>>213457831 (OP)>BLONALD BLUMPFENSTEINHaving lived my entire life past 13 with Trump as President or the center of American politics, I really think Trump has been the only thing keeping the U.S away from internal collapse or civil war for the past while, given he's become a talisman for anti-establishment sentiment that otherwise would've boiled over a while ago (likely in 2020) and been projected onto bigger, more systemic things. He's been extremely effective as a distraction from underlying issues such as the economy, the declining presence of America on the world stage, and unresolved social/political issues because he tends to suck all the air out of the room as all current American politics or political discussion inevitably orbits him and the dumb shit he says/does at some point or another. That deep-seated bitterness, radicalism, insecurity, and hatred Americans have simply becomes projected at him or his opponents, becoming an Ouroboros that eats the U.S itself along with any potential new system or opposition.
I'm actually really worried as to what the U.S will look like post-Trump, because his presence/influence in the U.S I'd say is comparable to Giolitti in pre-Fascist Italy or Stolypin in the Late Russian Empire. He's a desperate last-resort measure by the establishment a rotten, failing system to get anti-establishment figures to buy into it, or at least be placated by it until shit gets so awful the system finally falls in on itself.
But living in this declinist, last-gasp strongman era of a dying and failing empire fucking sucks, because you can't talk about anything other than the guy and what you think about him when it comes to political/cultural discussion.
At least it brings some exceedingly fertile ground for reformers or radicals right around the corner though.