This is a novel I’m going to run for the next 4 years, when I have the time, when I’ll find the inspiration to write about the singular mess that is the World right now with the USA leading the direction to Hell.

The first iteration of this essay is here

“When democracy fades, the silence speaks.”

The Last Orders

They came at midnight. DOGE was swift. The Department of Government Efficiency. A joke, once. But no one laughed anymore.

The paperwork was ready before the signatures. The agencies were dismantled before the sun rose. EPA. Gone. Labor protections. Erased. DOJ. Rebuilt.

There were no resignations. Only terminations. The new men arrived before the old ones had cleared their desks. Loyal. Hungry. Ready.

The networks called it “necessary streamlining.” The spokespeople used new words. “Excess waste.” “National renewal.” “America first.”

People nodded. It was easier to agree.

The Obedience

The media knew its place. “Obey in advance.” The new rule. The only rule.

They were not told what to say. They did not need to be. They watched the first few arrests. Journalists. Lawyers. Activists.

Then they stopped watching.

Meta deleted names before they were spoken. Google erased questions before they were asked. The past was rewritten before it could be remembered.

On X, the voices did not vanish. They agreed.

The last editorial boards met in empty rooms. There was nothing left to discuss.

The White House held press briefings still. But now, the behemoth stood at the podium.

Her voice was thunder. Her words were simple. “He is strong. He is right. Obey.”

They clapped.

The Camps

ICE worked at night. The first deportations came in waves.

Then they changed the rules. The flights stopped going south. They went east. To Guantanamo.

A reporter asked why. The question was not aired.

The first detainees were migrants. Then journalists. Then activists. Then the ones who asked why.

The government did not confirm the number. There was no number to confirm.

No one came back.

The Defiance

There was some, at first.

California refused. New York resisted. The governors made speeches. They passed laws.

The President called it treason.

The troops came. The orders were clear. Federal mandates would be enforced. No exceptions. No resistance.

The police held at first. The people fought back. They blocked the roads. They shouted. They threw bricks.

Then the trucks came.

Men in black. No insignia. No names. Only rifles and cold faces.

“Volunteers,” the networks called them.

The streets burned. Then they went quiet.

The Trade War

The headlines spoke of strength. America did not need its allies. It did not need Europe. It did not need Canada.

Tariffs rose. The factories stayed closed. The markets buckled.

The people were told to endure. Sacrifice was patriotic.

The cars cost more. The food cost more. People learned to eat less.

It was a lesson in resilience.

The Realignment

Putin was the good guy now.

Ukraine had never been a friend. It had always been corrupt. Always been the villain. The war? Their fault. The dead? Their problem.

DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim and Offender.

The maps changed. The news changed. The truth changed.

A soldier in Odessa sent a message home. “They say we are the enemy now.”

His mother did not reply. Her internet was gone.

The Resistance

It started slow. A few thousand in Chicago. In Boston. In L.A.

They marched. They shouted. They burned his image.

Then the power cut. Phones went dark. Cameras stopped working.

The first ones vanished that night. The rest went home.

The next morning, the papers called it a “temporary unrest event.”

It did not happen again.

The Last Silence

The ballots were printed before the votes were cast.

A hundred million Americans stayed home. They knew better.

The networks ran their panels. Historic, they said. The strongest turnout in history.

The loudest voices clapped. The silent ones watched.

The CEOs in the glass towers signed the last papers.

The internet belonged to them now. Not in pieces. Entirely.

The last independent servers were gone. The last free channels closed.

The markets stabilized. Stocks soared. The dollar was stronger than it had been in years.

People had jobs again. Cheap homes. Order.

The streets were clean.

The crime reports dropped to zero.

All was well.

All was quiet.