When I read "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" I got a sense that this process took a long time. Most of the Romans either could not see or did not want to admit the decline Even when Alaric sacked Rome, the population was unbelieving.

Ten years ago, I thought American democracy is reasonable safe. But today, I'm not sure the USA has another decade.

Anyways, the collapse won't be hard as the dystopians dare to imagine. The new rulers will have lots of fires to put out. I suspect they'll be no longer running the show with a decade of their takeover. Most of us will survive the two transitions.

Isaac Asimov prophesized no system of governance lasts forever.

https://medium.com/tiered-democratic-governance/asimov-foundation-democracy-26ea4578e49d