From Rome to the Ottomans, Nazi Germany to Britain’s fall from grace—history shows what happens when ego, greed, and fear replace leadership, truth, and service.
Let’s hope the Fall of the American Empire doesn’t take a millennium to bear fruit, like the Renaissance from the Roman Empire.
It shouldn’t if the rest of the world survives — we are the seeds of a new phase of global freedom, with its tolerance supported by the ability to project force in defense of itself.
Denaturalization doesn’t show up until page three of the four-page memo, but what comes beforehand is enlightening. It starts off with Trump’s decision to use “our longstanding civil-rights laws…to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.” This is Trump’s perverse effort to use our civil rights laws to go after people, businesses, universities, and so on who have fought to make this country more diverse and inclusive. It is the culture wars brought to life in the bureaucratize of a memo titled, “Civil Division Enforcement Priorities.” And for good measure, Shumate adds that Attorney General Bondi wants to “align” the Department’s priorities with Trump’s, before informing his employees that “the Civil Division will use all available resources to pursue affirmative litigation combatting unlawful discriminatory practices in the private sector. --------------------- Prior to 1933, Jews in Germany were full citizens, protected by the Constitution of 1919. That changed after Hitler came to power. A law passed in 1933 authorized the denaturalization of East European Jews who had become German citizens since World War I and Jews who had already fled from Germany. The laws were vague. Instead of naming Jews, they permitted denaturalization of people who were "undesirable," or were outside of Germany if their "conduct violated the duty of loyalty toward Germany or harmed German interests." The Nazis seized assets from people they denaturalized. Their spouses and children could be included. There was no due process, no judicial or administrative proceedings of any kind available to challenge actions taken against these people. The Library of Congress and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum maintain documentary evidence of what happened.
I never thought I would see this happen so quickly although I knew it would during Drump’s first term. I had german elderly friends who saw it coming back then and they were scared. « You will see » they told me. Well , I am seeing it all come to pass and I too believe that destruction often brings rejuvenation, like a forest burning.
True… more empires collapse from within than without.
For additional context, though, I’ll argue that we didn’t just “fall”. We were, in no small part, pushed.
Trump was installed by a variety of players to oversee the dismantling of the US “empire”. To that end, one can easily track the dissolution of American “Soft” Power via numerous mechanisms, the abandonment of traditional military relationships, the intentional destruction of valuable trade relations, the wholesale rape of social safety nets, etc.
Trump was essentially elected with about 10% of the voter base that were “true believers”, supplemented by about another 30% who understand neither Public Health nor Economics and had not felt served by the Status Quo as represented by the Biden Administration.
Non-domestic players responsible for installing Trump? The Saudis are at the top of the list. They early on established themselves as the primary financiers of Trump Family Inc. They purchased Twitter for Musk to front. They envision themselves as the future “pole” of the GCC, tech and Crypto lords, Space Explorers (Bill Nelson covered up a lot of Musk’s issues due to a flood of Saudi money… Oh, and that Biden guy had the Petrodollar importance described to him on more than one occasion).
Obviously, we can’t turn a blind eye to Russia. The issues there are far better described in about a million other posts, so I’ll forego them here. Fun fact: “Project 2025 was closely modeled after “Operation Danube”, a product of the “Danube Institute”, an Orban project that is essentially a collection of Putin operatives expert in policy fuckery.
Combine all the foreign state actors with Capital not aligned to any state, technofascists, non-techno fascists, the Crypto scammers, the international banking community…
and you have a substantial force that desires the US government br simply a vessel to accommodate their needs rather than any sort of organization to serve its citizenry.
So, yeah… “we” will never again in my lifetime exist as the country I knew growing up in the 1960s and 70s (not that we were perfect by any means, just not as horrendous as we are currently).
Might get better. My wife was in Hungary almost exactly a year ago today. After listening to the horror stories from people in Budapest, she asked why they didn’t just leave?
One ancient Tour Guide answered in a very matter of fact way…
“I’ve seen all sorts of terrible things happen in Hungary since I was a child. Our current situation is unsustainable. Here things move very, very slowly until they don’t…and then they move very, very quickly.”
Cough. Ancient historian speaking here (yes, in both senses of the word). Rome did not fall when Nero, Domitian, or Commodus were ousted by military coups. All those men fit the description of the self-glorifying megalomaniac who squanders the treasury on spectacle and self-promotion, but some of their successors -- Vespasian, Titus, Nerva, Trajan, etc., were relatively good rulers. What brought down Rome was what ends most empires -- it was just too big to control anymore. Trajan, who had succeeded in adding a lot of territory, pushed it too far in Parthia (that's Iraq to you and me). His successor, Hadrian, had the good sense to give up on expansion, which let the empire survive a century or so longer before falling completely into chaos.
The USA'S role as world hegemony is definitely over. The USA as a federal system might also be over. Empires fracture and the US is mo different. Several smaller republics, composed of Blue states, might emerge from this collapse...perhaps not immediately, but eventually. It's hard to imagine any Democratic party fixing all the damage done to its institutions...but especially to the belief and trust citizens had in the ability the federal government to manage the commonwealth. The rot is too deep and pervasive.
In terms of the big picture, you are 100% percent correct, however let’s not dismiss a critical point here.
All of your examples have one other thing in common: an incredibly high body count of innocent people killed as these empires fell. Multiple millions of people slaughtered as these empires crashed down. 2 of your examples brought world wars, and who knows how many were slaughtered as Rome fell.
This isn’t as easy as saying “Don’t worry, this too will fall.” The cost is always paid in corpses.
"What starts as a belief in 'making your country great again’ turns into you getting arrested and deported to work camps, in dying regimes, afraid of the very people they used to consolidate the power of murderous regimes." First the came for the socialists, but I was not a socialist. ~ Pastor Niemoller.
I have been thinking that the rise in authoritarianism worldwide is actually an extinction burst. For the country, and the world around, I hope I’m right.
it’s not the empire that’s gonna die. it’s the empire’s captives. the vile thugs will still be alive, and every good person who used to live in the usa will be dead. we need you help not your think-pieces.
Trump's will use his now vast and richly funded secret police to create a pretext to try to shut down the midterm elections. That's why they are not worried about the Murder Bill they just passed. They don't plan on letting the people pass judgement on it. Hard to see how all of this gets solved peacefully. That seems like a pipe dream at this stage.
Let’s hope the Fall of the American Empire doesn’t take a millennium to bear fruit, like the Renaissance from the Roman Empire.
It shouldn’t if the rest of the world survives — we are the seeds of a new phase of global freedom, with its tolerance supported by the ability to project force in defense of itself.
From the beginning of TIME!
Denaturalization doesn’t show up until page three of the four-page memo, but what comes beforehand is enlightening. It starts off with Trump’s decision to use “our longstanding civil-rights laws…to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.” This is Trump’s perverse effort to use our civil rights laws to go after people, businesses, universities, and so on who have fought to make this country more diverse and inclusive. It is the culture wars brought to life in the bureaucratize of a memo titled, “Civil Division Enforcement Priorities.” And for good measure, Shumate adds that Attorney General Bondi wants to “align” the Department’s priorities with Trump’s, before informing his employees that “the Civil Division will use all available resources to pursue affirmative litigation combatting unlawful discriminatory practices in the private sector. --------------------- Prior to 1933, Jews in Germany were full citizens, protected by the Constitution of 1919. That changed after Hitler came to power. A law passed in 1933 authorized the denaturalization of East European Jews who had become German citizens since World War I and Jews who had already fled from Germany. The laws were vague. Instead of naming Jews, they permitted denaturalization of people who were "undesirable," or were outside of Germany if their "conduct violated the duty of loyalty toward Germany or harmed German interests." The Nazis seized assets from people they denaturalized. Their spouses and children could be included. There was no due process, no judicial or administrative proceedings of any kind available to challenge actions taken against these people. The Library of Congress and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum maintain documentary evidence of what happened.
I never thought I would see this happen so quickly although I knew it would during Drump’s first term. I had german elderly friends who saw it coming back then and they were scared. « You will see » they told me. Well , I am seeing it all come to pass and I too believe that destruction often brings rejuvenation, like a forest burning.
How can Americans learn from history when we stop teaching it?
This is all very nauseating except for the coming fall of MAGA which can’t happen soon enough!
Fair enough.
True… more empires collapse from within than without.
For additional context, though, I’ll argue that we didn’t just “fall”. We were, in no small part, pushed.
Trump was installed by a variety of players to oversee the dismantling of the US “empire”. To that end, one can easily track the dissolution of American “Soft” Power via numerous mechanisms, the abandonment of traditional military relationships, the intentional destruction of valuable trade relations, the wholesale rape of social safety nets, etc.
Trump was essentially elected with about 10% of the voter base that were “true believers”, supplemented by about another 30% who understand neither Public Health nor Economics and had not felt served by the Status Quo as represented by the Biden Administration.
Non-domestic players responsible for installing Trump? The Saudis are at the top of the list. They early on established themselves as the primary financiers of Trump Family Inc. They purchased Twitter for Musk to front. They envision themselves as the future “pole” of the GCC, tech and Crypto lords, Space Explorers (Bill Nelson covered up a lot of Musk’s issues due to a flood of Saudi money… Oh, and that Biden guy had the Petrodollar importance described to him on more than one occasion).
Obviously, we can’t turn a blind eye to Russia. The issues there are far better described in about a million other posts, so I’ll forego them here. Fun fact: “Project 2025 was closely modeled after “Operation Danube”, a product of the “Danube Institute”, an Orban project that is essentially a collection of Putin operatives expert in policy fuckery.
Combine all the foreign state actors with Capital not aligned to any state, technofascists, non-techno fascists, the Crypto scammers, the international banking community…
and you have a substantial force that desires the US government br simply a vessel to accommodate their needs rather than any sort of organization to serve its citizenry.
So, yeah… “we” will never again in my lifetime exist as the country I knew growing up in the 1960s and 70s (not that we were perfect by any means, just not as horrendous as we are currently).
Might get better. My wife was in Hungary almost exactly a year ago today. After listening to the horror stories from people in Budapest, she asked why they didn’t just leave?
One ancient Tour Guide answered in a very matter of fact way…
“I’ve seen all sorts of terrible things happen in Hungary since I was a child. Our current situation is unsustainable. Here things move very, very slowly until they don’t…and then they move very, very quickly.”
He added…
“Very, very quickly is coming.”
Best to all.
Please do not clean Trump up in the illustrations you use. Trump needs to be shown in his current, decrepit condition
Cough. Ancient historian speaking here (yes, in both senses of the word). Rome did not fall when Nero, Domitian, or Commodus were ousted by military coups. All those men fit the description of the self-glorifying megalomaniac who squanders the treasury on spectacle and self-promotion, but some of their successors -- Vespasian, Titus, Nerva, Trajan, etc., were relatively good rulers. What brought down Rome was what ends most empires -- it was just too big to control anymore. Trajan, who had succeeded in adding a lot of territory, pushed it too far in Parthia (that's Iraq to you and me). His successor, Hadrian, had the good sense to give up on expansion, which let the empire survive a century or so longer before falling completely into chaos.
The USA'S role as world hegemony is definitely over. The USA as a federal system might also be over. Empires fracture and the US is mo different. Several smaller republics, composed of Blue states, might emerge from this collapse...perhaps not immediately, but eventually. It's hard to imagine any Democratic party fixing all the damage done to its institutions...but especially to the belief and trust citizens had in the ability the federal government to manage the commonwealth. The rot is too deep and pervasive.
In terms of the big picture, you are 100% percent correct, however let’s not dismiss a critical point here.
All of your examples have one other thing in common: an incredibly high body count of innocent people killed as these empires fell. Multiple millions of people slaughtered as these empires crashed down. 2 of your examples brought world wars, and who knows how many were slaughtered as Rome fell.
This isn’t as easy as saying “Don’t worry, this too will fall.” The cost is always paid in corpses.
"What starts as a belief in 'making your country great again’ turns into you getting arrested and deported to work camps, in dying regimes, afraid of the very people they used to consolidate the power of murderous regimes." First the came for the socialists, but I was not a socialist. ~ Pastor Niemoller.
Why prolong the agony....
Will someone just "call the question" ?
All in favor ? raise your hands !
H
I have been thinking that the rise in authoritarianism worldwide is actually an extinction burst. For the country, and the world around, I hope I’m right.
Well written!
it’s not the empire that’s gonna die. it’s the empire’s captives. the vile thugs will still be alive, and every good person who used to live in the usa will be dead. we need you help not your think-pieces.
Trump's will use his now vast and richly funded secret police to create a pretext to try to shut down the midterm elections. That's why they are not worried about the Murder Bill they just passed. They don't plan on letting the people pass judgement on it. Hard to see how all of this gets solved peacefully. That seems like a pipe dream at this stage.