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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 19, 2022

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This dropped a few hours ago:

Jan. 6 Committee Refers Former President Trump for Criminal Prosecution https://archive.vn/TDlGb#selection-289.14-297.189

The committee accused the former president of inciting insurrection and other federal crimes as it referred him to the Justice Department, which does not have to act on its recommendations.

Jan 6 committee refers Donald Trump for criminal prosecution on four counts – as it happened

The four counts of the Trump referrals are for “influencing or impeding an official proceeding of the US government”, “conspiring to defraud the US”, “unlawfully, knowingly or willingly making false statements to the federal government”, and “assisting or engaging in insurrection against the United States”.

So, suppose the Biden Justice Department prosecutes. And the case is tried in DC, where the chances of getting a jury of 12 Democratic partisans is "better than average". And so they convict him on all counts. I'd say chances of a real insurrection before 2024 rise to over 10% in that case, and prospect of convincing any Trump supporter that the government (present or future) is legitimate drops to very close to zero. I don't think the republic can survive it without violence, whether immediate or in a somewhat longer term. Even a 2024 Desantis win wouldn't calm things down, unless Desantis took clear retribution (and then you have to worry about the OTHER half of the country).

Criminal prosecution of Trump on obviously political charges is entirely insane.

Don't Trump supporters already think the government is illegitimate? They just can't do much about it - the government has more than enough power to infiltrate and subvert nascent movements. The Jan 6 'coup attempt' didn't even feature a single shot fired from the 'insurrectionists'. This coming from the people who own all the guns and are obsessed with guns. I still don't understand how anyone thinks it was any kind of threat - or how the official narrative explains an unarmed mob getting inside a secured building without assistance from the inside. Are we to believe you can just break down the doors of a building designed to resist terror attacks?

The most interesting thing about the Turner Diaries in my view was that the rebels had this incredibly effective lie-detection drug that they could use to screen out 100% of govt infiltration attempts. Even so they had only a limited time to act, soon there would be this computerized ID card system that would enable them to identify and check everyone's location in real time. This would squelch their terror attacks and attrit down their ranks. But the 1970s idea of ultimate state control is quaint now, they have AI assisted facial recognition from CCTV, phone-tracking, the internet and so on.

My conclusion is that the structural conditions for successful insurrection or revolution in the US are very very poor. However, I agree that it will still end in violence, once the US starts losing wars and its privileged position in the world economy.

Are you asking us to playbook out an insurrection to argue against you? Understand that I am hesitant to go beyond the following: The infrastructure that allows for domestic surveillance has a physical location just like the people.