J.D. Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate and vice president, has made no secret of his admiration for Vladimir Putin. From wearing Soviet-themed T-shirts to praising the Russian model of governance, he embodies a growing faction of the American right that romanticizes authoritarian rule. They view the USSR’s legacy not as a cautionary tale but as a blueprint for an America where the government exerts absolute control, cracks down on opposition, and enforces rigid social order.
But what if the U.S. actually tried to become the Soviet Union? If America fully embraced the USSR experiment, seduced by the attractive packaging—social equality, free healthcare, military might—what would follow? Would it be a utopia of order and prosperity, or a catastrophic freefall into totalitarian rule, economic collapse, and mass oppression?
The answer lies in history, and history suggests a hard landing