Authoritarian descent is ending; entrenchment is here
Things are accelerating rapidly in the US. We are now no longer really in authoritarian descent, but entering stages of entrenchment.
We're seeing a push farther into stage 8 with increased attacks on Venezuelan boats. We are seeing free speech erosion, with the FCC threatening broadcast licenses if media criticizes the president. Hosts like Jimmy Kimmel are getting pulled off the air, and the president is claiming that all negative press coverage should be illegal. We are seeing the president demand lawsuits against his foes, evidence be damned. Prosecutors who won't bend the knee are being replaced. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants are being rendered illegal almost on the daily, as protections are being removed from groups like Guatemalan and Syrian refugees.
Putin is getting more brazen, testing Polish and Estonian airspace with incursions to see if Trump will rollover, as he predicts. Countries we used to provide aid to are reporting that hundreds of thousands of children have now died of malnutrition and preventable diseases, with millions more preventable deaths expected soon from AIDS, malaria, and starvation.
We are seeing calls for people like Adam Schiff and Letitia James to be prosecuted and jailed simply for doing their jobs. We are seeing corporations, universities, and law firms rapidly cave to increasing pressure. Supporters of the regime have started calling for the mass execution of people they believe don't contribute to society, as in Brian Kilmeade's call to give all homeless people lethal injections. Ideologues are calling on all patriots to "put on the full armor of God [against evil]", which they define as the left.
Professors are being fired for hosting discussions involving progressive topics, like at Texas A&M this week. In states like Ohio, students are being asked to report on their professors to the government when they hear or see statements that are "impure". The government has started assuming large shares of companies like Intel and US Steel, entering into an ironically socialist stage of state-owned enterprises. And we are seeing critical food, medicine, and vaccines being taken away from vulnerable populations.
Soon, children may not be able to get MMR or Covid vaccines. The White House stopped tracking food insecurity this week so they will not have any damaging statistics coming out as states scramble and cut food aid to the impoverished.
You can expect an increasing number of liberal cities to host troops enforcing the will of the regime, and for crackdowns on anyone perceived as a "threat" - which is to say, anyone who is not a loyalist.
Immigration raids will continue, but soon they will also likely be taking place against citizens who are labeled oppositional. Movies and television will likely start being screened to make sure that they fit an ideologically pure perspective.
Christianity may find its way into public schools. Businesses like currently floundering farmers, and small businesses dependent on tariffed goods, will go under with a government uninterested in spending on their support.
Rate cuts from a no longer independent Fed will cause inflation and currency devaluation. If you can, store some of your capital in alternative asset classes, or non-US currencies.
This regime values money, whiteness, straightness, Christianity, maleness, status, and fame.
If you do not have those things, leave now, or find ways to ally with people who do.
In a feudal era, if you're not "nobility" - in this case a billionaire, a Republican politician, or a non-controversial celebrity - you need to be under a "lord's" protection to be insulated from capricious kings.