The Fall of the Republic, in Real Time
Introduction: The Joke Became Reality
I knew Donald Trump would run for president the night Obama mocked him at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner because unlike me — who enjoys a good roast — Trump’s ego can’t handle being belittled. And I knew he would win his first term before he even rode down that golden escalator. I knew it because I was well aware that there were a lot of people (like me) who were sick of the status quo.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: many of the problems Trump spoke about were real. The unchecked border. Bloated government. Bureaucratic waste. Gangs. Political theatre masking political rot.
I hoped — naively — that maybe he would be a Trojan horse. That the outsider with raw instincts and blunt critiques might actually force a broken system to modernize and equalize.
But what became painfully clear — now undeniable — is that Trump’s approach to solving these problems is not grounded in logic or law. It is either ignorance, or something far more dangerous: authoritarianism. I tend to lean toward the latter at this point.
I’ve worked behind the scenes in politics. I’ve sat in rooms with the elite. A couple decades ago, at more than one party, I heard the Uber-rich laugh over cocktails about how maybe America needed a bit more dictatorship. “The people don’t know what’s good for them,” they’d say. “Let someone smart run the country like a business.”
Everyone laughed.
Then came Trump — and those private jokes turned into policy.
Now the U.S. is in a constitutional crisis. And like COVID-19 or climate change, most people just can’t process the enormity of what’s happening. So they deny it, minimize it, or pretend it’s someone else’s problem.
With COVID, millions died. With climate change, the planet is breaking. And with Trump’s second term now looming, we are witnessing an attempted shift from democracy to a plutocratic police state — where legality is bent to the will of a single man.
And what happens if no one stops him?
He militarizes blue states. He starts arresting people — not criminals, not threats — just people who came to the country legally but fall on the wrong side of his political agenda. He goes after his enemies with impunity, labeling dissenters as “insurrectionists” while rewarding actual insurrectionists with pardons and applause.
He starts arresting Democrats. He ignores the courts. He consolidates all power. He decides who gets to be American.
And if this sounds impossible to you — if this sounds too dramatic — it’s only because you still believe the institutions will hold. You think someone will stop him. But they’re not stopping him. They’re kneeling to him. They’re playing along. They’re more afraid of losing their jobs or their status than they are of losing the republic.
And the rest of us? We are frogs in boiling water, pretending this is just politics as usual.
It’s not.
It’s an authoritarian regime in beta mode fuelled by lies, misdirection, and playing off of the public’s lack of understanding. And it’s nearly out of testing. The birthday parade is going to see the fall of the Republican party and it will mark the end of an era for America. This will be a period in time written about in the history books. The next Dark Ages.
1. U.S. Democracy in Free‑Fall
- A 2022 Brookings analysis warns of dual erosion: election manipulation and executive overreach — the hallmarks of democratic backsliding in America.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/understanding-democratic-decline-in-the-united-states - Funke, Schularick & Trebesch (via Financial Times) show populist leaders like Trump typically damage GDP and degrade institutions — weakening democracy well before their term ends.
https://www.ft.com/content/1d57892f-913b-4bbe-8d74-1cbadd2c8851 - Harvard’s Steven Levitsky warns: “Trump … was surrounded by folks who constrained him. Now . . . much, much more authoritarian.”
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/26/nx-s1-5408995/harvards-steven-levitsky-says-trump-administration-acts-as-authoritarian-government
TL;DR: America isn’t teetering. It’s plummeting — and democracy has no parachute.
2. Militarized Policing as Normal
Trump is now deploying the military into states that did not ask for it. He’s labeling peaceful protests as rebellions. He is blending ICE raids with full-on occupation. He’s not restoring order. He’s asserting dominance.
- 2,000 National Guard troops sent to California without approval, under the pretense of quelling unrest. Marines — trained for warfare — getting ready to be stationed in city centers.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/10/trump-administration-los-angeles-national-guard - First override of state-controlled Guard deployment since the 1960s.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/critics-rip-authoritarian-trump-for-deploying-troops-to-la
This is not a federal government supporting the states. This is a hostile takeover.
And yet “soft MAGA” voters shrug. They think it’s an unfortunate overreaction. But this is not an overreaction. It’s a test run. And then you have those hardcore MAGAs that believe might is right. Just wait … like the farmers who have had workers stripped from their farms, it’s coming for you too.
3. Weaponizing the Government
What Trump is doing is not new. What’s new is the scale. The boldness. The unapologetic execution.
He used to toy with the idea of purging opposition. Now he’s doing it. He used to suggest prosecuting journalists. Now he’s conditioning his base to demand it. He used to hint at pardons for allies. Now he trades them for loyalty and $TRUMP coins.
Trump is not restoring the rule of law. He is building a system where the law answers to him.
4. The “Insurrection” Lie
When Trump calls California’s protests an insurrection — but calls January 6 a tourist visit — you are not seeing hypocrisy. You are seeing the machinery of state propaganda.
You are seeing a man who wants to call political opposition criminal. You are seeing a man who wants to call crime patriotic if it serves him. You are seeing a man trying to redefine treason as disagreement.
If that doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will.
5. Economic Slavery, Not Growth
This isn’t about free markets. This is about enslaving the poor and middle class in a system of endless work and permanent precarity.
Want to know what Trump’s economic policy really looks like? Look at the people he pardons. Look at the contributors he rewards. Look at the communities and programs he defunds.
He ran his businesses by stiffing contractors, dodging taxes, and filing bankruptcies. Now he’s running a country the same way.
He’s not trying to kill the American Dream. He’s trying to make it a gated estate for him and his billionaire friends.
6. This Is How It Happens
No, Trump is not Hitler. But Hitler wasn’t “Hitler” in 1933 either.
He was a man with charisma and chaos. He was a man who got laughed at, then elected. He was a man whose critics underestimated his intent.
And then it was too late.
Trump’s first term was a learning curve. His second will be an execution. He may not be genocidal, but he is absolutely looking to turn the U.S. into a plantation.
7. When America Falls, the World Pays
If Trump is allowed to seize full control:
- Canada is no longer a neighbour. It’s a pipeline. Or a punching bag.
- Trade deals become hostage notes and they’re worthless to a man who has rarely kept his word. Look at the contracts he ignored as a private business owner. You think a zebra changes it’s stripes?
- Foreign elections get manipulated.
- Autocrats get the green light.
The U.S. used to export democracy. Under Trump, they export fear.
8. 2026: The Final Firewall
The 2026 midterms will not be business as usual. If Republicans lock down both chambers, it will be with gerrymandering, voter suppression, state legislature control, and strategic disqualification of ballots. It will not be a win — it will be a takeover.
They’re already installing loyalists at the Secretary of State level in swing states. They’re testing new laws that let legislatures overturn the popular vote. And they are preparing to call any loss a “fraud.”
2026 is not a midterm. It is a referendum on the existence of elections themselves.
Conclusion: A Final Alarm
Trump speaks in half-truths and full-volume. He says things that make sense — on the surface. But underneath the surface is something far more sinister.
He is not here to fix America. He is here to own it.
The escalation is coming faster than ever. The parade will see Republicans bend both knees to Trump, giving up all remaining power to their God King. With all that majesty as wind at his back, the courts will become a minor annoyance and even the Supreme Court whom he helped build will be ignored completely if he doesn’t agree with them. Martial law is coming and Democrats as well as left-wing media are about to feel some real, never thought possible, pain. Many will bow out of necessity for their own survival and the last safe guard will fall.
Then comes the consolidation of power. The fact of the matter is that the Trump administration doesn’t even understand how the pillars of US government work so they will never respect them. There will be one house with power and the rest will become a laughing stock.
If he can’t be stopped there — and that will largely depend on how far people in “power” are willing to go out of self-interest — the Republic will fall into chaos, which will lead to civil war. Desperation will lead to more civil unrest and eventually, the American dream will die in the streets. With no guardrails left, the US will be stripped of its credit rating — forcing more dependence on the rich — and its status as a democracy. Look for the rich to get more positions of power, even positions they are completely unqualified for.
The 2026 midterms are not a checkpoint. They are a referendum on whether democracy gets one more breath.
If the people don’t act, if they don’t vote, if they don’t organize — this republic ends not with a bang, but with a cheer, and a salute, and a gilded hat that says, “Make America Interned Again.”
Donald Trump is just laying the foundation, many more will come after him. And while it’s hard for me to articulate everything I believe will happen because there is so much bad in this, anyone reading this that isn’t from the U.S. needs to take this seriously as well.
When the Republic falls, so too does much of the world order. Markets will be thrown into chaos, trade will be massively disrupted, and tempers will flare. The only next step is war.
