Bulwark Takes Bulwark on Sunday: The End of The Republic?
Oct 27, 2025
Michael Wood, a Marine veteran and insightful Substack writer, joins Bill Kristol to discuss alarming trends in U.S. governance. They explore Wood's provocative essay on the possible twilight of Pax Americana against a backdrop of rising national debt and military cuts. The duo debates the dangers of elite complacency versus public awareness and the political precedents set by Trump. They also examine grassroots movements that could counter authoritarianism and express concerns about political violence and military integrity in contemporary America.
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Debt As A Catalyst For Geopolitical Collapse
- Michael Wood frames rising national debt as a long-term driver of political and strategic collapse.
- He imagines a 2039 retrospective where debt-driven austerity forces military cuts that end Pax Americana and destabilize alliances.
Pentagon Cuts Undermine Global Credibility
- Military spending is the easiest big target in austerity, so credibility abroad would shrink if cuts hit the Pentagon.
- That loss of credibility creates short paths to regional aggression and NATO/East Asia unraveling.
Precedent Matters More Than Personality
- Wood warns that Trump's incompetence doesn't remove the danger because his presidency sets dangerous precedents.
- Those precedents could enable a future, disciplined authoritarian to exploit normalized abuses of power.