I don’t think invasion is the first step after the dissolution of the US. I think Texas becomes the new center of a southern entity for the reasons mentioned, but the other southern territories becomes vassal states to Texas. Many of the southern states rely heavily on federal aid to exist. Texas will leverage this to use Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, maybe South Carolina (plus those you mention) as near slave labor to feed its wealth and influence. As a new constitution is negotiated Texas will emerge as the center of a christofascist nation. Florida maintains a tenuous parity with Texas until rising seas make it uninhabitable. They then plead with the great Texas union to provide aid at which point they become subjugated the same as the others.

On thing is for sure, they’d fix immigration overnight. No one would be trying to escape TO The Holy Christian Union of Texas.

Come to think of it, the first post US armed conflict will likely be the HCUT pushing into Mexico as it grabs for the Panama canal and eventually the natural resources of South America.

I wish I was more creative. I’d love to write a post-American fictional novel.

do you see the older population voting for him then?

Feel free to call me Chicken Little, but I believe we have likely voted in our last free and open election. Between voter suppression, media consolidation, and outright manipulation, I can imagine an outcome that no longer reflects even the illusion of the people’s will.

id choose healthcare

If only it were that easy. Relocating is financially draining. And emotionally challenging if you’re leaving family behind. And, why don’t we all move to Canada, or Europe, or anywhere else for healthcare? You don’t think the first thing Texas does after the split is put up checkpoints and require “papers” to travel outside the New Confederate States of Jesus Christ?

I hope we look back on this conversation in four years and all agree I was alarmist and overly imaginative. And wrong. But with every headline it seems we inch closer.

I’m starting to see more and more that this is how the inevitable schism will occur. I was afraid our nation’s demise would be armed conflict, but based on the last week I now believe it will be some combination of Feds withholding funding, states responding by withholding revenue, and then those states that are net exporters of dollars to the federal government just starts managing themselves without oversight.

States will form coalitions of like-minded governments with similar economic interests. States like California and Texas will be centers of gravity and will have incredible negotiating power. Others (see: deep red south) will slide into near third world status. Some might actually become Canadian Territories. Interesting to think about academically.

Surely someone has done the research and put the thought into how this could go. And written it down?