1. We cannot now rule out the possibility of systemic collapse in the United States. If Trump and Musk paralyse the federal government, this could trigger social, financial and industrial failures. Neither Trump nor his team know how to respond to such failures, which could snowball and converge. 🧵 2. This, in turn, is likely to catalyse global financial collapse, followed by ... God knows what. It won't be pretty. 3. “But the 2026 Congressionals - they'll fix it!” Well, they might happen, but if Trump thinks he'll lose, he will use every possible means to spanner them. He might declare a state of emergency. His militias might turn up at polling stations. Ballots could be impounded or destroyed. 4. There will be legal and constitutional challenges, but most will bite after the event. And US citizens are so bombarded with fake news and disinformation that they won't know what to believe. 5. Nor can most of us in other countries rely on our governments to fix the escalating crises we too will face. Most of them are also in hock to corporate and oligarchic power, and apparently incapable of taking the bold measures required to solve our common problems. 6. So what do we do? Number 1, *don't face this alone*. Alone we can do almost nothing, together we can do a lot. Make friends, form support networks with your neighbours, help those who are struggling. 7. We should be doing this anyway, but now there’s added urgency. Since the dawn of humankind, those with effective social networks have been more resilient than those without. That’s why humans are the supremely social mammal (with the possible exception of the naked mole-rat*). 8. Openly discuss what we face, talk through the means by which we might respond. Tap into our collective genius. Through neighbourhood networks, we should start building a resilient, deliberative, participatory democracy, to resolve at least the issues that can be fixed at the local level. 9. To the greatest extent possible, we should secure local resources for the community (in England this will be made easier with the forthcoming Community Right to Buy, like Scotland's). 10. From our democratised neighbourhoods, we should seek to build a new politics, along the lines proposed by Murray Bookchin, in which decisions are passed upwards, not downwards. 11. The beauty of this approach is that you don't have to wait for anyone at the political centre (we could wait forever) or ask anyone's permission to begin. It starts on our doorsteps. I'm not suggesting it’s easy, but nothing worth doing ever is. Especially in politics. 12. Every freedom, every improvement we have ever gained has been achieved through struggle. Our rights have arisen through previously powerless people combining to develop networks of community power. Democratic power is never given. It has to be taken. 13. Is there something about our age which prevents us from stepping up, as our political ancestors did? Well, that's what some people would have us believe. But I don't think it's true. I think we are just as capable as before of rising to the political challenge. Even if it means hard work. 14. The alternative is to sit and wait, in our atomised, consumerised state, for catastrophe, then, without social or political resources, wonder what to do. Believe me, that would be a whole load harder. 15. *The naked mole-rat is a eusocial mammal, so it’s not quite the same**. **Just in case you were confused on this point***. ***Though you probably weren’t, until I tried to explain it. The thread on one page: skywriter.blue
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