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🇺🇸 America could be heading toward a crisis bigger than anything we've seen in generations. I spoke with Neil Howe, the historian behind The Fourth Turning, as reports of a constitutional confrontation in Poland were unfolding live. What made the timing extraordinary was everything else happening around us. The AI selloff is accelerating. Another war with Iran is looking increasingly possible. Political tensions are rising across Europe, and the US is heading into another bitterly contested election. Neil has spent decades studying what happens when societies reach moments like this. He sees three major dangers: a devastating financial crash, a breakdown of political institutions, and a major international war. But what really caught my attention was his explanation of how they feed into one another. An economic collapse can destroy public confidence. Political paralysis can invite foreign aggression. And a war can push an already fragile financial system over the edge. We discussed America's deep political divisions, the possibility of rival centers of government emerging during a constitutional crisis, and why countries that have experienced war are taking civilian preparedness far more seriously than Americans. Neil also raised something I hadn't considered enough. We're building an economy increasingly dependent on AI, enormous data centers and interconnected infrastructure, while the power grids and communications networks supporting it remain vulnerable to disruption. His concern isn't that catastrophe is inevitable, but that Americans have grown accustomed to assuming major crises happen somewhere else. And as we spoke, the incoming reports of a possible coup in Warsaw was a reminder of how quickly political confrontations can escalate. The next great crisis may not arrive as one dramatic event, but as several crises hitting at once, each making the others harder to contain. @HoweGeneration