Steve, you were right 42 days before it started. I’m afraid that the world has stopped waiting for Americans to figure out what they’re fighting for.
You asked if Schumer knows what he’s fighting for, if it’s the same thing Lincoln, Roosevelt, and King fought for. The answer is no. But while Americans debate that question internally, allies are building what comes next without them.
The 80-year era didn’t just end domestically. It ended globally. When the American president confuses Greenland with Iceland at Davos, threatens allied territory, deploys federal agents like brownshirts, and discusses prosecuting political opponents, the rest of the democratic world stops waiting for American renewal and starts building alternatives.
You’re focused on whether Americans will fight back, whether they’ll raise standards, whether opposition gets healthy. Those are the right domestic questions. But the international second-order effect: Europe, Canada, Japan, South Korea are decoupling from American reliability because they can’t make their security contingent on whether Americans save themselves.
The cost of losing to Trump is higher than most imagine. You’re right. But part of that cost is that even if Americans eventually win domestically, the trust is gone internationally. The post-American order is fracturing not because allies gave up on America, but because dependence on American democracy became a strategic vulnerability they can’t afford.
Your warning matters. But the world moved on while Americans debated what they’re fighting for.
Excellent points and very accurate, too. I am tired of agonizing about the country because most of the people around me are either indifferent or are MAGA partisans. My MAGA Congressman periodically sends me e mails telling me that Donald Trump is the greatest President this country has ever had. The Kool Aide in the South is as poisonous as it gets.
Perhaps the expiration date is 250 years and that may be a good thing. Federal Government personnel in Minnesota have been entering homes without a warrant.
"ICE officers told they can enter homes without a judge’s warrant." We can all thank johnboypedophileenablerdemocracykillerroberts....I loathe the half of us - the 'murKKKans who voted for the lardo NAZI.
Many people have argued the courts will save us. They are not, have not, will not do so. The johnboy court - SCROTI + 1 - anointed the lardo Fuhrer in the summer of 2024. Many people think there will be midterms. I ask: if (when) we patriot Americans lose...will you believe the results? If the Nazi goons can now LEGALLY enter our homes without a warrant...the corruption of the process and results will be massive. How do we live under a Nazi regime? Psychologically? Economically? Socially? Spiritually? The future - near - belongs to the EU and BRICS. Read Richard Wolff. Democracy...killed by stupidity and greed run amok? By christfasict white supremacy? What is to be done?
Cross roads indeed, one direction is lined with abandoned storefronts, among which is the remains of the Trump brand. The glass is dirty and dull and behind is the decrepit remains of a failed and broken ambition.
Yep, let's get to work and stop the hand wringing. Call your reps now, budget reconciliation is at the end of the month.NO MORE MONEY FOR ICE. If they vote to fund the gestapo, they are COMPLICINT. (Sorry to shout) Call!
Tell your politicians that Schumer and Jeffries need to be replaced, there are plenty of courageous politicians who've been vocal and courageous unlike these second-rate politicians.
I'm "hand wringing"? "Get to work?"...? Chuckles and the dems so far want only a few pennies less for ICE plus "training." My state is ugly... hateful, STUPID Red. My reps are WORTHLESS ...impervious to our reasoned arguments. How do I "convince" twisted homunculi with REASON and REALITY?! THERE IS NO way - now - to engage. I refuse to waste my energy pretending RED TRAITORS are amenable to intelligent debate. They are NOT.
DEMS MUST REFUSE TO FURTHER FUND THE CORRUPT GOVERNMENT
The first thing that needs to happen is for people to get a lot angrier than they are now. A lot of people who haven’t been directly affected are still sitting on the fence, wondering if they are safe from the Trump regime’s tactics of terror. They are not.
ICE is being “secretly” authorized to kick down doors and search homes without an arrest warrant. Apparently, the memo authorizing this is shown to the newer, less qualified recruits of the goon squad, which we believe are being selected from the dregs of the radical right. I suspect that soon, some terrified homeowner is going to protect their home and families, from these masked intruders in a predictable way. It seems like a setup to use new recruits as cannon fodder, so Trump can wrongfully justify martial law.
ICE is spreading to more cities and arming themselves with more lethal weapons and tactics. They are disregarding any laws that might constrain their actions. They are now indiscriminately beating and detaining anyone that annoys them. The mandate of only rounding up criminal illegals is no longer relevant. Nobody is save. The colour of your skin will not save you from persecution. 100 Rabbis are joining protests against the Gestapo like tactics, because they must realize that eventually the Nazi racists ranks of ICE will come for the Jewish people as well.
At this moment many Democrats are considering increased budgets for ICE, despite witnessing the widespread abuse occurring. This cannot be allowed to happen. No Dem should be supporting a single motion or bill presented by the rogue Republican Party, who have sworn fealty to Trump. Any who do need to be ousted from the party at the first opportunity.
Waiting until May to hold a general strike is almost as foolish as hoping the November midterms will miraculously provide a solution.
Jan 30th the current budget expires. That is the date the Dems need to stand up and refuse to cosign a new CR. That is also the date that citizens need to begin a massive nationwide strike to demonstrate their disgust and discontent. There is more than enough evidence now that the Trump regime has gone completely rogue. Now is the time to say, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”
The President is a corrupt self-centred maniac and his cabinet of sycophants are in lock step with his draconian rule. The corruption and abuse will only intensify, as the tech bro billionaires continue to fund the regime, in efforts to destroy any resemblance of government oversight.
The general strike will cause many people pain, suffering and sacrifice, but thousands of innocent people will suffer far greater abuse if this action is not taken very soon.
The current path of Trump’s regime will result in the entire population living in servitude, without a voice to dissent, if it is not stopped. Trump plans to tank the economy, while amassing a grifted fortune in Crypto for himself and his cronies. A poor population is a lot easier to subjugate.
The general strike needs to urgently start at the end of this month. The unified message needs to be the complete removal of the current criminal cabal raping and pillaging America. Any further hesitation will only expedite your surrender into serfdom and tyrannical domination.
Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. There are never paywalls here.
"Angrier"...yes. For months I have seen this coming and have wondered...where is the OUTRAGE? The Courts will save us. NO NO NO. The SCROTI 5 + 1 ANOINTED the lardosmellybutt Fuhrer. The Dems will "save" us. NO NO NO. They "play nice" with the Nazis and think the only problem with ICE is "training." NO NO NO. ICE CAN NOW ENTER *YOUR* HOME WITH NO WARRANT. The midterms will "save us." SERIOUSLY?! NO NO NO. The disruption, threats, troops in the streets, attacks on voting rights, gerrymandering. Seriously - fair, honest, corruption free midterms?!?! *N.O.* We PATRIOTS are IN DEADLY DENIAL. WE ARE DONE.
After all of this…NYT poll today says 73% of Republicans think the country is better off than a year ago, 16% think it’s about the same, only 11% think it’s worse. I’m in Minnesota and I think this poll accurately reflects Minnesota Republicans as well. None of this horror is registering with Republicans. That is the terrifying truth. That is why Congress will continue to do nothing.
The most deadly effect/consequence of abandoning democratic principles and injecting Nazi-style nihilism into 'murka has nothing to do with politics. The cabal of sadists has effectively shut the door on Any meaningful efforts to slow down or curb the disastrous, ongoing, exponentially multiplying destruction of the Climate Emergency. 'murkans are religiously myopic and trivial in their consciousness that the fate of almost all biota depend upon the balance of sequestered carbon, the health of saline and fresh water, and the quality of the breathable atmosphere, to name just three of dozens of 'points of no return.' I am so sick and disgusted with the cavalier attitudes of 95 percent of our citizens about their responsibilities for caring for the House of Earth. Roll your eyes again, folks, all you want, until your teeth hurt. You will NOT escape the inevitability of Mr. Smith in this Matrix world we have created and continue to treat as if we will outrun our own stupidity. This cabal has a death wish, always has had it. 37 years of peace out of 3-4 thousand years of 'civilization.' I also am puking every time I hear some pundit say 'we must do better.' Never, with this megalomaniacal and frivolous attitude that we are just too smart and too important to fail. We already HAVE failed, which is why we LIE like hell about everything.
Thanks for reminding us, Steve, of the failures of the US democracy.
I contacted my three federal representatives yesterday, Rep. Himes, Senators Murphy and Blumenthal on the most odious of the dictator's actions that I could think of and to have them get "The Epstein files" released in full with only the victims names redacted. On every level of the federal government we are seeing an attack on lawful and just order and governance. The GOP governmental "leaders" are acting like Kim Jong-Un's or Vladamir Putin's yes men. There is very little independence manifested by them. Most of Biden's Democratic Party allies were leery of opposing him in significant ways. The Founders were critical of a party spirit: George Washington was critical of the "baneful effects of the spirit of party". We've had a few senators register as "independents" but caucus with the Democrats, but we've not seen that with the GOP, though Ron Paul was a libertarian. The reality US politicians speak about that to remain viable they are continually "dialing for dollars" is one root cause of this. Most other democratic countries are not so afflicted by the corrupting influences of greed. The Roberts Court is one major contributer to this as well as a cause of the Constitutional crisis we are in.
I believe in spiritual, social and physical remedies to most all human problems. The 19th century saw reform after reform movements, people uniting for social and political improvement. In the 20th century some of the political reforms were abandoned such as the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution overturned by the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution. In this century we've had many political and social challenges and the unforeseen threat posed by a political contagion in the US created by a number of causes that worked to elect an utterly depraved, ruthless and evil individual bent on revenge to destroy our institutions and Pax Americana. It feels like an angry, malicious, vengeful demonic force pushing against institutional laws and rules until it gets its will. Every strong and courageous push-back opens up markers in the cult to get their will and their revenge next time. New targets get developed to make "examples" of vulnerable, often defenseless people to be attacked and gotten rid of. It's clearly a war, part psychological, economic, political in international spheres of power and influence. They teach people to ignore their senses, their eyes and viscera, their empathies and cognitive reactions. When have we seen this before? What other cults, religions and mob-based activities of the past operated according to the same forces? What has worked to stop them and why is the US so vulnerable?
Tomorrow brings us another opportunity to stand up for justice and equality and fight back against racism.
Do not despair, sit, cry, wring hands. Get out today wherever you are and join us on the streets while you still have that opportunity, given to you by those with COURAGE.
From my perspective with years of on-the ground and scholarly experience, everything you've written here is spot-on. We have a 50-50 chance of getting out of this period with a renewed, revised, evolved form of government and civic understanding. And a 50% chance of us disintegrating in terribly dangerous ways, with instability on every block, nothing functioning, going back to war lords, or billionaires making us serfs/vassals to their trillionaire status. My 14 year old grandson with whom I have great historical and political discussions tells me, "I don't like living in interesting times."
Yes, you were prophetic -- and sadly, the failing will continue because the great system our founders had devised, has been conquered with all the key balance of power levers in the hands of incompetent, angry, vindictive and anti-democratic authoritarians. So while the comments of even the most admirable fighters like you will address Trump's crazy, nasty, and insane rants of the day (along with some deplorable para-military actions), just hope a physical plan to rebuild, restore and reimagine true solutions for all the systems and institutions that everyone knows were broken EMERGES SOON. Don't know where the air needed to breath that into the American conscience NOW will come from -- Substack and you can be the start. WE HAD A DREAM that took a decade (and a few decades of putting enablers in SCOTUS) to make it look like it was beyond most American's reach (rigged against them, ironically by the supporters and party of the demagogue they chose). So we need more than a few months before an election and starting the same political banter battles -- we need more than that dangerous short term one-election chemotherapy. Lastly, as others have commented, we have lost the trust of the world and like Canada did months ago, they will all be moving on as a smart business decision (with American workers eventually suffering). But the questions of whether we can come back economically will be immaterial, if we cannot restore our internal trust in our current severely ailing "Democratic" system. As a start, suggest you have Jake Auchincloss on again, to review redefining/explaining that Democracy word into the Freedoms it represents (and his other concrete plans). In other words, need a message understandability change, as well as younger more articulate messengers. Go Steve!
Steve, you were right 42 days before it started. I’m afraid that the world has stopped waiting for Americans to figure out what they’re fighting for.
You asked if Schumer knows what he’s fighting for, if it’s the same thing Lincoln, Roosevelt, and King fought for. The answer is no. But while Americans debate that question internally, allies are building what comes next without them.
The 80-year era didn’t just end domestically. It ended globally. When the American president confuses Greenland with Iceland at Davos, threatens allied territory, deploys federal agents like brownshirts, and discusses prosecuting political opponents, the rest of the democratic world stops waiting for American renewal and starts building alternatives.
You’re focused on whether Americans will fight back, whether they’ll raise standards, whether opposition gets healthy. Those are the right domestic questions. But the international second-order effect: Europe, Canada, Japan, South Korea are decoupling from American reliability because they can’t make their security contingent on whether Americans save themselves.
The cost of losing to Trump is higher than most imagine. You’re right. But part of that cost is that even if Americans eventually win domestically, the trust is gone internationally. The post-American order is fracturing not because allies gave up on America, but because dependence on American democracy became a strategic vulnerability they can’t afford.
Your warning matters. But the world moved on while Americans debated what they’re fighting for.
— Johan
Former foreign service officer
Excellent points and very accurate, too. I am tired of agonizing about the country because most of the people around me are either indifferent or are MAGA partisans. My MAGA Congressman periodically sends me e mails telling me that Donald Trump is the greatest President this country has ever had. The Kool Aide in the South is as poisonous as it gets.
It's pretty poisonous in certain districts of Orange County, California too.
Thank you for this excellent comment!
Excellent...thank you. 👍
All so truly expressed Steve and Johan.
And we naive people thought the domestic takeover plan by the wannabe despot Trump was the only abhorrent battle we were faced with — in 2025.
But now it’s 2026 and we’re a bit late to begin fighting for our country’s allegiance as a respected world leader.
What a waste… if only we had been paying more attention —instead of acting like privileged children and believing the American Dream would endure.
It’s nearly unbearable for me to imagine what kind of life my great/grandchildren will experience.
Perhaps the expiration date is 250 years and that may be a good thing. Federal Government personnel in Minnesota have been entering homes without a warrant.
ICE personnel entered a school yesterday in Minnesota and kidnapped a 5 year old. As I said, 250 years was enough.
They have also been asking neighbors where their neighbors are and what they’re doing, where they have been, etc.
1930’s Germany IMO.
Any ICE agent asking where your neighbor is and what they’re doing has one simple response.
Go and fuck yourself.
It's over...this is bigger than big: headline:
"ICE officers told they can enter homes without a judge’s warrant." We can all thank johnboypedophileenablerdemocracykillerroberts....I loathe the half of us - the 'murKKKans who voted for the lardo NAZI.
Many people have argued the courts will save us. They are not, have not, will not do so. The johnboy court - SCROTI + 1 - anointed the lardo Fuhrer in the summer of 2024. Many people think there will be midterms. I ask: if (when) we patriot Americans lose...will you believe the results? If the Nazi goons can now LEGALLY enter our homes without a warrant...the corruption of the process and results will be massive. How do we live under a Nazi regime? Psychologically? Economically? Socially? Spiritually? The future - near - belongs to the EU and BRICS. Read Richard Wolff. Democracy...killed by stupidity and greed run amok? By christfasict white supremacy? What is to be done?
Stunning speech, Steve! Scary, too. Wake-up, America!
Cross roads indeed, one direction is lined with abandoned storefronts, among which is the remains of the Trump brand. The glass is dirty and dull and behind is the decrepit remains of a failed and broken ambition.
Yep, let's get to work and stop the hand wringing. Call your reps now, budget reconciliation is at the end of the month.NO MORE MONEY FOR ICE. If they vote to fund the gestapo, they are COMPLICINT. (Sorry to shout) Call!
Tell your politicians that Schumer and Jeffries need to be replaced, there are plenty of courageous politicians who've been vocal and courageous unlike these second-rate politicians.
I'm "hand wringing"? "Get to work?"...? Chuckles and the dems so far want only a few pennies less for ICE plus "training." My state is ugly... hateful, STUPID Red. My reps are WORTHLESS ...impervious to our reasoned arguments. How do I "convince" twisted homunculi with REASON and REALITY?! THERE IS NO way - now - to engage. I refuse to waste my energy pretending RED TRAITORS are amenable to intelligent debate. They are NOT.
STRIKE TO DEMAND REGIME CHANGE NOW
DEMS MUST REFUSE TO FURTHER FUND THE CORRUPT GOVERNMENT
The first thing that needs to happen is for people to get a lot angrier than they are now. A lot of people who haven’t been directly affected are still sitting on the fence, wondering if they are safe from the Trump regime’s tactics of terror. They are not.
ICE is being “secretly” authorized to kick down doors and search homes without an arrest warrant. Apparently, the memo authorizing this is shown to the newer, less qualified recruits of the goon squad, which we believe are being selected from the dregs of the radical right. I suspect that soon, some terrified homeowner is going to protect their home and families, from these masked intruders in a predictable way. It seems like a setup to use new recruits as cannon fodder, so Trump can wrongfully justify martial law.
ICE is spreading to more cities and arming themselves with more lethal weapons and tactics. They are disregarding any laws that might constrain their actions. They are now indiscriminately beating and detaining anyone that annoys them. The mandate of only rounding up criminal illegals is no longer relevant. Nobody is save. The colour of your skin will not save you from persecution. 100 Rabbis are joining protests against the Gestapo like tactics, because they must realize that eventually the Nazi racists ranks of ICE will come for the Jewish people as well.
At this moment many Democrats are considering increased budgets for ICE, despite witnessing the widespread abuse occurring. This cannot be allowed to happen. No Dem should be supporting a single motion or bill presented by the rogue Republican Party, who have sworn fealty to Trump. Any who do need to be ousted from the party at the first opportunity.
Waiting until May to hold a general strike is almost as foolish as hoping the November midterms will miraculously provide a solution.
Jan 30th the current budget expires. That is the date the Dems need to stand up and refuse to cosign a new CR. That is also the date that citizens need to begin a massive nationwide strike to demonstrate their disgust and discontent. There is more than enough evidence now that the Trump regime has gone completely rogue. Now is the time to say, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”
The President is a corrupt self-centred maniac and his cabinet of sycophants are in lock step with his draconian rule. The corruption and abuse will only intensify, as the tech bro billionaires continue to fund the regime, in efforts to destroy any resemblance of government oversight.
The general strike will cause many people pain, suffering and sacrifice, but thousands of innocent people will suffer far greater abuse if this action is not taken very soon.
The current path of Trump’s regime will result in the entire population living in servitude, without a voice to dissent, if it is not stopped. Trump plans to tank the economy, while amassing a grifted fortune in Crypto for himself and his cronies. A poor population is a lot easier to subjugate.
The general strike needs to urgently start at the end of this month. The unified message needs to be the complete removal of the current criminal cabal raping and pillaging America. Any further hesitation will only expedite your surrender into serfdom and tyrannical domination.
Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. There are never paywalls here.
"Angrier"...yes. For months I have seen this coming and have wondered...where is the OUTRAGE? The Courts will save us. NO NO NO. The SCROTI 5 + 1 ANOINTED the lardosmellybutt Fuhrer. The Dems will "save" us. NO NO NO. They "play nice" with the Nazis and think the only problem with ICE is "training." NO NO NO. ICE CAN NOW ENTER *YOUR* HOME WITH NO WARRANT. The midterms will "save us." SERIOUSLY?! NO NO NO. The disruption, threats, troops in the streets, attacks on voting rights, gerrymandering. Seriously - fair, honest, corruption free midterms?!?! *N.O.* We PATRIOTS are IN DEADLY DENIAL. WE ARE DONE.
Rubert Murdoch is the cancer of democracy.
After all of this…NYT poll today says 73% of Republicans think the country is better off than a year ago, 16% think it’s about the same, only 11% think it’s worse. I’m in Minnesota and I think this poll accurately reflects Minnesota Republicans as well. None of this horror is registering with Republicans. That is the terrifying truth. That is why Congress will continue to do nothing.
The most deadly effect/consequence of abandoning democratic principles and injecting Nazi-style nihilism into 'murka has nothing to do with politics. The cabal of sadists has effectively shut the door on Any meaningful efforts to slow down or curb the disastrous, ongoing, exponentially multiplying destruction of the Climate Emergency. 'murkans are religiously myopic and trivial in their consciousness that the fate of almost all biota depend upon the balance of sequestered carbon, the health of saline and fresh water, and the quality of the breathable atmosphere, to name just three of dozens of 'points of no return.' I am so sick and disgusted with the cavalier attitudes of 95 percent of our citizens about their responsibilities for caring for the House of Earth. Roll your eyes again, folks, all you want, until your teeth hurt. You will NOT escape the inevitability of Mr. Smith in this Matrix world we have created and continue to treat as if we will outrun our own stupidity. This cabal has a death wish, always has had it. 37 years of peace out of 3-4 thousand years of 'civilization.' I also am puking every time I hear some pundit say 'we must do better.' Never, with this megalomaniacal and frivolous attitude that we are just too smart and too important to fail. We already HAVE failed, which is why we LIE like hell about everything.
Thanks for reminding us, Steve, of the failures of the US democracy.
I contacted my three federal representatives yesterday, Rep. Himes, Senators Murphy and Blumenthal on the most odious of the dictator's actions that I could think of and to have them get "The Epstein files" released in full with only the victims names redacted. On every level of the federal government we are seeing an attack on lawful and just order and governance. The GOP governmental "leaders" are acting like Kim Jong-Un's or Vladamir Putin's yes men. There is very little independence manifested by them. Most of Biden's Democratic Party allies were leery of opposing him in significant ways. The Founders were critical of a party spirit: George Washington was critical of the "baneful effects of the spirit of party". We've had a few senators register as "independents" but caucus with the Democrats, but we've not seen that with the GOP, though Ron Paul was a libertarian. The reality US politicians speak about that to remain viable they are continually "dialing for dollars" is one root cause of this. Most other democratic countries are not so afflicted by the corrupting influences of greed. The Roberts Court is one major contributer to this as well as a cause of the Constitutional crisis we are in.
I believe in spiritual, social and physical remedies to most all human problems. The 19th century saw reform after reform movements, people uniting for social and political improvement. In the 20th century some of the political reforms were abandoned such as the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution overturned by the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution. In this century we've had many political and social challenges and the unforeseen threat posed by a political contagion in the US created by a number of causes that worked to elect an utterly depraved, ruthless and evil individual bent on revenge to destroy our institutions and Pax Americana. It feels like an angry, malicious, vengeful demonic force pushing against institutional laws and rules until it gets its will. Every strong and courageous push-back opens up markers in the cult to get their will and their revenge next time. New targets get developed to make "examples" of vulnerable, often defenseless people to be attacked and gotten rid of. It's clearly a war, part psychological, economic, political in international spheres of power and influence. They teach people to ignore their senses, their eyes and viscera, their empathies and cognitive reactions. When have we seen this before? What other cults, religions and mob-based activities of the past operated according to the same forces? What has worked to stop them and why is the US so vulnerable?
Tomorrow brings us another opportunity to stand up for justice and equality and fight back against racism.
Do not despair, sit, cry, wring hands. Get out today wherever you are and join us on the streets while you still have that opportunity, given to you by those with COURAGE.
See you out there…
I'll take what comfort I can find. Taco might have bit off more than he can chew over Greendland. Their distinctive red and white flag still flys.
Now to read the undoubtedly excellent post.
From my perspective with years of on-the ground and scholarly experience, everything you've written here is spot-on. We have a 50-50 chance of getting out of this period with a renewed, revised, evolved form of government and civic understanding. And a 50% chance of us disintegrating in terribly dangerous ways, with instability on every block, nothing functioning, going back to war lords, or billionaires making us serfs/vassals to their trillionaire status. My 14 year old grandson with whom I have great historical and political discussions tells me, "I don't like living in interesting times."
Yes, you were prophetic -- and sadly, the failing will continue because the great system our founders had devised, has been conquered with all the key balance of power levers in the hands of incompetent, angry, vindictive and anti-democratic authoritarians. So while the comments of even the most admirable fighters like you will address Trump's crazy, nasty, and insane rants of the day (along with some deplorable para-military actions), just hope a physical plan to rebuild, restore and reimagine true solutions for all the systems and institutions that everyone knows were broken EMERGES SOON. Don't know where the air needed to breath that into the American conscience NOW will come from -- Substack and you can be the start. WE HAD A DREAM that took a decade (and a few decades of putting enablers in SCOTUS) to make it look like it was beyond most American's reach (rigged against them, ironically by the supporters and party of the demagogue they chose). So we need more than a few months before an election and starting the same political banter battles -- we need more than that dangerous short term one-election chemotherapy. Lastly, as others have commented, we have lost the trust of the world and like Canada did months ago, they will all be moving on as a smart business decision (with American workers eventually suffering). But the questions of whether we can come back economically will be immaterial, if we cannot restore our internal trust in our current severely ailing "Democratic" system. As a start, suggest you have Jake Auchincloss on again, to review redefining/explaining that Democracy word into the Freedoms it represents (and his other concrete plans). In other words, need a message understandability change, as well as younger more articulate messengers. Go Steve!