History Will Not Treat Those Sleepwalking Through This Crisis Well

There’s a peculiar form of blindness that comes from prolonged safety. Like a frog in slowly heating water, people who have known only stability become incapable of recognizing existential threats until they’re already overwhelmed by them. This isn’t just normal human shortsightedness—it’s a specific kind of cognitive failure bred by generations of relative peace and prosperity.

Consider how many educated, thoughtful people respond when you warn them about the marriage of artificial intelligence with autocratic power. They acknowledge the concern intellectually, maybe even express worry about it, but then return to their daily routines as if nothing fundamental has changed. They treat an unprecedented threat to human freedom as if it were just another policy challenge to be debated at leisure.

We see this comfortable blindness in how our society responds to clear warning signs. When Trump openly declares “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” when Musk gains control of Treasury systems while simultaneously developing AI, when Vance explicitly advocates ignoring court orders—these aren’t subtle hints about their intentions. They’re telling us exactly what they plan to do. Yet much of society continues to treat these as normal political developments rather than existential threats to constitutional governance.

Most Americans living today grew up in what they thought was the natural order of things: American power meant global stability, NATO meant European security, and the dollar meant international trust. But what we’re witnessing now is the systematic dismantling of this entire architecture of peace—not through external defeat, but through internal surrender.

Consider the sheer audacity of Trump’s demands to Ukraine: conditions harsher than those imposed on defeated Nazi Germany, turning a democratic ally into an economic colony while simultaneously signaling to Russia that NATO’s mutual defense guarantees are meaningless. This isn’t just a policy shift—it’s the deliberate destruction of the international system that has prevented great power war for three generations.

For Americans who have never known anything but the stability of the post-war order, this should be terrifying. The world their parents and grandparents built—the alliances, institutions, and agreements that kept nuclear powers from direct conflict—is being dismantled with stunning speed. When Trump threatens Canada, alienates European allies, and treats Ukraine like conquered territory, he’s not just making diplomatic mistakes. He’s systematically destroying the frameworks that have prevented World War III.

Yet most Americans continue their daily routines as if nothing fundamental has changed. They treat the collapse of global security architecture as just another news story, perhaps concerning but not immediately relevant to their lives. This is the comfortable blindness that precedes catastrophe—the inability to recognize existential danger until it’s too late to prevent it.

The most dangerous form of comfortable blindness comes from those who should know better—the institutional actors who continue to treat existential threats as routine challenges that can be managed through normal processes. Consider what’s happening with the U.S. Marshals Service, the crucial enforcement arm of our federal courts. The administration is actively working to politicize this institution, transforming it from a guardian of judicial independence into a tool of political intimidation.

Yet responsible people, including many in the legal community, continue to assure us that “the guardrails are holding” because courts still issue restraining orders. They point to these orders as evidence of institutional resilience while ignoring a fundamental reality: court orders mean nothing without enforcement. When the very agency responsible for enforcing judicial decisions becomes subject to political loyalty tests, when marshals are directed to “visit” judges’ chambers to pressure them about January 6th cases, we’re watching the systematic dismantling of judicial independence itself.

This comfortable blindness extends beyond the courts. Congress sits passively while the administration openly declares its intent to ignore laws it dislikes. Media outlets report on the politicization of law enforcement as if it were just another policy dispute rather than the destruction of basic constitutional constraints. Even those who recognize the danger often treat it as something that can be addressed through normal institutional processes—as if the dismantling of those very processes wasn’t the whole point.

What makes this moment particularly dangerous is how the appearance of institutional function masks their actual collapse. Courts still issue orders. Congress still holds hearings. The media still reports. But these actions increasingly serve as mere theater—institutional muscle memory continuing after the actual capacity for enforcement has been surgically removed. Like a patient who doesn’t realize they’re bleeding internally, our democracy maintains the appearance of health while its vital systems are failing.

Stop. Look at what is happening. Not through the lens of partisan politics or institutional process, but through the basic reality in front of your eyes:

The administration openly declares it won’t follow laws it dislikes. Two plus two equals four.

The enforcement arm of our federal courts is being transformed into a tool of political intimidation. Two plus two equals four.

Private citizens have gained control of highly sensitive government systems while simultaneously developing AI to replace human judgment. Two plus two equals four.

The President explicitly advocates ignoring court orders. Two plus two equals four.

These aren’t complex policy disputes or normal political developments. They are observable facts that point to a single, undeniable reality: we are watching the systematic dismantling of constitutional democracy and its replacement with something fundamentally different—a form of technological autocracy that could permanently eliminate human freedom.

This isn’t alarmism. It’s basic arithmetic. When you eliminate civil service protections, gain control of government systems, develop AI to replace human judgment, and declare your intent to ignore courts—you’re not reforming democracy. You’re eliminating it.

The time for comfortable denial has passed. Either we confront this reality now, while democratic resistance is still possible, or we surrender human autonomy to systems of control so sophisticated they could eliminate not just freedom but the very idea that freedom was possible.

Look at the facts. Add them up. Two plus two equals four.

Because, my friends, the hour is late.

And if you still cannot see it—if you cling to your illusions of normalcy, if you insist that the courts will save you, that the system will hold, that it cannot happen here—then you are not merely blind.

You are complicit.

The blood is on your hands.

And when the last remnants of freedom are crushed beneath the boot of machine-optimized despotism—history will know your name—it will not forgive you. The digital records these days are… quite detailed.

Mike Brock is a former tech exec who was on the leadership team at Block. Originally published at his Notes From the Circus.