The Decline
@thedeclinecomic.bsky.social
132 followers 349 following 82 posts
A webcomic for processing American decline. Not affiliated with GYWO/David Rees. Also on IG: www.instagram.com/declinecomic
A webcomic for processing American decline. Not affiliated with GYWO/David Rees. Also on IG: www.instagram.com/declinecomic
![Ruh-roh! Toymakers are canceling holiday orders and consulting bankruptcy lawyers because of tariffs. [NYTimes, 4/29/25]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreie4z6ehgdw27at7ahoe26ystxgnv7acycsqgnnnarhthbkjpavyfq)
![Pane 1: Whoa—we're red! Are we about to talk about the /Global War on Terror!?/
Pane 2: The FBI /just/ found a box of evidence about a Saudi intelligence agent, including a 1999 video of him scoping out the U.S. Capitol and a sketch of an airplane with an equation for hitting a target on the horizon. Dude was never charged and is living comfortably in Saudi Arabia. [CBS, 4/27/25]
Pane 3: I'd bet my left eye the Bush Administration lost it under boxes of "intel" on Saddam's WMDs.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreid2cezddu77lgwawt6k3skjivhth3yfc4hwlkndqhzogyheyvbtdm)
![Pane 1: Would you be more persuaded to have another kid for $5,000 /and/ government education about your menstrual cycle? [NYTimes, 4/21/25]
Pane 2: My interest would be the same if they were only offering an Arby's gift card.
Pane 3: Where is your FOMO? Trump says he'll be "The Fertilization President." [NYTimes, 4/21/25]
Pane 4: My vagina just permanently sealed itself shut.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreigko3ke2lkrmc23tc5vost4yk2qczjmuqjhs3jc253h32ionjrmlm)
![Pane 1: My new favorite thing is seeing the exact moment a Republican realizes they've completely compromised their beliefs to advance their careers.
Pane 2: Isn't that in the Republican Party platform at this point? Anybody do it recently?
Pane 3: Marco Rubio when he had to sit across the table from those Russians and pretend to be friends! I could swim in the void of his soil. I'll text it to you.
Pane 4: [Marco Rubio reflecting on all the life choices that led him to this point]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreiccb345g3xz7gxpgo7kdiyy35etuw633rqhu42sv552nwmtnp5thi)
![Pane 1: [Chalk Board] Elections Have Consequences](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreiaoqy4vp5qxesckiolgoncv6ar6zpmoeiblfqyecfxqgcmpdufukm)
![Pane 2: [Map of 2024 Electoral College Map]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreib3axpjchgnupuelky2vfyzvneysvfl35h4y7ib4l7jj6lkqefuhe)
![Pane 3: [Map of Hurricanes by State]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreidelvt3xna35lrxghfzvfyg32qz6jn25ktlceiis3l6xs7ohp6b5y)
![Pane 4: [News Headlines About NWS/NOAA Shortages/Turmoil] Enjoy!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreidjbjmxsl55d7rxfud2xjyalyepenudspr6szou4r2r6rfp2aqlyi)
![Pane 1: Would you be more persuaded to have more kids if the government gave you the National Medal of Motherhood after you gave birth to six babies? [NYTimes, 4/21/25]
Pane 2: The Soviet Union called and wants its idea back. No, seriously—they had a medal for birthing six children. [Oxford]
Pane 3: But this would be an /American/ medal! Think of how awesome it would be!
Pane 4: How many medals does Octomom get?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreihsnhpp3g3ptnctdekxkkle6voosr6xynacvojii4yacnfcvgiety)
![Pane 1: The Trump Administration wants to boost birthrates. Would you have a kid if the government gave you $5,000? [NYTimes, 4/21/25]
Pane 2: When the cost of childcare is 2-3 times that /annually/? [DOL, 11/19/24] When food and goods costs are about to go /to the fucking moon/ because the idiots have taken over? When these techno-baron shitbags are about to corner the /entire/ labor market with AI? Sign me the fuck up!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreihlgpejyuy7764izugpksy7hzaoty4i43bg7xjvxpm44bplwadjmy)
![Pane 1: I have an idea for a video game. It takes place in a world of splintering governments and territory being carving up into hyper-capitalist, democracy-free havens controlled by billionaires, protected by mercenaries, serviced by AI robots, and financed by crypto.
Pane 2: Sounds sick. Can I get it on Switch 2?
Pane 3: Did I say video game? Whoops—that's actually the future envisioned by Peter Thiel, Zuck, and the other techno-billionaires. [The Guardian, 4/13/25]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreifs5w35n54etzkl6u4uumzjluiaacc7ba4tv67lccofkq7zmcl4om)
!["We shipped jobs that gave men who work with their hands for a living and rely on brawn—and physicality—off to other countries to build up their middle class. And then we imported millions and millions of illegals!" [Fox News, 4/6/25]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreibgz64stlgzaknmfo4ezoqambgcbc57qdtzchecr3pmlzjgyykouy)
!["When you sit behind a screen all day, it makes you a woman. Studies have shown this." [Jesse Watters, The Five, 4/7/25]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreifiva2sdhwyfl6tqbxgyrebuqlgkx4s2qqdiyjsfvbz7phd52l3iu)
![[Britain] So then, what’s the best way for us to respond to these U.S. tariffs?
Pane 2: [Italy] How do you respond to a tariff that makes no sense? The Americans, they ask-a this ChatGPT how to do the tariffs, it gives them some crazy formula—like spaghetti thrown at a wall—and boom, now that’s the tariff!* [The Verge, 4/3/25]
Pane 3: [Netherlands] The Americans like this Powerball, yes? If we could have a Powerball machine to select a random reciprocal tariff, perhaps the Americans will understand.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreidmu36glg2ldak2xg4jbufuiyzitvkk2i53swzr2ltl66bgsra54e)
![Florida has a solution to disappearing immigrant labor: hire high schoolers at $4.25/hour for 8-hour shifts on school nights, up to 30 hours per week! [CBS News 3/26/25; Nolo 3/3/23]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreiffhjgi5mrpvukc7j3iynb3ltqhttzopwkzzl3dvrcr65664mnkn4)
![Remember the horse medicine all those bozos were injecting themselves with during COVID? It's back! But this time for cancer and autism. [NY Times 3/31/25]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreifmwlo7drolepadeczu4zmd62anosv5l7dfvs3u6pwpwea3dh6pp4)
![Imagine living in a country where the government can enter your home without a warrant, arrest you, and deport you to a foreign country's mega prison without a court hearing. Sike—that's us now! [NY Times 3/20/25]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63l3os6ar2eupiqekgbnwh2p/bafkreicp5wodfo6qlr6xfe2bfew3f7ukx3gp6mq2pnk4ca3u5qwhr3mu3a)
