Seconded.
I recently reread Fear, Loathing, & Gumbo. As you all know, the POD is back in 1971. FLaG is renowned at AH.com for being a dystopia in which every nearly over the top event is set up in detail, giving it horrifying plausibility throughout. Anyway, from that starting point in 1971 a long series of increasingly horrible and demoralizing events and revelations occur that could give the most rational and informed American the impression of a slow-motion apocalypse. We've got things ranging from the release of the CIA Family Jewels at the right moment to accelerate the breakdown of faith in the American government; Agnew spewing apocalyptic misinformation on TV; Wallace doing similar for different reasons; breakdown in NATO cooperation; a crack pandemic; chemical and radiological warfare in Southern Africa; a theocratic bloody revolution in Saudi Arabia; communist revolution in Portugal and war between it and Fascist Spain; 500+ killed in a Bicentennial Day chemical terrorist attack; China as an Orwellian regime attacking neighbors, being a narco-state, and using nukes on itself.... that's all BEFORE Rumsfeldia begins in 1981, and I left a ton out.
Meanwhile in real life there's a large segment of the US population that, when asked respectfully, will admit to thinking we are approaching the End of Days in Revelation. That's real life, and the vast majority of those people don't really think about it in their daily lives.
But those same people stuck in ITTL 1988 with such a dystopia surrounding them, those thoughts could easily reach the surface. So, this TL having reached the point it has prior to the last update, I do believe the CV regime could find hundreds of thousands of mostly willing followers who actually believe it's the End Times, so all the rules of America and Civilization are over.
I have my own theory about how Rumsfeldia became so terrible. Its largely because the man himself was affected by all these events
My feeling is that one of things that motivated Rumsfeld was Spiro Agnew's impeachment. Rumsfeld has been one of Agnew's biggest supporters and even tried to put into place a "false flag operation".
Of course, Agnew was impeached from public office before he could make "history".
In Rumsfeld's glasses covered eyes, he believed the forces and structures that allowed Agnew to be impeached (from constitutional barriers, to demands from NATO allies, to the economic system, to the antiwar movement, to Democrats) were a form of weakness, and why America couldn't effectively battle communism.
Thus Rumsfeld decided to rip apart these things, believing that they hobbled American strength. He removed constitutional barriers, put America into various global conflicts, reversed social progress, and put his political opponents behind bars. He was essentially Spiro Agnew, if Agnew had been more ruthless and clever. He wanted to be the man who changed America, and he would stomp on anything that got in his way.
Now if you think all this is implausible, let me remind you OTL of another western society weakened by war, recession, and political crisis that was hijacked by a nationalistic demagogue for his own twisted ends, and that country is Germany.
Rumsfeld OTL is in my opinion, a man who's ideas on foreign policy are looking for monsters underneath the bed, who weaves tales. The turmoil of the ITTL 70s along with the end of Agnew's presidency could have already altered his psyche and thinking
Alternate history shouldn't just be about changing events, its also about how those events affect individual humans.
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