[the_gipsy]

> It’s only a matter of time until they realize

It will be far too late. That's why they're going so fast. The damage comes with a huge latency. Perhaps America can be saved and this is nothing but a bump in the ride, I'm no Nostradamus, but this could very well be the end of the Free West.

[myvoiceismypass]

The checks and balances part no longer exists, so definitely feels like it’s over.

[inetknght]

> checks and balances part no longer exists

It honestly hasn't existed for decades.

[hedora]

States rights might save us.

If I was a governor of a blue state, I’d be strongly encouraging laid off government workers to work for my state. I’d also be working to eliminate the trade deficit (including federal taxes and spending) with rest of the US.

Why subsidize this crap if it’s not going to lead to economic prosperity, security, or even pretending the constitution still exists?

[dfxm12]

"States rights" is not going to save us. Conservative think tanks push "state rights" so hard because they know they can get overrepresented in state government via gerrymandering/voter suppression. Anything that slips through the cracks after that can be appealed to a higher court, up to SCOTUS, which they have made sure is full of judges sympathetic to them. A recent example would be SCOTUS overturning the Chevron doctrine and its possible effects on California's environmental rules.

[ModernMech]

I think California is doing exactly this.

[kamarg]

Sure it has but only when a Democrat is in office. Look at all the things that Biden/Obama were prevented from doing by the legislative and judicial branches.

[forgetfreeman]

Eh, there's latency in some places sure but a bunch of cuts are going to have rather obvious and seriously negative impacts on the financials around this summer's harvest, and the Ag lobby usually doesn't fuck around. It'll be interesting to see how farm communities are kept in the traces then.

[hedora]

Yeah; China’s counter-tariffs on ag start today.

Also, Ontario supplies half the US’s nickel, and is threatening an embargo. That’d shut down a bunch of our factories in short order. They could also cut off electricity supplies to the north, but I get the impression the US grid would mostly absorb that (probably thanks to investment in smart grids for renewables, ironically).

[JumpCrisscross]

> this could very well be the end of the Free West

Europe seems to be realising it must get its act together. Europe + Canada + the Americas have a hope in hell of containing America if it goes off the rails internationally. (When Trump & Musk tip the economy into recession it will be tempting to drum up a stupid war. My guess would have been Iran. But who the hell knows.)

[hedora]

They already allocated funding to deploy the military inside the US in border areas.

[anal_reactor]

The worst thing about being born in a rich country during prosperity is that every single issue is the worst problem you've ever faced in your life.