AHC: Both the US and USSR collapse

You forget about Oklahoma City bombing inspired by a rabid racist rhetoric, the LA riots (inspired by "driving while black" and police brutality), the housing crisis and collapse of the S&L's, and Branch Dravidian attack - the seeds were there, but the road was not taken for a US collapse.

These are all extremely localized events.
 
These are all extremely localized events.

Furthermore, the conspirators were arrested immediately and no major political groups ever sided with them or supported them. To say that those were all “seeds” is a bit of a stretch imo. It’s possible these events get worse, but that would speed up reforms and outcries against the perpetrators, not cause the US to collapse.
 
Have a group of former Soviets who blame the US for the collapse of their government carry out a terror attack on the State of the Union address. How that's completed is up to the OP, but have it successful enough to knock out all in the specifically listed line of succession. Then have chaos and confusion follow that ends up escalating into certain states recognizing the leadership of one person and others recognizing the leadership of another.
 
U.S. political polarisation picks up far more steam faster than OTL, and the Union consensually dissolves into smaller countries to avoid civil war. A driver of that phenomena today seems to be social media, so earlier internet and widespread computing seems like it'd help.
 
The US doesn't really have any of the things that caused the USSR to collapse:

-Religious devotion to an ideology that ultimately produced cynicism with the country's long-term vision
-A political structure that recognized the political status of minorities without granting self-determination (until they ultimately did so and the republics all left without a second thought)
-A command economy that prioritized heavy industry over consumer goods, causing waste and food shortages

If the US were to "collapse", it would have to be for entirely different reasons, like war, plague, or some sort of extreme social pressure that wasn't really there in the late 20th century.
What about Christian theocracy, ultra-capitalism, or white supremacy and black nationalism?
 
As a result of the higher military spending to force the USSR to fall over, the US crashes into a huge recession creating a global Depression that makes '29 look like a picnic. This strains the relations between all the groups in the US and its not the South that explodes first but LA after the police beat a black predestinarian, then New York follows, then the all across the South. Govt response is lack lusher, heavy handed and the whole thing spirals out of all control.

Tipping point is rioters in Baltimore trying to get to what they thought was a food truck get fired on my its guards as its actually a nuclear waste convoy. Turns into a fire fight and then a general insurrection that leads many places to consider their position in a the failing country...
 
all you need for america is several decades of post-new deal economic mismanagement to cause them to lose faith in the system, much more intense racial tensions caused by any variety of things, increasingly dictatorial control over life causing libertarian anger, territorial crackdowns, and a Greensboro-level incident. from that some sort of arch-conservative dictatorship in all but name that refuses to assist the economy. from there an opposition that becomes increasingly radicalized decides to do more than contest elections. you could probably do this by the end of the 1960s, if the marshall plan never happens somehow, blocking both a massive economic stimulus for the US, and a good way to have dictatorships and communism pop up more in western europe. from there a 6-3 decision in brown v board or a refusal to enforce it could radicalize the south, and greensboro is only 8 years away.
 
Have a group of former Soviets who blame the US for the collapse of their government carry out a terror attack on the State of the Union address. How that's completed is up to the OP, but have it successful enough to knock out all in the specifically listed line of succession. Then have chaos and confusion follow that ends up escalating into certain states recognizing the leadership of one person and others recognizing the leadership of another.

There is a individual called a “designated survivor” for exactly this scenario.
 
There is a individual called a “designated survivor” for exactly this scenario.
I'm aware of that, but depending on the survivor and the resulting chaos, its not beyond the realm of possibility that contention and division could follow in the immediate aftermath or following few months if they drop the ball hard enough
 
The US' racism problem on steroids.

Martin Luther King joined the Nation of Islam instead and took up Malcolm X's cause of violent black nationalism. Malcolm X became the only strong black voice and millions of African Americans over decades converted to Islam. This created a perfect platform of hatred for the devoutly Christian, white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, who portrayed the violent black Muslims as a double threat - being black and carrying the Sword of Islam. Funnily enough, JFK being assassinated really helped civil rights by bringing in the experienced Southerner, Lyndon B. Johnson, as president to pass the Civil Rights Act - so JFK isn't killed for some reason in this timeline and fails catastrophically in his efforts.

Many riots, bombings and top-level assassinations by black and white supremacists led to the creation of the new Sudanese Empire (derived from the Arabic term of Sub-Saharan Africa, the land of the blacks) in the South in majority-black areas, causing the far larger KKK of TTL to declare the secession of the Confederate States and thus starting the Second American Civil War. The federal government broke down as its legitimacy was wiped out, many states seceded and declared their neutrality or backed the Confederacy in the 2nd ACW. That pretty much counts as a collapse of the US.

For the Soviet Union, with no huge American threat, the relationship between Moscow and Beijing massively sours until border skirmishes turn into a full out war. The inexperienced and backwards Chinese army slowly give way to the Soviets, but not without huge losses. When two countries relied on their vast manpower in mass human offensives, millions were sure to die for a few kilometres of land. The USSR could never occupy China wholly, as a foreign force, so it planned to set up a puppet government afterwards. For the cost of hundreds of millions, it replaced a communist dictator with another one? Safe to say, people weren't happy about the loss of most of their army and men in a seemingly pointless war. The rebellions and unrest could be easily crushed, but the economic cost of the war and occupation broke the Soviet Bear's back. Much like Afghanistan did in OTL (but on a far far far larger scale), it was a huge drain of money for a communist dictatorship to sink into, and by the time the USSR pulled out, its economy was in shambles. A military coup took control of the Kremlin, causing the USSR to fragment into a mess of warlords as the rule of law broke down. Ethnic minorities quietly formed their own states, either in a somewhat democratic fashion or a military dictatorship. At least in a civil war, the nations are in a formal state of war but in the former USSR the regimes barely even control a tenth of the land they actually claim. China has also fragmented into a mess of warlords and military juntas after the Soviets pulled out. The mess of the USSR and China afterwards makes the collapse of the US look like an orderly rule-bound sporting match.
 
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