It’s not outside threats that take down empires, it’s the rot growing from within.
And, honestly, when you look at where America stands right now, the pattern is hard to miss.
We’ve built a system that doesn’t reward strength or discipline. What we have built rewards whoever gets big enough, dirty enough, or so entangled enough that we’re too scared to let them fail.
That’s the brutal cycle. And it’s wrecking us.
First off… I Am A Firm Believer That Trump is Bat-Shit Crazy
I wanted to make that clear, but on the plus side, he has no real physical vanity, otherwise he might do something about his hair, because lets face it… it didn’t even work in the seventies and eighties, let alone now, which means bat-shit crazy is his thing… his trope, if you will.
That being said…
Too Big to Fail: The First Betrayal
Everyone old enough remembers the 2008 financial collapse… or at least they remember getting stuck with the bill for it. Thank you, Mr. Bush for saddling Obama with the only horse left after you and yours allowed it to happen. And Mr. Obama… WTF were you thinking… did you have Trump level investment in the Too Big To Fall trope?
The story we got at the time was that bailing out the big banks, the insurers, and the financial houses was necessary. “If they fail, the whole system collapses.” That was the excuse.
Many bought it… I didn’t, but who am I.
But, we acquiesced and bought it. We bought the stilts upon which the financial system stood, and we used the backs of the American taxpayers. Not even fair to say taxpayers, because if your big enough… you would be bailed out anyway. We propped up failure.
We bailed out greed. We saved recklessness. We punished responsibility, we raked the American dream across the coals of the words: TOO BIG TO FAIL!
We kept alive a system that should have been allowed to burn off its rot.
Instead of rebuilding it, making it better and stronger, , we decided to preserve the disease.
The message was loud and clear to every corporation, every bank, every power player:
“If you’re big enough to hurt the system, the system will protect you.”
And it wasn’t just Wall Street. It wasn’t just “the banks.”
People like Donald Trump — were knee-deep in the same rot before it blew up.
—Trump’s empire was all about big real estate projects fueled by cheap credit.
–He over-leveraged, bet on prices always going up, and made risky deals because the money was flowing like water.
–When things went bad in the past, he didn’t eat the loss — he strong-armed his lenders and renegotiated his survival.
He didn’t cause the 2008 crash. But he sure as hell lived in the world that made it possible.
He played the same game: borrow big, build big, get too entangled to fail without wrecking the system.
When the crash came, guys like him just rebranded and moved on.
Ordinary Americans got foreclosure notices. Guys like Trump kept the gold-plated toilets.
That’s the real story of the 2008 bailouts:
Not just saving the banks — saving the whole rotten way of thinking.
Too Big to Confront: The Second Betrayal
Now fast-forward to today.
We’re staring at another ticking bomb — only this time it’s trade, supply chains, and national dependency.
China controls critical manufacturing.
They produce our medicines, our semiconductors, our key technology components.
We already know this isn’t sustainable. We also know it makes us vulnerable.
And still, what do we hear? No… not hear… what do we allow them to keep saying?
—“We can’t impose tariffs — it’ll hurt too much.”
–“We can’t rebuild at home — it’s too expensive.”
–“We can’t confront the dependencies — they’re too big.”
It’s the same lie they told in 2008, just wearing a different outfit.
Too big to fail became too big to confront.
We’re so scared of facing short-term pain that we’re willing to keep sliding deeper into long-term collapse.
Every empire that ever fell made this same trade, short-term comfort instead of hard decisions and bearing corrections.
“Overt denial instead of discipline.” Says the stork, forevermore.
Though overly simplified: (do your own research-this is an opinion piece-NOT a doctorate level dissertation)
–Out of the Panic of 1837, came stronger, more disciplined banking systems, real wealth built on real assets, not paper speculation.
–Out of the collapse of thousands of banks in the Great Depression, came the firewalls that protected American finance for a generation, Glass-Steagall, FDIC insurance, real oversight.
–Out of the post-World War II industrial crash, came what many consider the golden age of American manufacturing, consumer goods, innovation, and a middle class that built the modern world.
–Out of the Dot-Com bust, came the real mega-titans of technology, leaner, smarter companies that rebuilt the digital economy on real value, not hype.
Growth Without Morality: The Empire’s Fatal Bargain
Here’s the dirty truth:
We’re sending a message to every company, every foreign government, every bank:
“Get big enough, reckless enough, and we will save you.”
That’s not capitalism and certainly not strength.
That’s surrender.
If Microsoft crashed tomorrow, would we bail them out?
If Amazon collapsed, would we write them a blank check?
Probably.
But not because it’s right, but because we’re so tangled up in them now that failure would hurt too much for the upper echelon to stomach.
It’s the same story, again and again:
Play dirty, grow fast, become critical — and we’ll bend the knee.
This isn’t how you build a healthy economy.
It’s how you build an empire that falls on its face.
The Moral Reckoning: What Future Will We Choose?
Here’s the real choice in front of us:
—We can keep patching the rot, kicking the can down the road, and hoping the collapse doesn’t happen on our watch.
–Or we can take the hit now — tear down what needs tearing down, rebuild industries at home, accept the pain that real strength demands.
Pain is not the enemy and collapse is not a permanent inevitability.
Dependency is the enemy, and cowardice… well that is its own reward now, isn’t it.
If we get honest about it. we realize:
—If a system can only survive by saving its failures and preserving its parasites,
then it doesn’t deserve to survive.
–It deserves to be rebuilt… stronger, leaner, more honorable… and even if it means we have to start from the ashes of our own mistakes.
—We need to learn as a country… our strength has never been in our fear of failure.
One Last Thing
Empires fall when they choose comfort over character.
If we want America to endure, it’s time to stop saving the rot.
It’s time to stop protecting the failures.
It’s time to break the brutal cycle.
Before it breaks us.
And Mr. President…
YO!
Trump… looking at you buddy…
being right once, does not make you sane.