I think some of the other commenters have made some great points, but I mainly replied anything because your idea that society could function by tolerating the existence of fascists is foolishly optimistic and one doesn't have to look very far into the past at all to see why.
That's exactly how you get fascist takeovers. You dismiss them as impotent, foolish and misguided, extremist fringes, vocal minorities, etc., until it's too late. Have you learned absolutely nothing from even just the past two decades in the US??
No.
Tolerance is a Paradox. In order to build a tolerant society, we cannot tolerate the intolerant.
That's the thing, you don't ever have to actually launch the dang nuke. The goal is that deterrent, not annihilation.
For whatever it's worth, I think your questions make sense. MAD is kind of madness, but its how the world has worked since the invention of the atom bomb. And anyway, I can't see or cast downvotes on my instance.
Personally, I found the card game element interesting for a bit and then tedious and ultimately I went back to KSP. But I also wanted more direct control and other KSP elements that Mars Horizon didn't quite scratch.
Aurora 4X seems closest to what you want, that I know of, at least.
Mars Horizon might get a bit close, but I think it's a little more simple than you're looking for. There's a demo for it on Steam so it's easy to try, at least.
My great grandparents came to this country in the early 20th century fleeing fascism in Europe. It was their decision to leave that kept them and their family alive. Their friends that stayed weren't as lucky.
I've always wondered what caused them to make up their minds. What was the final straw that snapped that made them say "We need to leave for our safety, there's no hope of stopping what will come."
Ever since they announced this bill, I think I found my equivalent. If this thing passes, there's no saving the country. The DNC simply won't act to mitigate its damage, I've seen how they work. The only outcome after that isn't total fascist rule is violent and bloody civil war. And, frankly, I don't trust Americans to fix the country however that war would shake out.
Because no matter who wins, the DNC does the same shit. They continue the same RNC policies and programs they vocally decried during the previous term, but quieter, they expand US surveillance, military budget and expand the tools of oppression, they do fuck all to truly address the material conditions of the working class and we just get to watch the rich get wildly richer.
The DNC just... doesn't help people. They just act as a way to lower the temperature away from revolutionary acts, but food, housing, education and medicine just keep getting more expensive, wages are utterly detached from productivity, they don't get money outta politics and they won't stand up to protect the rights of Americans.
They know damn well what candidates and policies are popular and they continuously pander to the donors instead of the hard working people that make this country turn.
Heck, whenever they do have a chance to actually work like an opposition party, there's always conveniently juuuuust enough DINO members to stymie any actual progress. That way the rest of them can throw their hands up and say "ohhh we tried, but it's their fault, I'm actually on the side of the people!" Bullshit!
They concede power to fascists again and again and make nothing more than milquetoast "resistance" to it and even exacerbate it in plenty of examples.
Biden was an utter failure. He was all talk. He didn't act to enshrine Roe v. Wade into law, he slept on his promises about minimum wage, he could only give modicum to support to union workers fighting for better working conditions and he did nothing to stop the rise of fascism in his country.
Call me crazy but I think it's on the DNC to run candidates with policies people like moreso than it's the people should be demanded to vote for whoever they run. The latter policy has done nothing to help the working class American in the past 30 years, at least, it's no shock they're tired of it.
I think people would trust the DNC again if they started doing things to help people instead of just function as a halt to leftward politcal progress when it's their turn.
As it stands, I really don't care what they say they stand for or do, I don't really trust the DNC to do much of anything other than maintain the status quo and quietly expand the RNCs horrors.
Not that my vote even matters in our wildly broken election systems. The vote always goes to the DNC candidate and has done so for nearly four decades.
There's really just no way to actually vote for supporting the worker in the US. Hoping for change from Congress or the President is a fools gambit.
It's very complete while the markets are open, it's just starting after trading finishes for the day.