and the result will be 5-4 or 6-3. The end, fuck you, America.

And, yet, at the same time if what everyone expects — Trump leaving office because he has lost in a historic landslide — doesn’t happen because of a dubious SCOTUS decision….well, things may get ugly. Like, Big Ugly, ugly. I say this because of the Mueller Report. Barr, through simple media narrative management was able to keep Trump in power.

As such, it seems logical that Barr will start off trying to do the same thing and grow more radical the more difficult it becomes to do that. This is a very risky game Barr is playing because once you lose the Mandate of Heaven, you should politely leave office.

If it becomes impossible for The New York Times to deny that a fucking coup is taking place, well, then, The Big Ugly has begun. Things are going to grow existential. Given that apparently bad guys always win these days, I can only assume that in the end, America will be under the TrumpBarr jackboot.

We just don’t have it in us to do what is necessary to catch #MoscowMitch’s attention — bring the country to its knees.

It just isn’t going to happen. After all is said and done, TrumpBarr will “not lose” the 2020 election and that will be that. We’ll leave NATO, form an alliance with autocrats around the world and the dystopian will officially be here. The ICE camps will be come death camps and Qanon’s dreams will come true. Maybe they’ll empty the cities and there will be American Killing Fields.

The stakes are really that high.

American Nobody


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Let me be clear from the beginning that I’m a nobody. I’m an anonymous rando. I could literally drop off the face of the earth at this point and my absence wouldn’t be noticed by anyone outside of my immediate family.

And, yet, I often say that if the apocalypse happened, I’d either be the first person to die or the person who brought back civilization. Well, I hate to break it to you, but we’re on the precipice of a fucking political apocalypse. The reason why I say this is TrumpBarr — even in the face of a landslide at the polls — will never, ever, EVER FUCKING LEAVE OFFICE.

So, therein lies the makings of a historic clusterfuck.

I hope I’m wrong. I really do hope I’m wrong. And, really, it’s not like I have any credibility to lose if I am. But there’s a greater-than-zero-sum chance that not only will the United States implode in a matter of months, I’m going to be driven from my home because of my politics.

I’m going to become just another of the thousands of Blue citizens in Red areas that have to flee in the wake of political violence. If that tragically does happen to me, I’m heading north to NYC. I often say if could crash on a couch in NYC in a home with access to the subway system that within six months I’d be a minor celebrity in the city.

Throw me into what would be, essentially, revolutionary NYC, and I’d have a pretty good chance of finding myself in some rather surreal situations for no other reason than I have the skillset of someone who thrives in the chaos of a country on the brink. I’m good at abstract thought. I’m good in a crisis. And I’m good at the strategic thought associated with mapping out scenarios.

Let me be very clear — I’m a man of peace. A man of ideas. But if things have gotten so bad that I’m driven from my home because I’m a libtard, well, my fate my be foisted upon me. You can’t be a hero unless fate gives you the opportunity to be one.

But, again, all that sounds “delusional and stupid.” And it is. And, yet, I also know that about 90% of the people who should take the lead in such a situation don’t because they’re scared of the risk associated with such a dramatic situation or they have too much to lose.

I really hope I can just finish this novel I’m working on. That’s all I want. I have no desire to do anything but that at this point. But I’m not going to sit on my hands if The Big Ugly comes. I’m going to do something, anything to make the lives of my fellow Americans better.

I just want the liberal democracy of my youth back. That’s all I want.

TrumpBarr’s Coming ‘Political 9/11’ Strike


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The biggest historical catastrophes happen when, given the available information, something happens and things don’t work out the way they were expected to. Contrary to “The Guns of August,” the European powers wanted war in 1914 because, for lack of a better phrase, thought it would be “cool.”

So, here we are in October 2020 and TrumpBarr is laying in wait to strike at some point between now and whenever it becomes apparent that Trump may not win outright. (I still think he will because the Russians are going to directly fuck with our election systems, but, lulz.)

Using the full power of the U.S.. Government, TrumpBarr will, essentially, attempt a coup. The more difficult it is for them to simply using media messaging control to steal the election after the fact, the more radical they will become. Their ultimate fall-back is, of course, a 5-4 or 6-3 victory at SCOTUS.

This is where things get tricky.

If, on a political level, Biden wins in a landslide and TrumpBarr STILL try to steal the election, then, well, we got a problem. But, then again, do we? Are people really prepared to risk what’s important to them in the real world to force TrumpBarr out of power?

I honestly don’t think so.

The only thing that would force #MoscowMitch to be Barry Goldwater 1974 would be if a General Strike crashed the American economy to such an extent that out of absolute sheer desperation he felt he was forced to do so. He would have to think the very existence of the Republican Party was at stake to do such a thing. Otherwise, lulz. Those young hack MAGA judges aren’t going to appoint themselves, now are they?

So, it seems to me that America 2021 is going to look identical to Belarus 2021 — at least on a political level. Americans would have to fuck some shit up on a pretty near-revolutionary level for the Republicans not to simply clutch Trump tighter in the face of any prospective crisis.

And I just don’t see that happening.

As such, the bad guys have won. The Republic has fallen. We’re already Putin’s America. I’m going to get either pushed out a window or snatched off the street within 18 months by some ICE goon because of all my ranting online about Mad King Trump I’s tyranny.

Oh well. Fuck those guys.

The Big Ugly: American Balkanization, Canada & Reshaping North America


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I hate it when I accidently slip into giving our dystopian future some sort of all’s well that ends well narrative like some sort of sanguin liberal-progressive Turner Diaries. With the Turner Diaries it was — as I understand it — a far Right fever dream that involved a race war.

With my narrative, it’s The Big Ugly happens but in the end, my liberal-progressive dreams come true because we found a new nation based on the ideals of California.

But that’s really me stroking one out to something that may not happen.

It may be that when The Big Ugly happens, the United States — if it doesn’t become a full-blown autocracy — simply implodes. A form of balkanization happens in the US. And that’s it. There’s no more United States. California successfully leaves the Union and the rest of the Blue States are under the MAGA-Federal jackboot via the Insurrection Act.

And that will be that.

I guess the point of that is The Big Ugly is going to suck should it happen.

Another thing is — if The Big Ugly happens, I just don’t see any way Canada doesn’t get drawn into it. And it won’t be some sort of liberal-progressive circle jerk where Blue States form the United States of Canada with Canada, either. Things may get violent. Canadian worst nightmares about Americans coming after their “resources” may come true.

Or, at least, the entire political map of North American may change in a rather sudden, dramatic fashion. Some sort of force-union between some Blue States and Canada might happen. Or MAGA-USA invades Canada because it meddles in TrumpBarr’s attempts to turn us into Putin’s America.

What I’m saying is — the next four months could really, really fucking suck. A lot of people may die tragic, needless deaths simply because fucking Trump is a demagogic moron who is afraid to go to jail.

I just want a liberal democracy. That should not be so controversal.

‘The Big Ugly’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This fall and winter are going to be ugly. Big Ugly. We have a spectrum ahead of us from Trump “winning” outright and turning us into a very poorly run autocracy to an outright implosion.

I say this because two things seem to be true — Biden for the time being is winning on a political level and autocrats never lose. So either TrumpBarr pull a rabbit out of a hat or the Russians hack directly into our election systems or whatever. Trump isn’t going to lose despite it seeming he should on a political level.

Either we fight back as Americans or we don’t. I have come to believe because of one crucial demographic — conservatives who aren’t MAGA — we’re going to lulz this. If we can’t get conserves who aren’t MAGA (but vote MAGA) to at least tacitly support any mass reaction against TrumpBarr’s upcoming coup, then, well, we’re doomed.

There might be some violence here and there like in 2016, but not the massive, rolling protests necessary to catch the attention of #MoscowMitch and others. All that is going to happen will be TrumpBarr will use the Insurrection Act to “deal” with what happened.

Please note, I’m not advocating any sort of revolution or civil war. I’m just saying autocrats never lose and we have to prepare ourselves for a new America where American Little Green Men push people out of windows and snatch people — like me! — off the street.

The bad guys are going to win. They’re going to win either by simple post-election message management or an outright coup. Something pretty significant has got to happen for me not to think this. Something really big.

Otherwise, get ready for The Big Ugly.

It’s going to be….ugly.