“Turbo-America” is Beginning to Resonate – by Niccolo Soldo
In the meantime, the shepherd-sage of Croatia, Niccolo Soldo, whose Fisted by Foucault has won most hilarious Substack blog name for like two years running, has written one of the more interesting takes I ve seen on the elections broader meaning for the world. His argument is that, with the Trump presidency a mere speedbump that is now in the rear view mirror, the ruling oligarchy of what s been described elsewhere on The Upheaval as the Extreme Center has now firmly demonstrated its ability to leverage institutional power to break apart and fight off populist challenges from both right and left. Overall the big takeaway should thus be that:
The US regime is stable and has shook off internal threats to it with ease, while moving against the two big powers that it wants to cut down to size.
Populism of the left or the right does not serve the empire. This is why you, as a populist, right wing American, should view yourself as a citizen of Rome, living on the Italian peninsula some time in between the rule of Emperors Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, unhappy with all of these Levantines washing ashore, transforming the cities stretching from Syracuse on the island of Sicily up to Mediolanum. You are not at the tail end of US Empire, but rather somewhere in the middle (possibly even at its height).
He adds that:
The desire to see yourself at the centre of a tumultuous era, where the end of a regime takes place reflects the psychological condition that I described at the beginning of this essay. It s no different than the apocalyptic cults surrounding extremist Climate Change activists, or the various end of the world sects throughout human history. This is perfectly natural behaviour.
I am sad to report to you that the end of the USA is nowhere in sight, the regime has reinforced itself, and it is now back to business as usual.*