I dunno, I'm beginning to think a strong centralized government was a mistake... We've been lucky for too long and apparently we shouldn't have relied on the center right holding.
Yes, it was too strong. Especially too much power was delegated by Congress to the President. A rebuilt federal government should be weaker, especially the executive branch. I have lots of ideas....
Perhaps a face-off between Pritzker's P.D. and Illinois National Guard and Trump's U.S. military will go down in history books as the Lexington and Concord of our century.
ISTM that the decline has been going on for a long time. The current administration may be accelerating it, but it seems like declining institutional competence and trustworthiness (in government, but also media and academia) has been happening for most of my adult lifetime. We're like a homeless guy who has a brand new expensive coat--sometimes, bits of third-world peek out from behind the shiny high-tech democracy facade.
I'm older than the median SB commenter, and this seems right to me. I remember the shock of the 1994 election cycle!
I often wonder these days whether the postwar mid- (20th) century US was an anomaly and we've been struggling to figure out what's next ever since it started to recede.
The DIA hasn’t been functioning well for some time, so leadership change is due.
But there’s a broader point, which is that crab-pot mentality people, DEI hires, and anyone who can’t pass a character test or a reality test has to go.
The USA cannot make good decisions while there are people in decision making positions who aren’t able to make good decisions and don’t share American values.
It is both true that Trump is a giant dumpster fire and also that the country has been through worse. There is no binary of empire versus dead country, there are just seasons. This too shall pass.
I know how we ended up with Biden. That a soon to be 80 year old with multiple obvious health problems has one foot on the proverbial banana peal is an Alex Jones like conspiracy theory.
I keep seeing stuff that suggests Trump is sick or something. OTOH he apparently held a 3 hour long cabinet meeting where his minions kissed the orange sphincter. So what is the deal?
Even just age is enough. Much like with Biden, he couldn't just be an old man with all that comes with being an old man. There needed to be a diagnosis. As if being 82, in and of itself, wasn't totally disqualifying for being POTUS.
>As if being 82, in and of itself, wasn't totally disqualifying for being POTUS.
Yes, as someone that felt that Biden was already disqualified the first time and Trump was disqualified even before he came down the escalator I agree with you that being 82 is ultra-disqualifying.
Empire or not, we at least need a functioning CDC and absolutely should find a way to continue mRNA platform research using state funds if possible sequestered from Federal control.
MAGA maybe willing to die for the sake of not taking vaccines but I am not and I don't mind paying more taxes if it helps stand up a state-based CDC, a mini-FDA and mRNA center.
California has a department of public health (CDPH) and it has both the California Infectious Disease (CID) center and the Food and Drug Branch (FDB) as parts of it. So it has some CDC and FDA like capabilities. I suppose these will have to expand their remit and enter into agreements with foreign countries for monitoring worldwide risks and manage the process for development and approvals of vaccines within CA.
Well, we've got... let me check the clock... another three and a half years of Trump to go. So, I'm gonna say we're closer to the beginning -- at least, of this particular insanity.
More generally, I don't see a sudden collapse in the near future. Our country can stagger onward for a long time coasting on past accomplishments, and we still have quite a bit of innovation going on despite Trump's war on academic research.
Militarily, we might suffer a humiliating defeat abroad (e.g., China invading Taiwan), but there is no plausible way for anyone to conquer our homeland short of a full-scale nuclear exchange. I don't see Trump, Putin, or Xi starting one of those.
We could have a civil war, of course. That seems the most likely path to near-term collapse. But I don't think we're at that point yet.
To me, it feels like Rome after the last of the "five good Emperors." The Empire still had a couple hundred years left at that point (or a thousand-plus if you count Byzantium), but the peak was over and the trend from then on was inexorably down.
No, the US isn't doomed nor is it in the process of collapse. It's just hobbled due to an idiot president who doesn't know what he's doing. The US is far and away still the wealthiest country in the world with the most powerful military and there's little to suggest that will change 4 years from now despite a history of bad presidents making sometimes catastrophically bad decisions.
Collapse? Pish posh! Why, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), just this very week held it's big summer Fun Fest For the Faithful. It was a noble display of the health of our democracy! Behold:
"Monday's general session saw [DNC Chair Ken] Martin and other Democrats take a more aggressive and provocative tack in responding to Trump's policies, including the DNC chair calling the president an 'orange bastard' before introducing Oakland, Calif., Mayor Barbara Lee."
It really does feel we're in the opening days of Erdogan/Orban-ization. That's a much more plausible outcome than the whole "1933"/"THIS IS FASCISM" rhetoric that's going around.
But I know that to many other people it feels different. To them, Trump is visible and doing things while Biden was low-energy and decrepit-looking. All the fired federal workers complaining must be the disloyal deep staters who are responsible for all the bad things in foreign policy and public health in the past few years. It's very easy to be in a media bubble where all the arrested immigrants are illegal gangbangers and all the Democrat-controlled areas of the country are chaotic lawlessness.
Despite all the dire warnings from the pundits, nothing terrible has visibly happened yet to the economy. The stock market is at an all-time high and gas prices are down. Rising prices from tariffs are just a sign that Trump cares about Americans more than foreigners; what's a little sacrifice to help your fellow Americans?
I don't know what the answer is to convince those people of how bad much of this is in the short and especially longer run. But I don't think that counting on an economic downturn to change their views is going to work.
This seems right to me, which makes me want to learn a bit more about Erdogan and Orban. Did they......also do a bad job, on top of the backsliding? Did they get the trains running on time?
From what I can tell, trains run but not on time. Periodic purges of government employees, attacks on independent institutions (media, academia, etc.), okay but mediocre economic growth, petty corruption/nepotism everywhere, lots of weird rhetoric, etc. Also a lot of shenanigans around election time.
Another reason why these firings and purges are terrible is that it touches of a cycle that will be very hard to break. If a Democrat wins the presidency in 2028, they either need to do their own purges or they’re left with the Trump appointed whackos. Two terrible options.
There's a certain point where if the people in a democracy are actually just depraved and stupid enough, the country should fail, they'll deserve it.
So there's a floor on what kind of political strategies you should be willing to consider. If your strategies assume a majority of voters are irredeemable there's not really any point in using them. You have to be a little optimistic with your cynicism.
On a side note, seems like the "you shall not pass" message of The Great Khan of Illinois has worked better to scare off Trump from sending troops to Chicago than more collaborative measures other liberal-coded parts of society have taken.
Q: Would you consider deploying the national guard to Milwaukee?
Vance: "We want to be invited into Milwaukee...We would love to come and help the people of Milwaukee. But the President of the United States has said he wants to be asked."
Things will not just snap back to "normal." The federal government will have to be rebuilt.
I dunno, I'm beginning to think a strong centralized government was a mistake... We've been lucky for too long and apparently we shouldn't have relied on the center right holding.
Yes, it was too strong. Especially too much power was delegated by Congress to the President. A rebuilt federal government should be weaker, especially the executive branch. I have lots of ideas....
Perhaps a face-off between Pritzker's P.D. and Illinois National Guard and Trump's U.S. military will go down in history books as the Lexington and Concord of our century.
ISTM that the decline has been going on for a long time. The current administration may be accelerating it, but it seems like declining institutional competence and trustworthiness (in government, but also media and academia) has been happening for most of my adult lifetime. We're like a homeless guy who has a brand new expensive coat--sometimes, bits of third-world peek out from behind the shiny high-tech democracy facade.
I'm older than the median SB commenter, and this seems right to me. I remember the shock of the 1994 election cycle!
I often wonder these days whether the postwar mid- (20th) century US was an anomaly and we've been struggling to figure out what's next ever since it started to recede.
The DIA hasn’t been functioning well for some time, so leadership change is due.
But there’s a broader point, which is that crab-pot mentality people, DEI hires, and anyone who can’t pass a character test or a reality test has to go.
The USA cannot make good decisions while there are people in decision making positions who aren’t able to make good decisions and don’t share American values.
Tainted expertise is corrosive.
It is both true that Trump is a giant dumpster fire and also that the country has been through worse. There is no binary of empire versus dead country, there are just seasons. This too shall pass.
I know how we ended up with Biden. That a soon to be 80 year old with multiple obvious health problems has one foot on the proverbial banana peal is an Alex Jones like conspiracy theory.
Is it a daddy thing?
I keep seeing stuff that suggests Trump is sick or something. OTOH he apparently held a 3 hour long cabinet meeting where his minions kissed the orange sphincter. So what is the deal?
Even your phrasing "is sick." He's old - how do you think that works?
Wait, I am not getting something. Trump is almost 80 but some people are saying he has swollen ankles and bruising etc. That's not just age.
Even just age is enough. Much like with Biden, he couldn't just be an old man with all that comes with being an old man. There needed to be a diagnosis. As if being 82, in and of itself, wasn't totally disqualifying for being POTUS.
>As if being 82, in and of itself, wasn't totally disqualifying for being POTUS.
Yes, as someone that felt that Biden was already disqualified the first time and Trump was disqualified even before he came down the escalator I agree with you that being 82 is ultra-disqualifying.
Empire or not, we at least need a functioning CDC and absolutely should find a way to continue mRNA platform research using state funds if possible sequestered from Federal control.
MAGA maybe willing to die for the sake of not taking vaccines but I am not and I don't mind paying more taxes if it helps stand up a state-based CDC, a mini-FDA and mRNA center.
Can't that body in California that tells us that things cause cancer expand their remit?
California has a department of public health (CDPH) and it has both the California Infectious Disease (CID) center and the Food and Drug Branch (FDB) as parts of it. So it has some CDC and FDA like capabilities. I suppose these will have to expand their remit and enter into agreements with foreign countries for monitoring worldwide risks and manage the process for development and approvals of vaccines within CA.
A follow up from yesterday's late thread: https://substack.com/@halinabennet/note/c-150190840
"I have since set Amanda up with a very nice, emotionally available man."
I would like to be set up with a very nice, emotionally available man. Halina, do you do referrals? 😂
How are things in Britain today? Sneak preview.
Well, we've got... let me check the clock... another three and a half years of Trump to go. So, I'm gonna say we're closer to the beginning -- at least, of this particular insanity.
More generally, I don't see a sudden collapse in the near future. Our country can stagger onward for a long time coasting on past accomplishments, and we still have quite a bit of innovation going on despite Trump's war on academic research.
Militarily, we might suffer a humiliating defeat abroad (e.g., China invading Taiwan), but there is no plausible way for anyone to conquer our homeland short of a full-scale nuclear exchange. I don't see Trump, Putin, or Xi starting one of those.
We could have a civil war, of course. That seems the most likely path to near-term collapse. But I don't think we're at that point yet.
To me, it feels like Rome after the last of the "five good Emperors." The Empire still had a couple hundred years left at that point (or a thousand-plus if you count Byzantium), but the peak was over and the trend from then on was inexorably down.
No, the US isn't doomed nor is it in the process of collapse. It's just hobbled due to an idiot president who doesn't know what he's doing. The US is far and away still the wealthiest country in the world with the most powerful military and there's little to suggest that will change 4 years from now despite a history of bad presidents making sometimes catastrophically bad decisions.
Collapse? Pish posh! Why, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), just this very week held it's big summer Fun Fest For the Faithful. It was a noble display of the health of our democracy! Behold:
"Monday's general session saw [DNC Chair Ken] Martin and other Democrats take a more aggressive and provocative tack in responding to Trump's policies, including the DNC chair calling the president an 'orange bastard' before introducing Oakland, Calif., Mayor Barbara Lee."
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/26/nx-s1-5515631/dnc-democrats-ken-martin-trump-facism
It really does feel we're in the opening days of Erdogan/Orban-ization. That's a much more plausible outcome than the whole "1933"/"THIS IS FASCISM" rhetoric that's going around.
But I know that to many other people it feels different. To them, Trump is visible and doing things while Biden was low-energy and decrepit-looking. All the fired federal workers complaining must be the disloyal deep staters who are responsible for all the bad things in foreign policy and public health in the past few years. It's very easy to be in a media bubble where all the arrested immigrants are illegal gangbangers and all the Democrat-controlled areas of the country are chaotic lawlessness.
Despite all the dire warnings from the pundits, nothing terrible has visibly happened yet to the economy. The stock market is at an all-time high and gas prices are down. Rising prices from tariffs are just a sign that Trump cares about Americans more than foreigners; what's a little sacrifice to help your fellow Americans?
I don't know what the answer is to convince those people of how bad much of this is in the short and especially longer run. But I don't think that counting on an economic downturn to change their views is going to work.
This seems right to me, which makes me want to learn a bit more about Erdogan and Orban. Did they......also do a bad job, on top of the backsliding? Did they get the trains running on time?
From what I can tell, trains run but not on time. Periodic purges of government employees, attacks on independent institutions (media, academia, etc.), okay but mediocre economic growth, petty corruption/nepotism everywhere, lots of weird rhetoric, etc. Also a lot of shenanigans around election time.
There is a lot of chaos going on in the federal government, and that will inevitably show up in terms of worse functioning.
Another reason why these firings and purges are terrible is that it touches of a cycle that will be very hard to break. If a Democrat wins the presidency in 2028, they either need to do their own purges or they’re left with the Trump appointed whackos. Two terrible options.
There's a certain point where if the people in a democracy are actually just depraved and stupid enough, the country should fail, they'll deserve it.
So there's a floor on what kind of political strategies you should be willing to consider. If your strategies assume a majority of voters are irredeemable there's not really any point in using them. You have to be a little optimistic with your cynicism.
Exactly. The world is a big place and maybe it's our time. I can live with that.
On a side note, seems like the "you shall not pass" message of The Great Khan of Illinois has worked better to scare off Trump from sending troops to Chicago than more collaborative measures other liberal-coded parts of society have taken.
https://x.com/BulwarkOnline/status/1961144922926424179
Q: Would you consider deploying the national guard to Milwaukee?
Vance: "We want to be invited into Milwaukee...We would love to come and help the people of Milwaukee. But the President of the United States has said he wants to be asked."