by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The thing about America right now is it’s in something of a luminal space, politically. It’s more an anocracy than an autocracy. We still have some basic rights that the regime doesn’t feel it can attack…but there is definitely a creeping sense of autocracy.
The interesting thing about the American variant of fascism in 2026 is how it’s a movement of decline and retraction, rather than expansion. It’s not like Trump, for all his “I must own Greenland” wants to take over the world.
The key thing to remember is Trump is not a traditional “Great Man.” It’s not like he’s bending history to his will. He is a symptom, not a cause of what the fuck is wrong with the United States at the moment. He’s very much a transitional figure.
I still contend that the whole point of Trump as a public figure is to destroy the existing American Constitutional order to the point that we have to convene a new Constitutional Convention to give people renewed faith and confidence in having a constitution at all.
The old system is failing and a new system is, in fits and starts, being born. In a sense, you could say what we’re witnessing is either the true demise of American democracy or the breached birth of the Third American Republic.
Just don’t know how things are going to work out.
You must be logged in to post a comment.