The Isolationist Playbook

When Economic Decline Is Part Of The Plan

By Samuel Oliver Sartell

Slightly Off Script | Dispatch from the Edge

Does it sometimes seem like the chaos is by design?

Because that's when it probably is.

For years now, Americans have debated whether Trump’s isolationist economic policies are misguided, outdated, or simply incompetent. But what if the answer is more chilling? What if the real purpose isn’t prosperity at all—but control?

Let’s be clear: this isn’t about tariffs or trade. It’s about reshaping the nation into something unrecognizable—one crisis at a time.

Economic Decay as a Feature, Not a Bug

You can’t declare emergencies if things are going well. But shrink the economy, take from the poor, give to the rich, tax through tariffs, inflate prices, pit neighbor against neighbor—and suddenly, that strongman with a golden tie starts looking like a safe bet. Because you're too busy to notice. You're just trying to pay your bills and keep your family afloat. While they quietly steal democracy from under your nose.

This is a classic authoritarian trick:

• Undermine faith in the system.

• Enrich the Oligarchs and only the Oligarchs.

• Blame “outsiders” and “globalists.”

• Offer yourself as the only savior.

Sound familiar? It should if you're paying attention. Maybe not if you've been drinking the kool aid. But the drink isn't complete. Add a dose of nationalistic isolation to economic pain and it's a potent cocktail.

The Disappearing America

Stepping back from NATO, the WTO, the Paris Agreement—it’s not just stubborn nationalism. It’s a calculated exit from accountability. Because a globally connected America must play by the rules. But a rogue state? A “fortress nation”? Selective strongman geopolitical aggression? That’s where the autocrat thrives.

When we stop listening to allies, the only voice left is his. When he stops listening to his advisors, the courts and congress, his guardrails are gone.

🔥 Manufactured Crisis, Manufactured Consent

Whether it’s immigration “invasions,” violent cities, or economic freeloaders, the pattern is clear:

Invent a threat. Declare an emergency. Expand executive power.

Meanwhile, courts are attacked and ignored. Press vilified. Watchdogs defunded. Military presence normalized on U.S. soil. The Constitution? Treated like a quaint suggestion.

👑 All Roads Lead to Rule by One

This isn’t economic strategy—it’s authoritarian choreography.

Isolation creates silence. Economic pain creates fear.

And fear… creates opportunity.

Not for the people.

But for a president who wants to become something more.

Epilogue from the Edge

So no, it’s not about winning trade wars. Or bringing back jobs. Or sticking it to the elites.

It’s about rewriting the American system under the cover of collapse.

It’s about taking the country off the global stage—so no one sees what’s happening in the wings.

And when the curtain falls, don’t expect a second act.

Unless we write it ourselves. Before the curtain falls.