When I was born, America was one of the great democracies of the world.
In the 1990’s, partisan media started polarizing the country.
In the 2000’s, the internet starting creating a national discourse that could fully detach from reality.
In the 2010’s, right wing media created a president who spent most of his time creating and amplifying propaganda. One can interpret almost everything he does through that lens. He was an addict of the product before he entered politics, and he serves the product now.
At the dawn of the 2020’s, he will stand trial for bribery with the intent of creating more political propaganda. There is no serious defense. He will be acquitted because his party believes that is an essential part of the job.
Few will go out in the streets, because it is clear that they have no power against this machine. His half of the country is untouchable.
The difference between true democracies and merely nominal democracies can be explained by the power of propaganda. Why lock the journalists up when you can drown them out?
What America is now is hard to say. It may take another ten years to gauge, and I think it depends in large part on what norms the propaganda-state decides to embrace, what types of power it wants. It may be happy to solidify its grip on traditional powers. It may choose to quash resistance when third parties attempt to hack the voting system. It may go after “illegal” votes. It may load the courts with types sympathetic to this project.
One of the most important political projects for the rest of the world will be how to contain America, and to understand and combat the forces that broke it.