It is tempting to think that malicious acts—terrorist attacks, financial collapses, scandals, riots—hurt the United States government. They look like blows against power. They seem to undermine legitimacy. Yet history shows the opposite. Every time a crisis strikes, the establishment bends it into fuel. What was meant to hurt makes it stronger. What was meant to expose corruption ends up justifying even more control. The devil of the US establishment thrives on disaster.
From damage to domination
The mechanism is simple. Fear creates demands for safety. Politicians answer with new laws. Chaos produces calls for order. Agencies answer with bigger budgets. Outrage unites the public around leaders, no matter how corrupt they are. And in the middle of the storm, freedoms shrink while power grows.
Instead of bleeding, the establishment grows fat. It survives not in spite of crises but because of them.
9/11 and the surveillance monster
The September 11 attacks killed thousands. But the real legacy is not grief. It is the permanent security state. Within weeks, the Patriot Act was passed. It allowed mass surveillance, secret courts, and near-limitless police powers. A new bureaucracy—the Department of Homeland Security—was born with tens of billions in funding.
The intelligence community received blank checks. The NSA expanded its data collection to unprecedented levels. Airlines and telecoms were forced into collaboration. Every American became a potential suspect.
The terrorists thought they had crippled the empire. In fact, they had given it the perfect excuse to expand into every private life. Fear became the justification for a security apparatus that still grows today.
Pearl Harbor and total mobilization
The attack on Pearl Harbor looked like humiliation. It destroyed battleships, killed thousands of sailors, and shocked the nation. Yet within days, the establishment had what it wanted—total war. Congress gave Roosevelt everything. Factories turned into war machines. The federal government directed the entire economy. Civil liberties collapsed as Japanese-Americans were forced into camps.
Instead of weakening the United States, Pearl Harbor unleashed its full might. It paved the way for global dominance. When the war ended, America stood not as a wounded nation but as the leading superpower.
Gulf of Tonkin and the blank check
In 1964, reports of an attack in the Gulf of Tonkin gave Lyndon Johnson his chance. Congress passed a resolution granting him sweeping authority to wage war in Vietnam. Whether the attack happened as claimed was irrelevant. The establishment got its war. Military budgets exploded, and presidential power ballooned.
The war itself was a disaster, costing millions of lives and destroying trust. But the precedent endured. Presidents discovered they could use murky incidents to bypass Congress. The state was not weakened by the lie. It was armed with more tools for war.
The death of Charlie Kirk
Charlie Kirk’s death shocked his movement and dominated headlines. But for the establishment, it was not a wound. It was an opportunity. His death gave the media a new circus. Endless coverage, speculation, and finger-pointing filled the airwaves. Politicians rushed to posture. Social networks boiled with anger.
And while the public argued about Kirk, the establishment grew stronger. Security agencies pointed to his death as proof of instability, demanding more resources. Lawmakers used it to call for harsher measures against “extremism.” The narrative was weaponized. His passing became a tool for the very powers he claimed to oppose.
Instead of weakening the government, Kirk’s death allowed it to consolidate. His movement fragmented, his outrage lost its voice, and the state gained yet another excuse to tighten its grip. The circus ended not in rebellion but in reinforcement of the system.
The 2008 financial collapse
When Wall Street gambled and lost, the system should have collapsed. Millions of ordinary Americans lost jobs, homes, and savings. Yet the state rushed not to rescue the people, but to rescue the banks. The Troubled Asset Relief Program injected hundreds of billions into finance. The Federal Reserve provided trillions more in liquidity.
The result was not humility for the bankers. It was triumph. “Too big to fail” became official doctrine. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America emerged stronger and larger. Regulation tightened on paper, but lobbying ensured loopholes. The crisis proved that finance ruled Washington, not the other way around.
A collapse that should have ended Wall Street’s grip only confirmed it. The establishment showed its true face: protector of elites, not guardian of citizens.
The global shift of finance after 2008
The 2008 crisis did not only strengthen Wall Street at home. It also reshaped its role abroad. American banks survived because Washington rescued them. But abroad, their credibility fell. European, Chinese, and Middle Eastern players saw weakness. Sovereign wealth funds grew. Asian banks gained influence.
The paradox was sharp. At home, Wall Street became untouchable. Abroad, US finance lost some of its aura. Countries looked for alternatives to the dollar and for protection from American contagion. Yet even this decline in influence abroad did not hurt the US establishment itself—it only forced it to consolidate more power inside its own system, binding finance and government even tighter.
The Boston Marathon bombing
Two homemade bombs shook Boston in 2013. The city was paralyzed. Military vehicles rolled through neighborhoods. Helicopters hovered above houses. Police conducted house-to-house searches. The lockdown looked like panic. In truth, it was a test.
Federal and local agencies strengthened their coordination. Surveillance expanded further. Emergency protocols were normalized. Ordinary citizens got used to military policing on their streets. The attackers did not bring America to its knees. They gave it a rehearsal for future crackdowns.
COVID-19 and emergency powers
The pandemic exposed failures in health care and leadership. But once again, the establishment turned disaster into power. Governments imposed sweeping emergency laws. Executives gained power to shut down entire cities, control borders, and direct trillions in spending without oversight.
Tech companies profited from remote work, online surveillance, and data collection. Pharmaceutical giants secured billions in contracts. The state proved that once fear is invoked, people will accept almost anything. Even when the virus receded, many emergency powers remained. A health crisis became political gold.
January 6 and the domestic crackdown
The Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, looked like chaos, like a breakdown of American democracy. Yet the aftermath tells a different story. Thousands of prosecutions followed. Security at the Capitol was permanently increased. The term “domestic terrorism” gained new power. Intelligence agencies shifted focus inward, monitoring citizens with fresh justification.
What seemed like an attack on the establishment gave it the ideal excuse to expand again. Politicians milked the event for partisan gain. Agencies used it to enlarge their surveillance powers. The system was not threatened. It was fortified.
Why malicious acts never work
The conclusion is harsh. Malicious acts do not weaken the United States. They empower it. Every attack, every crisis, every scandal becomes justification for new budgets, new laws, new controls. Instead of collapse, the state experiences renewal. Instead of bleeding, it feeds.
The devil of the US establishment does not fall to disaster. It grows from it.
The only real threat
The only power that can weaken the establishment is truth. Not chaos but exposure.; not bombs but whistleblowers. Not riots but civic resistance. Malicious acts are counterproductive—they give the devil more weapons. What strips it of power is not destruction but knowledge, transparency, and resistance to fear.
That is the paradox. Those who try to hurt the US establishment with violence or shock end up feeding it. Only reasoned defiance can starve the beast.
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