What we Americans are witnessing now is how it looks and feels when an empire destroys itself. We have far to fall, but fall we will. Trump and his minions are making exactly the right moves to both hobble their enemies and to destroy any institutions that would oppose the devastation.

Unfortunately, by necessity this means annihilating the productive and scientific capacity of the United States. A lot of people are too ignorant of history to recognize what is happening or, even worse, actually desire this outcome. In a way, they deserve it; they could’ve prevented all this and have done nothing. To be fair, Obama and his lack of interest in the preservation of the republic is what led directly to where we are now, though he can’t wholly be blamed. Like Trump, he just wanted to get richer no matter the cost. They are more similar than we’d like to admit. Obama was just smarter, though no less craven.

The reactionary conservatives do not care that binning America’s productivity and dynamism will make it an also-ran and a vassal to China. What matters to them is that they are in control. As is often said — and is ever true — Republicans would be content with a dung heap, as long as they are at the top of that heap.

And right now, the MAGA doofs are rapidly converting America into a dung heap so large it’d stagger an army of scarab beetles.