I say without any hyperbole that what we're witnessing is the end of American empire.<p>So-called "accelerationists" are excited about this. But empires take a long time to die and go out with a bang rather than just fading peacefully into history.<p>What we're witnessing with universities and the illegal black-bagging of legal visitors and permanent residents is an unprecedented assault on the First Amendment. Only the McCarthy era probably comes close. We are very much in the era of thoughtcrime [1].<p>Fascism flames out because when loyalty is the only thing that matters, the administration turns into sycophantic morons. The courts won't save us. They've long since been subverted, a key pillar of the 50+ year Republican Project. There is no serious opposition to any of this.<p>There is no safe haven from this either. It's not Europe. Just look at the elections and political momentum in the UK, France, Germany and Hungary.<p>What's sad is the number of people who champion this as if it's going to make their lives any better. But cruelty, revenge and repression is the point. There are an awful lot of people who have legitimate grievances about the destruction of their standard of living, their material conditions. Yet nobody has done anything to address those concerns.<p>Things are going to get very, very bad.<p>[1]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoughtcrime" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoughtcrime</a>