Nick Mortensen

Paxton said Fascism cannot entrench itself until the people have tried socialism as their last hope & it’s proven to be every bit as - if not more - crooked as the previous government.

I always look at the Dem Socialist candidates through that lense. I’m susceptible to that exact line of talk.

Would you put it past this country’s attackers to recruit a bunch of inadequate candidates to spew out populist platitudes that really appeal to the tastes of those that they’ve psychographically targeted as ‘high egalitarian’?

That’d explain the Justice Dems, right?

Who now will continue in the ways of Nick Perry for the Packers?

Have you ever tried to do the mental exercise about what’d have to happen to get you on board for Platner? Like focusing on ‘Mills is 80 and an R would beat her by pointing it out. ‘?

I’ve got a strict ‘No possible Nazis’ policy that I accept might mean I have to pass on compelling candidates.

Minnesota is Target to Wisconsin’s Walmart in every way except one and we’ve got Ziggy Wylf to thank for that.

I’m in Green Bay and all the same monsters that had Trump signs in their yards have the same campaign signs for the local MAGA Enthusiast city council candidates thanks to some apple cheeked child goon TPUSA organizer’s outsized influence with the County Republicans.

Future is dark.

Spare a thought for Anderson Cooper - who quit every journalist’s dream job at 60 Minutes because CBS got bought out by oligarchs to go back to his job at CNN only to have the same shitheels buy that channel.

Truly lucky to have been able to work out a deal with this guy to do illustrations for the Resist Autocratic Despair book and the Autocratic Despair podcast

I just want young people to experience putting their unbridled and unmerited enthusiasm into something that is aggressively decent. I worry that the Dem Socialist candidates they are enthusiastic about are going to let them down and cynicism will take over.

The old “Cult of Action for Action’s Sake” aspect of Fascism that Umberto Eco listed and Ron Johnson is totally horny for it.

The Tallywhacker is poised to become a cultural phenomenon.

He’s the antidote to that palpable feeling of Autocratic Despair that most of this country is feeling right now.

Some will see him as pure hype, but many will recognize him as hope personified.

He’s the right man at the right time.

My guy stacks policy wins the way other reps stack excuses.

Education? Stacked.

Mental health funding? Stacked.

Bipartisan credibility? Stacked.

Jawline? Believe it or not, also stacked.

The Tallywhacker is running a stack so tall it’s structurally unsound and yet it does not fall.

Why is it always Mommy’s basement? Is Dad gone? Is he making her pay the mortgage?

What’s the basement like in this scenario? Concrete & support beams? An egress window?

It’s a lousy way to try and “son” somebody.

When I think about Platner, I think about how Paxton wrote that the people have to turn their hopes over to Socialism and it has to be proven to be as corrupt or incompetent as the system it replaces in order for Fascism to entrench itself.

USA is committing war crimes to kill little girls. You and I are to blame for this. We allowed this to happen.

We continue to allow it to happen.

If that dude is Bruce Bruce, then who is Earthquake?

Resist Autocratic Despair sticker in the wild! @tanktastrophe.bsky.social is sticker-mogging the greater Chicagoland area.

Bunch of meetings with editors and producers for the podcast launching in May today. May have the beginnings of a movement on our hands.

Man hasn’t even peaked. Current rizz stack is in beta. He’s going to unlock federal rizz. He’s going to unlock national media rizz.

Every time you think the stack is complete, he adds another layer.

The Tallywhacker isn’t at his final form and honestly the rest of politics should be terrified.

My guy stacks policy wins the way other reps stack excuses.

Education? Stacked.

Mental health funding? Stacked.

Bipartisan credibility? Stacked.

Jawline? Believe it or not, also stacked.

The Tallywhacker is running a stack so tall it’s structurally unsound and yet it does not fall.

Lotta great memories of the summer I followed Rigged by Rhinos around in a VW bus, selling hemp necklaces in the parking lots. This is back when they were the openers for Rusted Root & they hadn’t sold out.

Planning to put my hopes & dreams into Talarico as a “right guy at the right time” 2028 presidential candidate.

Combatting Autocratic Despair through magical thinking is just fine. The “Tallywhacker” is an avatar for our hope for a better future.

Won’t you join me?

Sincerity-maxxing.

“Talarico stands up and the room recalibrates. Unspoken rizz. Ambient rizz. The Tallywhacker is emitting rizz passively like a policy space heater.”

#TalaricoMaxxing

“The Tallywhacker posted a thread about teacher retention and I saved it. I bookmarked a state legislator’s policy thread. My man has me saving screenshots of appropriations language. This is what he’s done to me. I’m down catastrophic for good governance.”

#TalaricoMaxxing

“My boy the Tallywhacker just filed three education bills in one session. Three. That’s a hat trick of democracy. My man woke up and chose legislation”

Creating an old school hash tag so I can search these: #TalaricoMaxxing

Is Talarico even worthy of being an avatar of our defiant hope for a better future?

What do we know about him?

Why isn’t he married?

How does he throw a baseball? A football?

Has anyone seen James Talarico throw anything?

Are we resisting Autocratic Despair by demonstrating we STILL have the audacity to allow ourselves to hope for a better future & trustworthy leadership?

“Talarico-shaped hole” is a heady comedic premise that speaks to the larger cultural aspect of “Autocratic Despair”. Shall we engage in blind hope projected onto one human man? Are we risking further demoralization if we put our hopes & dreams in Talarico and it doesn’t work out the way we hope?

I think this country is bound to find out we have both an individual and a collective Talarico-shaped hole & I’m looking to position myself to cash in as we wake up to that truth.