Reinventing Collapse, a review of the Dmitry Orlov book by the same name, is front and center on this Substack for a good reason. The U.S. in 2025 is in the same condition as the Soviet Union was in 1991 - coming apart at the seams. Weāre Gonna Fight was posted thirteen months ago, We ARE Fighting was not quite six months ago, and I am standing by the prognostication.
Novemberās Civil War Referendum stated that we had two choices:
Democracy prevails and our weakened, discredited central power faces a serious reduction in remit in places like Texas and South Carolina. Look at the border stuff and the electoral map, respectively, for a sample of what this will be.
Democracy fails and our weakened, discredited central power, illegitimate in the eyes of the world, begins a mixture of kleptocratic kakistocracy and less inept but still comically bad theocratic repression.
Weāve chosen the latter, letās have a look at how things are progressing.
Attention Conservation Notice:
Itās bad. Itās going to get much worse. You might want to cover your eyes before scrolling any further.
Violence:
Alex Jones immediately began braying at the top of his obligatory jackass lungs about George Soros when news of the murder of Infowars staffer Jamie White broke. Conversations around here allowed as how it could be ideological, but it might just be another Seth Rich random crime thing. The latter proved to be correct - someone was breaking into his car. Again.
So itās non-ideological, but the facts of the matter will be treated as further confirmation that Whiteās death was a government setup by the conspiratard audience of Infowars.
A young man named Andrew Dawson showed up near the White House with a BB gun, some sort of rifle, and a ācell phone pistolā. The authorities had been tipped off, Secret Service agents confronted him, and he was killed. This sounds like a disordered individual to me - thereās no reason to bring a BB gun for whatever he was planning unless there was an extremely specific need for a low energy, low noise weapon. Shooting out surveillance cams from a safe distance would be an example of a valid plan, doesnāt sound like he had any such designs.
Two dead, seemingly no harm done beyond the deceased themselves, but the political angle to both events ā¦ when something DOES happen, weāre primed for a blowup.
Corruption:
The DOJās Public Integrity Section has been gutted. Remember all those people who expected Trump to ādrain the swampā. Yeah ā¦
Mahmoud Khalil has been disappeared. Heās a lawful resident with an eight month pregnant American wife. When he resurfaces again itāll be in Gaza or the West Bank, and heāll have a bullseye tattooed on his forehead.
You know the name Martin Niemoller, the author of First They Came, right?
Conclusion:
When the Soviet Union collapsed on Boxing Day, 1991, the country was seventy four years old. Relatively few could recall the final Russian imperial years. Older people, those past fifty, when mental fluidity naturally diminishes, have a terrible time with profound change. I recall reading about older adults wandering the streets of Russian cities in 1992, clutching portraits of Soviet leaders such as Lenin, seeking to understand something that was, to them, completely unfathomable.
Thereās been a lot of brave talk about the 2026 midterm election, just wait till 2028, and I think itās all nonsense. We might have some show election, keeping up appearances, but the results will be predetermined. The only way to avoid that is standing up like the Ukrainians did in the Euromaidan in 2014.
Your city may end up looking like this if you do.
