Russell Jones's Week Moment: A Warning to Komrade Kia-Ora and Sissy Space X
Trump and Musk may believe they're Roman emperors, but their reckless actions could soon bring America's modern empire crashing down, says Russell Jones
It’s a truism that America is the modern Rome: the unassailable power in the world, a vast political, economic, and military machine, so rich and dominant that it feels both unassailable and perpetual.
But the key word here is feels.
America, just like Rome, only feels powerful because we let it. And as conservative influencer Ben Shapiro insists, facts don’t care about your feelings. The fact is that the Roman Empire is no more. For a thousand years it felt unassailable, but only because it had all of the active ingredients of power: political stability, competent leadership, natural resources, military muscle, manufacturing might, financial strength, and a healthy population. Lose those, and everybody’s feelings about your status change. Despite what Gladiator II tells us, Rome wasn’t brought down by people scrapping with CGI baboons or having disappointing fights in puddles.
What really happened was this: as Rome expanded, a chorus line of palsied and entitled old psychopaths vied for power, and the state became increasingly divided. Its status as a quasi-democratic Republic crumbled, and vastly rich investors formed an oligarchy, colluding with tyrants to bypass the machinery of state, and seize power. Lousy leaders were propped up by moneymen who benefited from the chaos. The Republic became an Empire, and the Empire descended into civil wars and political riots. The Senate fell, Rome crumbled, and in the blink of an eye the whole shebang was no more, a victim of sublime decadence and literal barbarianism.
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