I suppose this is a similar question to "What might happen if America actually does balkanize?" but applied to the present (or near-future) instead of some point in the 2060s or whatever.
I suppose this is a similar question to "What might happen if America actually does balkanize?" but applied to the present (or near-future) instead of some point in the 2060s or whatever.
Historically the Tetrarchy featured 2 senior emperors and 2 junior emperors. I don't want to speculate over who would wind up on top after America deals with it's Crisis of the 21st Century but I will lay out the likely regions.
The Senior Blue Tetrarch rules from Washington DC and has direct rule over the region of The North as well as the overseas colonies (Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico) and Alaska. The Junior Blue Tetrarch rules in California and has control over that region (Washington, Oregon, Etc).
The Great Lakes region is broken up into semi-independent city-states ruled over by the Water Barons. They largely pledge fealty to the Senior Blue Tetrarch and provide him with tribute and Condottiero. They in turn extract tribute and Foederati from the northern part of the Midwest.
The Senior Red Tetrarch rules from Texas, which is the only place in the Empire that has a nuclear weapons plant. He also has a great deal of indirect control over both the Southwest and the more southern portions of the Midwest, which is also where a great deal of the empire's Foederati come from. The Junior Red Tetrarch would rule The South.
Florida remains a confusing basketcase of shifting ideological loyalties. It's not a question of who controls Florida but who controls which parts of Florida right now.