He keeps describing himself as a cyber security expert and data scientist, but hes actually a finance major and the only technical job he lists on his resume is 8 months as CTO at a tech company back in the mid 2000s.
I found his official complaint about 2004, which gives a good idea of the sort of non-evidence he considers significant. Overall he seems about as legit as anything Trump was trying to push in 2020.
https://law.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/KLBNA-E4-5-27-09.pdf
The time to act was 8 years ago. It was obvious from Trump's first day in office that US withdrawal was going to be on the table, and possibly even the chance of US hostility if democratic institutions were to fully collapse. Europe probably isn't looking at an actual invasion from anyone in the near future, but their global interests are looking extremely vulnerable right now, and its their own fault as much as it is the fault of American voters.
China does not actually give a shit about Russia's problems, and they are probably not too happy about their campaign of global chaos either. Russia is useful political leverage, and if China just sits tight and lets things play out there's a good chance Russia ends up as a subordinate client state before the decade is out. It's doubtful they would put boots on the ground for a goal that does not align with their long term interests.
Final stages? I think you might be surprised how much worse things can/will get.
Oh they will. They're both raging narcissists. Neither Trump or Elon gives two shits about corporate interests or anything else but their own comfort and ego, and they cant share a spotlight for long. I cannot wait for Trump to try to revoke Elons citizenship and have him deported.
It would have been too practical. Now Biden is a lame duck and were past the point of no return. Its the perfect time to publicly stake out a fanciful position.
Thats the hope. Trump gets side tracked chasing the news cycle and golfing while his incompetent lackeys smear shit on the walls. A couple years later he chokes on a hamberder, Vance pushes through some last minute tax breaks to pay off his backers and leaves office in 2028.
Everyone thinks their populist is the real deal and the others are frauds, but at the day populism is not about good policy, it's about making a show of putting up a fight. There have been many populists in political history and only a very small percentage have been materially helpful to their constituents.
If half the population is actually susceptible to brainwashing over Facebook then democracy itself is unworkable. These people clearly have preferences and are making choices, including the choice to know very little about what they vote for. Im afraid that patience and compassion will only encourage this behavior.
The thing AOC, Bernie and Trump do have in common is that they are all populists. That they would also have accepted AOC or Bernie means that they dont necessarily want a demagogue, but its also not a deal breaker for them.
We need to stop with the brainwashing talk. A few people on the fringe were clearly mentally ill, but the rest of them had agency and they made a choice.
And higher quality liquor. The hangover from a night of sipping gin and whiskey compared to getting wasted on cheap tequila and beer is night and day.