United States | News & Politics

But can anyone ELI5 how you all ended up in this state

First off, the US government has always been full of absolute ghouls and clowns. That said, the well-being of the typical american has been on a downward trend for a while, and people are seeking radical change. This isn't really new, Obama ran on change in 2008 (and then governed like a Republican, alienating voters), and Trump obviously did the same, though in a more unhinged clownish way in 2016. Biden only won a (very narrow) victory in 2020 because Trump was so openly disgusting, helped by mishandling of COVID being an obvious giant talking point.

how you get back out?

The various alphabet agencies, national guard, and police forces have to be purged and reformed at all levels nationwide, then various actions (political arrests and blackmail, mostly) taken that effectively decapitate and dismantle the republican party while being subtle enough that they don't cause armed rebellion. This would require the dems to be ideologically opposed to fascism, which they aren't (see their support for Israel as one easy example).

What’s the impact of this individual being Speaker?

Nothing too special, the government probably gets shut down at some point when they try to hold funding hostage, but at the end of the day business as usual (which is, to be clear, very bad) continues apace.