We are not so different from that pre-revolutionary France: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/19448/the-three-estates-of-pre-revolutionary-france/.
The current POTUS is a megalomaniac imperialist who thinks himself a depot rather than an elected official. A significant majority of the clergy, particularly evangelicals, support his efforts because it amplifies their power. The nobility class (oligarchs, billionaires) hold an imbalance of the country's wealth. We are vastly becoming servants to their feudal "estates", except now we call them C-corps. The rest of us, the common-folk, the 98%, are in disarray. In a world of abundance, our paychecks continue to grant us less and less purchasing power. As feudalism progresses, we are forced to rent instead of own. We know the system is rotting, but we are not coalescing around the reasons why.
One of the first areas that the POTUS has attacked is USAID. There is a reason for this. Of all of the departments, USAID employ(s/ed) the largest subset of highly educated employees within the government: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/01/07/what-the-data-says-about-federal-workers/. If you, dear reader, continue to frame the discussion as government efficiency, then you are towing the their line. This is blatant hollowing out of the educated class from government. They'll guise this as "market efficiency" but they know exactly what they are doing by hollowing out the educated state. As USAID falls, as the Department of Justice falls and as the Department of Education is soon to fall, it terrorizes the remaining federal employees to flee or get in line.
This is state capture.
Now onto enforcement.
Little is being discussed of the purging of the FBI for retribution of what they did during the first term. Sure, there is certainly an argument to be had that a federal police force can be problematic. But consider that, when you purge half a workforce that is investigating significant crimes against the US, that purge is going to directly correlate to less enforcement and a weakening of the rule of law. You should expect a resurgence of the mafia and the mob, only these dealings will be obscured from view because the scapegoat will be the focus on gang violence, which again, serves their narrative.
Instead of the FBI, who I expect to begrudgingly follow the 1st and 2nd estates agenda, we'll instead see a mass increase to the Department of Homeland Security. This is a group that aligns more with the depots vision. They are to be the Blackshirts of Italy or the SS of Germany. It will start as the enforcers for border security, but once the catalyst happens, this group is to be our morality police.
They also have purged the main group who is in charge of Federal Election fraud. Wake up and get angry - The people who were screaming about free and fair elections just destroyed the entity that ensured free and fair elections. There are so many foxes in the henhouse that it's now a foxhouse.
History serves as a guide: it's easier to cull the resistance if you can outflank it from its inception. Once it is gone, it can take years, even generations to regroup, if ever. And the tools our adversaries are equipping themselves with are stronger than ever.
The Resistance: The power they HAVE is the POWER we CEDE.
I do not want to live in current state Iran. I do not want to live under oligarchic Russia. Nor do I want to live under the Khmer Rouge. I want to live in the America that I know, that I grew up in. I want to be free to share my thoughts, have the freedom to express myself in the full spectrum, and be true to myself. And in that right, I share the same for you. We should all strive to be John Winthrop's "Shining city upon a hill." We are not a utopia, but damned if we don't strive to be.
We need to be prepared, because they our going full Blitzkrieg. First the state, then onto the states.
For one, DOGE. We are enabling what constitutes as a LARPing LAN party to play government bureaucrat. The folks are special advisors to the president. Special advisors only get 130 days to do what they do. Surely they are queuing up the next round of special advisors to roll in after.
- Contact your federal representatives - they need to know just how pissed we are that a group of 6 people are compromising our federal data. Calls do matter. Letters do too. Hell, if you're too lazy, just copy and paste one of the existing letters out there, or have your AI du jour write it for you.
- The LAN party has access to the Treasury databases and will past April 20th. They will study your tax data if they can get it. Late filing exists: https://www.irs.gov/filing/get-an-extension-to-file-your-tax-return
Immigrants
Immigrants, they get the job done! We are a nation of immigrants. I heard just yesterday say "I don't care if they come back, I just want them to come back legally" (eye roll). Firstly, these folks need to understand just how hard it is to get into this country legally nowadays and moreover how hard it is to become a naturalized citizen. Secondly, with birthright citizenship possibly going away, these folks need to understand that they may not be citizens anymore either. What better way to create a feudal state than to strip away people's citizenship and voting rights.
- Donate to causes that offer sanctuary - money, time, whatever you can do. You don't have to be front-lines. These people need writers and advocates too, and right now they are being flooded.
Free-Press
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Get off the oligarch's social media platforms. Already on Lemmy and Mastodon, good for you! You're already on your way. Now stay off those other sites, don't let them take ownership of your IP.
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Donate to free press organizations. PBS, NPR, The Guardian. Much like Russia today, we are going to need outlets outside of the US to keep us informed of the atrocities the controlled media won't share with us.
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Contribute to and use your local library. Learn how you can peacefully resist from within. Assess how you can do so within your own life Stay informed.
Prepare
Things are going to get much worse before they (may) get better. Stash away some dry powder from when you need it. Don't trust the banks with all of your money. They now make the rules and own them.
- If you can, get a safe and save for at least 3 months worth of funds. If you can't do that, save what you can.
- Save a month's worth of food. Water, dry goods, preserved snacks.
- Get some way to charge your phone off grid.
- Most important - get connected with organizations. Find groups that are working to fight the BS. You will need to be plugged in when the time comes. At minimum, they can get you connected if the time comes to flee and regroup.
- Get a firearm and learn to shoot it. You are going to need protection. Controversial, I know. Yet, When the time comes, the first and second estate and their sycophants are counting on us to fold. The judicial branch is looking weaker by the day. Learn from Türkiye - The pen is mightier than the sword up until someone takes all of the pens.
- Learn a skill - take a nursing course; take a system networking course; store food, water, medicine or books. Store bottles of alcohol, a tank of gasoline or kerosine. Not everyone needs to be a fighter. If you're absolutely opposed to firearms, be someone who can provide auxiliary support.
The Blitzkrieg is coming. History will judge us at this pivotal moment. Who are you? One that rolls into the tides or will you join us in crashing against it?
The power they HAVE is the POWER we CEDE.
Would I get a second term? Hell no. I’m a change agent technocrat. People like a showman. There’s a reason city planners are divorced from mayors at the municipal level. I come in like a four mile freight train then I go home. Some populist demagogue would probably replace me.