The Bulwark, a set of political blogs I sometimes read but don’t always agree with (too right wing sometimes) is sounding the alarm about the dollar. A collapsing dollar, becoming irrelevant to the global economy, is one of the preconditions I’ve mentioned in the past that can lead to the collapse of the United States as a single coherent nation. Below is the comment I left on their page about this article.
Years ago, I began pointing out that Putin’s then ongoing support for white nationalist and state secession movements was mirroring how US policy in the 1980s and 1990s helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Putin had a front row seat to what we did to the USSR, and he took notes. The most important point for Putin was that once the USSR shattered, international pressure led to nuclear disarmament of several former Soviet states.
Apply this backwards – if Putin can cause the Balkanization of the United States, will the world simply allow Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado to retain those ICBM silos? No. In all probability, those new nation states would be pressured to disarm in order to receive international financial aid to rebuild and stabilize their economies.
So there’s a rational underlying goal behind Putin supporting white nationalist and secession movements. This explains Putin funding racist organizations and even Russia supporting Republicans who screamed bloody murder about idiocy like Jade Helm even before Trump was elected.
Then we arrive at Trump’s election. Putin now has a completely vain idiot leading the US, whom he can manipulate with ease by playing on Trump’s narcissistic ego. Before Trump’s election the first time, the dollar was close to parity with the euro. Under Trump, the dollar fell to 0.83 dollars per euro.
Under Biden, the dollar climbed back to 0.96-1.04 versus the euro.
In Trump’s second term, in the first 12 months, the dollar again dropped clear down to 0.83 dollars per euro.
At that point, add in the Iran war, add in the growing white nationalist anti-Israel sentiments, add in Trump trying to withhold funding to blue states, and the pressures at the state level to ask “why are we part of this union anymore?” start to feel obvious.
California alone has the 4th largest economy in the world. They don’t need Trump’s BS to live successfully. California could easily cut deals around the entire Pacific rim within a few months that would be better for California than the current mess. If Oregon and Washington joined California, it would be the 3rd largest economy in the world.
Likewise, New England, as a group of states together, would be a top ten economic powerhouse in the world if they broke away. If Pennsylvania and Maryland joined them, they’d be the 5th largest economy in the world.
So think about it. Trump and the GOP, slashing government services AND wrecking the dollar, are creating a situation that can lead to the collapse of the United States as a single coherent country. Slashing government services alone doesn’t create that situation, but if the dollar is also becoming irrelevant or even worthless, some of the larger blue regions of the country will be left asking themselves, “why stay in this union?”
And when we reach that point, coupled with white nationalism becoming a structural security threat to the rule of law in America, then the potential for the collapse of the United States, will reach a peak.
I think Trump is too stupid to do this himself but he is clearly vain enough to be manipulated to where the US dollar and the federal government both become irrelevant to the everyday lives of the American people. And when that happens, the US dies, and Putin gets to remove American nukes from the global chessboard without firing a single shot.
And THAT will be a moment that will go down in history showing the power of espionage and diplomacy.
Liz - Day By Day 