Spoken from a European perspective: within a few decades, the US will lose its status as a superpower as it slides into isolationism. You simply cannot be both isolationist and a military and economic superpower. Add to it that much tech is still in the US, but people are waking up to the inherent vulnerability in that. Think government data being on US servers.

These developments will hurt the entire world in the short term and new superpowers will rise. Russia has had its day, but China and India will be the top dogs. I am not discounting Brazil either as a local superpower is South-America. We do probably not want it, but they have the people and the production capacity.

The next four years will accelerate all that. I have already read the first questions about F-35 warplanes being a wise choice as the US could potentially disable them remotely. That would turn them into expensive paperweights at the whim of the US. If the US themselves are less than stable, that would be a very precarious situation.

The decision Americans just made will have catastrophic effects on our democracy. We will, absolutely, be living with the negative effects of this decision for the remainder of our lives.

One guarantee is that we will have an ultra conservative Supreme Court for the remainder of our lives. In just the last few years an ultra conservative Supreme Court has removed women’s federally protected right to bodily autonomy and decided that presidents are above the law and cannot be held accountable for anything they do while in office. Decisions like that will now continue for the rest of our lives, slowly altering the society we live in, and most likely rendering it unrecognizable by the time we die.

Trump ran on fundamentally changing our government, including dismantling the public educational system. He plans on making an anti-vaxxer the head of the Department of Health. We know Trump only helps those who benefit him personally. That means Ukraine is gone. That means Palestine is gone (I hope the liberals and independents that voted 3rd party or didn’t vote over Palestine are happy about that one). Russia will expand their borders and threaten Europe. We will lose allies.

Trump and Elon Musk are vehemently anti-union. We will start seeing anti-union laws, weaking worker’s rights and bargaining power. Obviously we will see a continuation and expansion of the persecution of immigrants and LGBTQ+. They promised mass deportations, which will remove a ton of cheap labor from our nation, which will negatively affect our economy.

In addition to the lifelong ultra-conservative Supreme Court we will see our federal courts stacked with conservative judges who will help push through the will of the Republican party for the remainder of our lives.

We’ve all heard about the tariffs. If you thought life was expensive now, buckle up. Donald Trump has filed for bankruptcy multiple times and has a rap sheet of failed businesses a mile long. He is not a good businessman and has absolutely no idea how to run a national economy. Even before the pandemic we were seeing the negative effects he was having on our economy. All metrics showed that post-pandemic we were recovering better than any other nation. You can kiss that goodbye.

The Repbulican party historically favors the wealthy, removing roadblocks designed to keep them in check, which ends up weakening the positions of average Americans. Trump will accelerate that. Prepare to watch the wealthy become even more powerful and average Americans lose what little power we have.

The last time they wre in total control the Republican party promised to address healthcare and infrastructure. They failed to do both. The Democrat president that came before addressed healthcare. The Democrat president that came after addressed infrastructure. Do not expect the Republican party to do anything to assist the average American.

I believe a lot of Americans live under the impression that no matter how bad things get, we can hit the reset button every 4-8 years. That simply isn’t true. Even under a “normal” administration things can be set in place that are permanent, or that can only be changed through extreme effort over long periods of time. This administration promised changes to our government that cannot be undone without historically significant events, like war or revolution. They promised to change our system in such a way as to provide themselves with a permanent power shift. They attempted to overturn the last election. They’ve spoken about dealing with “the enemy within”. Their representatives do not care about science. Their ranks are filled with conspiracy theorists. We just gave the keys to the kingdom to extremists with little to no government experience.

Make no mistake about this. What we just did changed the political paradigm for the rest of our lives and set us on a path of undeniable decline based on what we already know about Trump and the Republican party’s history.

We just made a very, very large historical mistake. And we absolutely deserve the suffering that is to come, because it’s our own fault. Be prepared for very hard times for the foreseeable future. Plan accordingly.

Demonizing people who disagree with you makes them dig in their heels and elect the dangerous candidate and party, in spite of their best interests. Demonizing those people feels satisfying and necessary in the moment, but it ultimately backfires.

The so-called enlightened people can’t be counted on to vote. (I say this as one of those so-called enlightened people, albeit not in your country and therefore unable to shift the balance with you. I vote in every one of my country’s elections, I strongly dislike the leader of the party I need to vote defensively for. I do it anyway.)

Until you folks figure these two things out, this is your new reality.

(I don’t think you can save many of the extremists, but you folks could relatively easily stop the extremist factory by deploying more strategic compassion. But that’s just, like, my opinion, man.)

The System is held together with baling wire and gum. Never forget that.

You will get through this, but you might need help and to help others along the way. I wish you many goods and cheese.

I’ve been trying to find some excuses to be optimistic. Here’s a few potential silver linings:

1. If Trump/Project 2025 manages to accomplish their goal of tearing down the federal government, people will suffer immediately, including republicans, when they lose their Medicare, social security, access to healthcare, free education (daycare), prices go up, wages stay stagnant, unemployment and underemployment skyrocket, etc. This could open up a window in 2028 or 2032 where these programs need to be replaced, and it can be with non-halfassed universal systems like single-payer health insurance, UBI, etc. All the big brain swing voters might even be desperate and angry enough to actually pay attention and support them.

2. I hope 2024 demonstrated the importance of having primaries and participating in them. We might look forward to increased turnout in 2026 and 2028 primaries. If people want to nominate a left-leaning Democrat, primary turnout needs to be overwhelming. Unfortunately they might need to see centrists get wrecked a few more times. It’s possible that a third party rises out of this eventually, but more likely a progressive Democrat will eventually get a chance to run. In any case, sitting on your hands and whining about the system is not effective.

Do these help during the next 4 years? Not really, but go vote in the fucking primary in 2026 and nominate congressional candidates who want to talk about progressive policies. A little bit of hope goes a long way. Moderates don’t offer hope. 2016-2020 felt bearable because I thought Sanders would have a chance in 2020. I need some hope for 2028.

Also vote in your local elections in 2025 and 2027 too.

Yea - we’ll see how resistant the world will be to America going off its rocker.

I suspect most things will go pretty well outside of countries with deep economic ties to America unless Trump goes full crazy and openly backs Russian expansionism.

Only 4 years? Nah, this is going to last decades, unless climate change takes us all out faster than we expect, and it’s going to be a dictatorship. One of the most dangerous dictatorships in history based solely on the massive military the USA has

Sanity will be in non-compliance.

Don’t comply with anything. Involve yourself in governance locally if you can. Work with your district or state. Disobey anything going against your principles.

If you cannot get involved, see what you can do as a private citizen. Who could you hide in your anttic, figuratively speaking (hopefully).

The US is not such a strong federal state. You make it real by believing in it.

Stop believing in it. It is dead.

Iðṙ ð ekſelṙeıcėniſtſ aṙ ėbaut t bı pruvin kėrekt, oṙ Ƿ get t heıŋ ðem a frėm Đıṙ nipėlz ƿen letıŋ him ƿin ėgen dėz n tıtc enıƿėn enı leſėnz.

You have to find your own sanity. Same for peace, purpose, and meaning in life.

Don’t forget that Trump is completely inept and this time doesn’t have any help from people even trying to be “the adults in the room”. He’s made some huge huge promises and I just don’t think he has the ability or the team to make much of it happen.