Except that what we are living through isn’t the collapse of the Roman Empire. It’s the Birth of the Roman Empire and the collapse of the Roman Republic.
Counterargument: the leadership change is well thought out, but the economic part isn’t at all. The US system is built on consumption => the first thing people cut back under existential duress is consumption. I still don’t see a well hashed out plan on replacing consumption with something else to drive the economy. Of course the US could go and start annexing new territories to maintain “growth” but I suspect it isn’t really a sustainable approach, and thus far they just let trump talk shit about it as a tool of distraction rather than a concrete plan.
TL;DR: empires need to have viable economies. The US isn’t ready to switch away from a consumer society, and scared people don’t consume.
Counterargument: the leadership change is well thought out, but the economic part isn’t at all. The US system is built on consumption => the first thing people cut back under existential duress is consumption. I still don’t see a well hashed out plan on replacing consumption with something else to drive the economy. Of course the US could go and start annexing new territories to maintain “growth” but I suspect it isn’t really a sustainable approach, and thus far they just let trump talk shit about it as a tool of distraction rather than a concrete plan.
TL;DR: empires need to have viable economies. The US isn’t ready to switch away from a consumer society, and scared people don’t consume.