Ask HN: Is the American System Unraveling?

I've been wondering this question for a while the last couple years but my non-conspiracy side would say that all systems/empires would go through turbulent times.

However, seeing Trump coin yesterday made me question if something is unraveling here. How is this even acceptable? How is this not being debated here in HN (the submissions were not upvoted). There has been a lot of political chaos as of late but I do find this to be a quite huge red-flag. How is this not being opposed by anybody? How is nobody investigating this?

10 points | by csomar 6 hours ago

9 comments

  • ChildOfChaos 6 hours ago
    As someone outside of the US, I'm sure this is happening in other countries too but watching it from afar without a political party alliance or direct bias that I am aware of, it just seems crazy.

    People like Musk, pumping in millions of dollars, running fake competitions to register to vote for Trump in swing states, then once winning being included on phone calls to other heads of states and having a top government job (What!?)

    Dropping a meme coin days before joining office.

    Having a large amount of people that absoutely did not support him previously, suddenly paying lots of money to his inauguration fund. Particularly big tech companies. To carry favour.

    The TikTok ban, which started when he was in office and now TikTok are literally sending messages to everyone in the US with his name on and saying when he takes office they hope it gets sorted. That's like brainwashing millions of kids into supporting him, it's an incredibly unprofessional sounding message.

    It seems his erratic but bold behaviour has actually worked. He won the election easily and he has got people and the other countries lining up to support him, because they know that is how he works and if they don't, they fear what he could do. It's both terrifying and interesting to watch, how he's managed to get everyone fall inline.

    • uncomplexity_ 4 hours ago
      as someone outside the usa.. biden's legacy is larger gap between the poor and the rich, unqualified people getting hired out of dei instead of merits, lots of illegal immigrants geting in usa and doing crimes, and an unnecessary war between ukraine and russia.

      am i wrong lol

  • Quinzel 6 hours ago
    You should read the book “LikeWar”. It helps to understand some of the current political landscape.
  • JSTrading 4 hours ago
    It happens because it happens. Would you be questioning it if you made a boat load of money off it?
  • FrankWilhoit 5 hours ago
    Today everything is performance. But there never was a system to unravel: the rural mindset doesn't do system.
    • codingdave 4 hours ago
      > the rural mindset doesn't do system

      Can you explain that in more detail? I live in a rural area and see all the same systems of local government systems here as I did when I lived in large cities. Different scale, same systems. So I truly don't know what you are getting at.

  • Yawrehto 4 hours ago
    Because Democrats continue to play by 'the rules', which only works if everyone else does. And Republicans don't.

    Quite frankly, this is starting to remind me of the lead-up to the civil war.

    • bitlax 3 hours ago
      Democrats riot, destroy property and kill people, pay off DAs to enable criminals, and imprison their political opponents, etc. There are Republicans who do some bad things as well, but saying the Dems are observant rule-followers isn't just a joke, it's the dumbest low-effort, ignorant joke I've read on here maybe ever.
  • gregjor 5 hours ago
    Comments, debate, indignant articles and analysis of Trump’s coin all over the news. Try sites with more political content. HN guidelines tell us to steer clear of politics.

    When you figure out how to investigate a scam perpetrated publicly and openly, or how to effectively “oppose” anything Trump and his sycophants do, let us know.

  • amazingamazing 3 hours ago
    Your highlighting of a Trump coin is funny. Much worse has happened, Citizens United v FEC, Bush v Gore. The fact that anyone seriously cares about this Trump coin in the grand scheme of things just shows how obsessed the media is with this guy.

    That being said, blatantly boosting your own meme crypto is bad, yes, but is hardly some indication that the American system is unraveling. It's just one that the correct head is not shy about grifting.

    If Trump must be mentioned, the presidential immunity decision is more an indication of any unraveling than crypto grifts.

  • reify 6 hours ago
    It is very valuable to maintain your scepticism, autonomy and not claim you might be a conspiracty theorist.

    It is far too easy to claim everyone with a different opinion is a conspiracy theorist.

    When people claim that a person is a conspiracy theorist it is a means of shutting down their opinion so that only those others opinions become valid and heard.

    People then get frightened of expressing their opinions and views and so you only hear one story.

    https://roblog.co.uk/2025/01/the-new-luddites/

    https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/10/smoke-filled-room-where-i...

    https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/why-does-ozempic-cure-all-d...

    https://off-guardian.org/2025/01/18/who-are-the-elite/