Having watched most of the series, there's a tonal shift from the earlier material into late TNG. And I'd rather take the Federation over what we've got happening now, too. Just pointing out the show's writers aren't necessarily Marxists just because they dunk on capitalism and want a moneyless society.
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In Star Trek, the Federation has a ship named the USS Tian An Men, "in honor of those who lost their lives during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Beijing, China", to directly quote the wiki about it. People like to say Star Trek is a socialist setting, but imo as the series developed, they tried really hard to get away from that and create more of a socdem "utopia" - and wound up biting themselves in the ass in the process, as they started making the setting almost fatalistic due to disillusionment with the liberal West (Piccard is a rather dark, defeatist spin on the Federation and a far-cry from what it was in TOS or the early seasons of TNG).
All of this to say that it would not surprise me if the writers envisioned some peaceful, liberal reunification that would - materially - amount to England dominating the whole island.
Even funnier if he's still a true believer in the US even as he's uncovering more and more shit. Finds out cops are working with white supremacists to silence black protesters? Well, the issue is just a few bad apples, not the whole system. Exposes Lex Luthor's bribery of courts and politicians to cover up his death squads killing protesting overseas workers? That's just one rich guy, not indicative of capitalism at all. Discovers the CIA running a drug ring to experiment new mind control drugs? Surely it's just rogue agents and not the whole CIA.
Top it off by him finding out, point-blank, that the CIA is trying to kill him for exposing the corruption and lies of the US, and Clark still not understanding that the US is the problem. Have Waller herself be the antagonist, getting frustrated trying to get it through his head that he's upholding a system totally opposed to his overly idealistic vision, but Clark just can't grasp it.
As a person in the Imperial Core, I still can't comprehend how backwards the logic is here that most Americans would read this meme and think it's grounded in reality. Even having been the kind of guy who would believe it once, I still don't understand.
I think it's just racist indoctrination to believe Russians are evil.
It's even wilder when you consider that the gap between the "left" and "right" in the US is closing despite partisanship being fiercer than ever. Both sides are virtually identical at this point, probably more so than any other point in history. Democrats may spout lip service to progressive causes, but don't lift a finger and consistently aid Republican causes. Both parties constantly claim election tampering and the democracy being corrupt, they just disagree on who's responsible. Both support war and corporate power. I'm sure historically the "progressive" party has always been a weak, lying power, but now it feels so bald-faced that I'm amazed anyone can still delude themselves.
The question is, is the US finally going to cross the line and just admit to what they are in some fascist coup, or will the "progressives" accomplish some meager win for human rights at the end and draw millions back into the illusion? I can't tell if it's always been like this and I'm just seeing it for the first time, or if it really is becoming more and more obvious, more unwieldy, closer to collapse.
I always find it telling how authors have to walk on eggshells to even suggest something against the popular narrative, even when it's become so obvious that anyone who bothers to look into it can see the reality. The way this article starts with setting the scene as sort of relaxed, and how the title reads like "We're obviously super great and everything, but is it possible that maybe just this once we're wrong?"
It's the same with the Ukraine conflict. It wasn't until the catastrophic failure of a counterattack that people even began suggesting that it might have been a disaster, or that Ukraine is flawed - at least in more public media - and even then, the earlier stuff starts off so... "Well obviously the Ukrainians are in the right and totally could win, but maybe this was a bad idea".
I don't know, I just find it pretty telling in our freedom-loving society, which values Free Press and Free Speech, that every mainstream journalist acts like they'll get executed if they report something that displeases their masters. I mean, getting fired and blacklisted from a major media outlet would probably serve the same purpose anyway, so...
Tbh, the satire in 40K (and satire in general) seems harder to distinguish from life in the West the longer I live.