I mean… kinda? Its no excuse, but Trump, Musk and the lot of them seem to all have deep insecurities rooted in childhood trauma. A toxic culture that encourages abusive behavior and discourages self-reflection and accountability certainly doesn’t help.
The memes about it how these men would rather destroy America then see a therapist are pretty real.
I daresay he almost looks… Stately in the portrait. It’s like a look into an alternate reality where Trump was loved by his father and got into politics out a desire to serve his country, and were he’s also done the bare minimum to care for himself for the past 79 years.
I mean, it could be a shitty disfunctional country with a very poor QoL, but still an independent country.
Small states will likely form coalitions with neighbouring states with whom they share culture and values. Texas, California, Florida, and New York might be independent, with nearby coilitions of states falling into their spheres of influence, or they may be the dominant power in a coalition of states.
It would be interesting to see what becomes of the states in the Midwest and the Great Basin. None of them have the economic power to stand on their own, and they will be reliant on having good relations with States that have ports.
Border disputes and tensions will be widespread, and the state-lines we know today will likely be completely redrawn. It’s likely too that many States will be facing their own internal succession movements from regions on the other end of the culture wars. Not to mention foreign powers pursuing their interests in the remains of the United States. The only certainty in this hypothetical future is that is will be a big, bloody, mess.
A chilling look into what could be the first real steps towards the Balkanization of the United States. It’s sad that it’s gotten to this point, but realistically I don’t see another path forward. It may be unconstitutional, but unfortunatly that founding document has lost its legitimately as the current administration wipes it’s ass with it on a daily basis.
A rare moment of honesty
The reality if you’re working class in America; we’re all one really bad day and a few less people caring about us from being homeless.
I still enjoyed the first game but wasn’t one of the lead devs on KCD a capital G Gamer? I remember some… interesting tweets from him. Was he booted or did he change his ways?
Edit: Derp, should have just read the article before commenting. Fascism eats its own yet again.
Is he? The two have many shared interest sure, and maybe he has some dirt on Musk. I feel like if Putin was the “grand puppet master” he’s often made out to be then the war in Ukraine would be going much better for him. The article above seems to indicate that Putins influence has waned considerably since 2016.
Pure speculation, but could Trump no longer be as beholden to Putin as he so clearly was in his first term? Musk seems to be holding his reins now, and maybe he realizes any Kompromat the Russians may have had just doesn’t matter any more in the face of his cult of personality.
That said, it seems to be in both parties best interest for Putin to get out of the war while Trump is in office. A president favorable to Russia gets a big win on the world stage, and Russia gets to quietly back out of a conflict that has been a complete disaster for them.
One RPG that does a really great job of circumventing this is Morrowind. Early in the story there are several natural breaks where the PC is encouraged to do side quests and immurse themselves in the world. Once the main quest gets going it starts to take precedence, but the world ending threat builds slowly at first.
I think they’re starting with foreign prisons until the process becomes more normalized. Right now it would be too risky, the victims would have too many pesky rights. Need lawyers and journalist afraid of being sent to the El Salvador Death Camps before we can open the American ones.