Part of me knows that and part of me desperately wants to hope that we can, in some way, recover from this.

Rome, after all, had crises and blunders from which it emerged stronger, in the end. I suppose I have to hope we still have that in us. Against all evidence.

April 08, 2026 - 16:41 UTC

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Like Rome and unlike 1950s Britain, the U.S. has a critical mass of population, manpower, and gross GDP so that this won’t cripple our influence the way Suez did for the UK. It makes us less self-reflective, but on the flip side it also means that we can usually recover from self-inflicted crises.
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My unpopular opinion on this is that the only way back is probably a massive (decades long) build out of naval (and general military) capacity...and a simultaneous rebuilding of state capacity, which certainly means more taxes, not just billionaire taxes but across the board. Now try selling that.
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The US has plenty of military capacity, as @brasidas.bsky.social can tell you. What it doesn't have is an understanding of strategy and foreign policy.

That has been true since GWBush abandoned foreign policy in favor of reelection policy and entered 2 wars without victory conditions.
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Its recoverable, but its extremely bitter medicine with no immediate pay off and I dont see who is waiting in the wings currently who could set it right.
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I think things will get better than now while simultaneously not being as good as before.
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That’s depressingly low bar.
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We can do anything we set our minds to, i believe it. The future is not written yet.
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If you try, you will accelerate your decline

There is no way back to the status quo ante. Largely because the US collectively doesn't have any understanding of how US leadership was created and sustained

The world has turned. You can't turn it back. If you want to lead, you need something new
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Against all evidence.
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Maybe potent messaging from intelligent (and gorgeous) leaders in Europe will help sway what’s left of the American polity back to center over the long run.
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The center is how we got here. You are not being serious right now.
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even if this marks our apex in historical hindsight, the decline can be rather slow in practice
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were you in a comma for, I don't know, maybe 20-30 years?
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My running theory is that modern communication mechanisms make rises and falls faster.

I really think empires and powers should be measured in gigabyte miles and not years.
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Wasn’t our apex September 10th?
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So, Crisis of the 21st Century time?
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God, this pretentious "we're modern day Rome" shit is so dumb and annoying.

You don't have ANY claim to roman or greek heritage, neither by blood, geography, culture or language.

You're just a barbarian nation that got lucky. You do RAID the romans, plunder their cities, but you're not romans.
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We have more of a claim to the legacy of Rome than the Russians.
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Romans (as I think you yourself have reminded us) started to complain about their decline and impending fall as soon as they learnt to write. Americans are more optimistic, even to a degree that many Europeans find faintly ridiculous. And the USA has huge political and economic strength left. 1/2
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Lacking is an intellectual framework around which US influence can be rebuilt. Previous generations created doctrinal vehicles that were flawed but useful. MAGA is intellectually bankrupt. But it looks like the bits and pieces of a valid alternative are available; some assembly is required. 2/2
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"Avignon Papacy"
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Trump is the answer to the rarely asked question, “what would it have been like if Sulla and Caligula were the same person”
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I think you are seeing the systematic destruction of the pillars of US power:
1) extensive network of allies
2) deep reservoirs of good will
3) technological and scientific dominance
4) cultural dominance
5) feared military
6) deepest, best run capital markets
7) rule of law
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Who is our Aurelian 😭
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I kinda hope we're more at Quintus Hortensius in 287 BC than at Aurelian in the 270s AD.
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