Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

Trump has said that he intends to “run Venezuela.” That should come as a surprise to the thousands of Venezuelans who have taken to the streets to denounce the American assault on its capital. Regardless of Trump’s fantasies, he can barely run the US, except by driving it further into the abyss.

No matter how US media or American politicians try to spin this, the American Empire is in steep decline. Its tourism industry is collapsing as more people choose not to spend their holiday in a fascist police state. It lost any moral standing it may have once had after enabling the genocide in Gaza. And it no longer possesses the soft power it once had to influence countries to do its bidding. As BRICS rises, the US only has threats, bluster, sentimental patriotism and fire power. But there are limits to this, as every empire throughout history has found out.

As millions of Americans struggle to pay for basic necessities and continue to lack things other........

© CounterPunch