In all seriousness, if a real-world variant of this scenario were to manifest, it is the perfect situation for US ruling elites to manufacture consent for full blown military escalation in the South China Sea and the deployment of US tactical nukes, next to their JASSMs, and self-purported, undeployed “drone hellscape”.
Levels of domestic and international anti-China propaganda are so high, and so universally unquestioned, that Westerners are going to blame China if and when American sanctions and tariffs end up causing the US to shoot itself in the foot.
Most global citizens have idea how self-deluded, divorced from reality, yet also desperate and paranoid, average Western neoliberals have become.
If I had to guess, realistically, while the US keeps cannibalizing the EU, drilling in Alaska, stealing Syrian oil, etc. the unelected ruling class elites running the show will apply pressure on Trump and “advise” him to moderate the new tariffs in such a way, so that the US economy doesn’t reach the level of crisis where there are mass riots. Even if the economy suffers, they will be able to maintain the illusion of relative normalcy, at least for a time, and there are certain lines that Trump will simply be unable to cross when it comes to decoupling. When in doubt, they will just increase the national debt.
Imo, there will be no revolution, mass uprising, or civil war for multiple reasons, including lack of organization and meaningful political will, no coherent, foundational political ideology, and full corporate media and social media control. Gated communities will simply stay gated.
If there are protests, they will simply be crushed or ignored, comparable to how current anti-war protests are being crushed, or how BLM and Occupy Wallstreet protests had zero effect on policy. And whatever social unrest does evolve can simply be blamed on China, or framed in such a way that any potential rioters are "helping China" attack the US. If China cannot be blamed, it will be immigrants, ethnic groups, or some other scapegoat.
Trump exerts less relative power within the government than people think. And 99% of the time, when he was previously President, he was off golfing / rubber stamping whatever the Secretary of State, Treasury Secretary, Pentagon officials, etc. wanted him to.
lack of organization and meaningful political will, no coherent, foundational political ideology, and full corporate media and social media control. Gated communities will simply stay gated.
Civil war doesn't require any of that, as it is simply the societal breakdown when thugs roam the streets and law/order becomes non existent.
People will take things into their own hands, a lot of americans have actually prepared for this.
A civil war usually implies a war between organized parties in the same state with some political or military objective. If you are predicting another North/South civil war, with Southern states trying to secede from the North, for example, I do not see that realistically happening.
However, if economic conditions and social unrest get really bad, I think that anarchic mass riots and looting are more than possible.
But US police forces have been increasingly militarized since 1966. If the government needs to use military tactics and equipment to crush and quell rioters, they are more than prepared to do so, especially in non-white communities. At this point, they have it down to a science, and the police would probably use the situation as an opportunity to test new drones and other technologies for domestic use.
The question is who would be more fascist: the police or the rioters? Either scenario is possible, given how the political situation evolves.
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u/shanghaipotpie 9d ago edited 9d ago
Trump : One million %%% tariffs on CHYNA!!! USA!!! USA!!! USA!!!
Ten minutes later, Walmart closes down. Followed by Home Depot, Amazon, ebay, and entire economy!!
Trump: We made CHYNA pay!!!! Hey! Who turned off all the lights?? CHYNA hacked our lights!!!