The US had to come to this point. We couldnāt go on as we were, even under Democratic presidents. For 40 years, a narrow economic elite has been siphoning off ever more wealth and power.
Over the last 40 years, starting with Ronald Reagan, the US went off the rails: deregulation, privatization, free trade, wild gambling by Wall Street, union-busting, monopolization, record levels of inequality, stagnant wages for most, staggering wealth for a few, big money taking over our politics.
Americaās so-called āleadership classā is a sham. Most of them do not care a whit for the rest of the US. They are out for themselves.
The āfucking nightmareā is not over by any stretch. Itās likely to get worse in 2026 as Trump and his sycophants, and many of Americaās āleadersā, realize 2026 may be their last unrestrained year to inflict damage and siphon off the spoils.
The Trump administration has effectively destroyed U.S. credibility as a benevolent force in the world, and has shown itself as an unreliable partner in world affairs at best, and well-armed and potentially hostile at worst. Unfortunately, the far-right Trump administration has effective control over all three branches of government, and there are few to no checks on the administrationās power. Fair elections seem unlikely. It will take extreme duress to push the public to what will have to effectively be a revolution to oust those entrenching themselves in power. (Un)Fortunately the upcoming depression, which Iām calling āThe Greatest Depressionā, may provide that push.
Honestly, even before Trump came along US credibility was on shaky ground. We hadnāt forgotten Iraq, for example. It was just good enough for the most part - you could make a deal with the US and usually expect them to mostly adhere to it as long as it was in their interests.
Now you canāt even expect them to do whatās in their own best interests any more, and the concept of them āsticking to a dealā a moment longer than the point where breaking it gets them an atom of short-term benefit is gone.