"reverse" end to coldwar?

Here's a challenge:

POD sometime between late 1970s and mid 1980s that leads to the collapse of the USA in the late 80s or early to mid 90s. Collapse defined as breaking up of states and territories of the USA somewhat similar to what happened to the USSR in OTL. Simultaneously, the USSR survives to the present and is "reinvigorated" by the collapse of its primary foe. There is no direct conflict between the US and the USSR. The POD would have to be a good one that simultaneously leads the US to its demise and helps the USSR avoid its own.

Possible impacts and other issues:
Would there be civil war in/ between any of the states? Any other kinds of internal conflict? International intervention? What would be the fate of the US military (especially forces stationed abroad and the nuclear arsenal)? Would there be any states that attempt to remain united as the USA? What would be the role and fate of the US two party system in such a collapse? What would happen to the american and world economies? What would happen to american consumerism, pop culture, and social values? What might happen to international environmental and human rights efforts in a world with the USSR as the only, or atleast primary, super power? What other issues would be relevant in the causes and outcomes of such a reverse end to the coldwar?


Bonuses:
Bonus for not having the USSR "go Chinese;" by which i mean it doesn't invite in capitalism, but remains a command economy. It might stay authoritarian or become even more authoritarian. Alternatively, Gorbachev or some other reformer might send it down a more progressive path, albeit still a communist one.

More bonus, if the USSR can somehow extend its influence in the 90s and 00s into the PRC and/ or western europe and/ or japan and/or north america.

Triple bonus if afghanistan, iran, iraq, and syria are all somehow cemented into the soviet sphere. same goes for central america and other parts of the third world. wether desert storm happens or not is up to you.

quadruple mega bonus if the US collapse spills over into canada and/ or mexico and/ or western europe, japan, australia, etc




its a challenge, but my gut says something like this may've been possible. feel free to shoot this down as impossible or ASB though, because it may very well be. interested to hear responses.
 
American breaking up on it's own post 1900 is ASB. I can not think of any POD in the 70s or 80s that would have the USA fall apart, without a nuclear war.
 
Um... Methinks that the 1980s are probably way to late for the USSR to "win" the cold war. Maybe in the mid-late 70s, but that would be a stretch even with a perfect storm of american problems. no plausible way to do this, while breaking up America in the 20th century is even harder.

The USSR was not the United States, and the United States was not the USSR. Something that should be kept in mind.
 
Seriously your POD is going to have to go way farther back, probably even before ww2. To start out, a less antagonistic Soviet Union is needed as to not antagonize initially neutral or reluctant nations firmly into the American camp. However at the same time more succesful communist takeovers/revolutions/elections/someway to get into power, are needed world wide. And communism would need to be seen as a viable form of government, which leads to the next point, communism needs to be a viable form of economy! And the Soviet economy would probably need to be wanked out to compete with the Americans. Which is possible... if they are unrealistically lucky or acting with hindsight.

Im rambling again, to sum it up, to cause the USA to fall while in a Cold War with the Soviet Union you need:
1. A reason for the citizens of the USA to hate the government/government system, or a reason to envy other nations of the world.
2. Deprivation of resources from the rest of the world. By this i mean, that states with valuable resources ether go pro Soviet or turn socialist and refuse to sell to the USA. Is this ASB? Well this thread is unlikely as it is.
3. A economic powerhouse Soviet Union. Its not good enough to compete with America, they would need to outstrip them. And not just by configuring other nations economies to feed the Union, thats just pissing people off.
4. Other nations to see Socialism as a great thing.
5. Lack of American allies, or more 'allies' that are also willing to deal extensively with the Soviets.

So my idea for this is to create a increasingly isolated USA, that has a superpower economy, but a lack of trade partners and many resources strategic nations turning to the Soviet Union. Meanwhile the Soviet economy rivals the USA but with many more trade partners and room for growth, plus unlike the USA which is burdened with an increasingly unrealistic military budget the Soviet Union has many loyal allies who have decent militaries themselves and an neutral Western Europe that is reaping the benefits of American/Soviet economic rivalry, while under little threat from invasion as both the West and East attempt to woo Europe with economic benefits and trades. Or maybe Europe just doesnt care who wins as long as they continue to benefit.

This is nearly impossible without every single thing going well for the Soviet Union and i fail at AH but hey thinking of Soviet Commercialism was fun!
 
Carter and Reagan alienate the world due to Carter's stands, and Reagan's extreme anti-communist stance. Reagan reduces taxes more than IOTL, increases military spending more...on things like the Sergeant York and maintaining old Forrest Sherman DD's in the 600 ship navy. US's militarist stances cause NATO to dissolve. Communist candidates elected in Western Europe. US/UK ties break after Kirkpatrick convinces US to side with Argentina over Falklands. US support to Argentina causes UK defeat in Falklands war, which causes fall of UK government.

This is ASB, I admit...

Oh, can I add in that Osama gets killed by the Spetznaz?
 
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