What Does the Next 6 Months Look Like for the U.S.?

And what can you do to prepare for it mentally and emotionally?

Photo by Joseph Chan on Unsplash

I don’t know about you, but lately, it feels like the world’s on fire and America is holding the match. Every headline feels like a punch to the gut: another protest turned violent, another court ruling tearing at the threads of democracy, another attack that once would've shocked us into silence but now barely registers. It’s overwhelming, exhausting, and honestly, terrifying.

So I did what any politically anxious overthinker with a minuscule background in political science would do…I asked AI what the hell is going on. Specifically, what the next six months in the U.S. might look like. I wanted data, I wanted patterns, I wanted odds. What I got was… sobering.

So that’s what you’re getting today. Part breakdown, part survival guide. Because if the country is a ticking time bomb, I figure it’s better to hear it ticking—and learn how to protect your mind and heart in the meantime—than pretend everything’s fine while it blows up in your hands.

Let’s talk about what’s coming and how to take care of yourself if and when it does.

What the next 6 months could look like for the United States.

While not many people know it, I was a political science minor in college. I love the overall history and concept behind politics (though I don’t love the current political landscape). For me, when you look at the big picture of politics, it’s a bit like solving a puzzle. There are so many different moving pieces, so many variables, that you often end up with more loose ends than answers when you try to understand the different mechanisms involved.

As a bit of a polisci fangirl, I decided to ask ChatGPT some questions about the current state of America’s political and social environment. While I’m interested in politics, I’m not a skilled statistician. So, I asked it to break it down for me. Given current, factual events, what are the most likely isolated events that are likely to happen in America over the next 6 months?

Here are the answers it gave me (and my breakdown of them):