Notes for the Kakistocracy, 2025-02-13: Managing all the bad news, LGBTQ survival guide, Rick Wilson on the constitutional crisis, and the secret Project 2025 training video

How can I keep up with all the bad news? by Heather Schieder

Part of living in a kakistocracy is dealing with all the bad news, especially when the kakistocrats’ strategy is “flood the zone,” a strategy provided to them by none other than permanently disheveled former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who recently pleaded guilty for his role in a “give me money, and I’ll build the wall” grift, where he collected the money without any intent of delivering on that wall.

(In fact, the phrase Bannon used was “flood the zone with shit.”)

The idea behind the “flood the zone” strategy is to have so many outrageous things going on that people become confused and numbed by the spectacle and misinformation that it’s hard to tell truth from half-truth from outright falsehoods and people just give up on the idea that truth is knowable. It’s basically manufactured nihilism.

So how does one deal with that kind of thing? Artist Heather Schieder has a good answer, which she posted on her Instagram, and I’m reposting here.

Surviving Trump: A guide for Trans and LGBTQ youth

For my LGBTQ friends out there — here’s a guide on surviving the kakistocracy, courtesy of Angry Gay Grandpa. You don’t have to be any of the letters L, G, B, T, or Q to benefit from Angry Gay Grandpa’s advice, but you should be ready to step up for them in these times.

This is NOT Conservatism. This is a CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS! by Rick Wilson

Tampa’s very own Rick Wilson, political consultant, former Republican, author of Everything Trump Touches Dies, and one of the people behind that video of Trump “motorboating” Rudy Giuliani in drag, reminds us that we are currently in a constitutional crisis.

And in case you’ve never seen that video of Trump “motorboating” Rudy Giuliani in drag, here it is for your viewing pleasure:

Project 2025 Private Training Video: Appointee Survival Guide

ProPublica and Documented got their hands on over 14 hours videos from Project 2025’s Presidential Administration Academy, whose purpose was to train the next conservative administration’s political appointees “to be ready on day one.” This video is about an hour’s worth of the material, and it’s worth watching to see what they’re being taught.

This is how you devise countermeasures, people!