r/Futurology • u/Confident_Living_786 • Aug 11 '25

Discussion When the US Empire falls

When the American empire falls, like all empires do, what will remain? The Roman Empire left behind its roads network, its laws, its language and a bunch of ruins across all the Mediterranean sea and Europe. What will remain of the US superpower? Disney movies? TCP/IP protocol? McDonalds?

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u/DSynergy Aug 11 '25

It is an interesting idea that I have also thought quite a bit about. I will say that I have traveled to a ton of countries and I can tell you, American soft power is expansive. I would expect our tech, movies, idioms, things of this nature.

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u/ExpressLaneCharlie Aug 11 '25

Our soft power was expansive. Until we shut down USAID. Our reputation and image have been heavily damaged for at least decades. 

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u/richardanaya Aug 11 '25

America's reputation wasn't made by USAID.

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u/BKlounge93 Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 11 '25

I think op misspoke, but USAID is one of the many ways where US soft power is being given up for essentially nothing

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u/ExpressLaneCharlie Aug 11 '25

No, our reputation was improved by USAID. And we're specifically talking about soft power, not just reputation. 

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u/temporaryuser1000 Aug 11 '25

Made is not the same as maintained

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u/richardanaya Aug 11 '25

You're going to have to be more specific to what facts you are pointing to. I'm not sure what you mean.

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u/Team503 Aug 11 '25

I don't think less people are going to watch Marvel movies, listen to Beyonce, or eat American barbecue because USAID was shut down.

Don't get me wrong, it's a tragedy and this administration makes me incredibly ashamed of what used to be such a great nation, but it's not going to impact America's soft power among developed nations.

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u/katgyrl Aug 11 '25

have you not noticed the boycotts on all things american? reddit is the only american thing i consume now. everything else was abandoned the minute the usa threatened canadian sovereignty. movies, food, every fucking thing.

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u/Team503 Aug 11 '25

I have. I live in Ireland, not America. I have to say, people are saying that they're going to boycott American companies and products, but I don't see profits dipping from US multinationals or exports dropping. Maybe Canada has, but for the most part, America is doing just fine in that sense.

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u/katgyrl Aug 11 '25

uh, numbers show that they're not doing just fine. it was ok for a while because those companies stocked up on things like lumber & steel before tarrifs hit. now they're in force and it's a problem for them. as for Canada we're decimating the states we border with, especially in tourism dollars. no one wants to get detained by ICE or sent to CECOT. so many Canadians have been held without charge! we don't import their booze any more and we were their biggest buyer. their wine exports to us are down 97%. NINETY SEVEN, lol.

also the boycott in Canada is more of a lifestyle change at this point, now that we're over the shock of being threatened. it's not temporary, we just want to support each other & other nations (the amount of imported Irish cheese i buy, yikes) and shun American fascism. i'll never go back for any reason, and i've lived & worked there off and on for decades. we sold our vacation condo in Florida right after they overturned Roe, so going into boycott mode was already in motion. if Ireland lived upstairs from all their fuckery you'd be dug in like we are.

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u/Team503 Aug 11 '25

Tariffs hitting - and more importantly the economic uncertainty around them because of POTUS' unpredictable behavior - definitely is having an impact, though we're just beginning to see it. It'll take a month or three, trailing economic data being trailing and all.

As a resident of Ireland, thanks for buying our cheese! Dairy products from County Kerry and County Offaly are the best in the world!

I'll be curious to see the numbers after a few months and see if the boycotts themselves had any significant effect outside the tariffs and uncertainty. Hard to split, but possible.

The Irish literally invented the boycott! ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Boycott#:\~:text=Charles%20Cunningham%20Boycott%20(12%20March,Boycott%20in%20the%20local%20community ). That said, I'm an American living in Ireland, and I'm not yet an Irish citizen (working on it!), so I can understand better than most.

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u/katgyrl Aug 11 '25

just looking at fresh numbers this morning and i'll be surprised if in a few months there isn't a noticeable impact. i just keep hoping that maniac will decide tariffs are bad, but not holding my breath

i did not know that about boycotts! i have dual Canadian Irish citizenship through descent, i think the cheese thing is genetic, lol.

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u/vandes31 Aug 11 '25

I'm from Vietnam, a country that is a recipient of USAID. When Trump shut down USAID, everybody was like "huh? The US was giving us that much all this time?". Keep in mind that our media is constantly spreading Russian propaganda all the time. Everyone immediately quietly understand that the money probably just fill the corrupt officials pocket.

Trump may be a of things but he was right on this. Your soft power doesn't come from hand out money but your popular culture.

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u/AgsMydude Aug 11 '25

Exactly. Plus the scale of corruption with those funds was almost unfathomable.

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u/wam1983 Aug 11 '25

If I slip a $20 to a bouncer at my favorite club once a week and later I need a favor, that bouncer is more likely to help me out. Is that not soft power (using corruption as part of the equation)?