Hi @ rollingthunder... Your on the right track my friend... The currency argument is a separate issue (although just as important and relevant). My "fear" is more with the systematic dismantling of American institutions that's happening as we speak.

What most historians would tell you is the US Dollar was effectively removed from the gold standard in 1933, and completely separated in 1971:

To help combat the Great Depression. Faced with mounting unemployment and spiraling deflation in the early 1930s, the U.S. government found it could do little to stimulate the economy. To deter people from cashing in deposits and depleting the gold supply, the U.S. and other governments had to keep interest rates high, but that made it too expensive for people and businesses to borrow. So in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt cut the dollar’s ties with gold, allowing the government to pump money into the economy and lower interest rates. “Most economists now agree 90 percent of the reason why the U.S. got out of the Great Depression was the break with gold,” said Liaquat Ahamed, author of the book Lords of Finance. The U.S. continued to allow foreign governments to exchange dollars for gold until 1971, when President Richard Nixon abruptly ended the practice to stop dollar-flush foreigners from sapping U.S. gold reserves.
Source

...but I would argue it goes back to 1913 to the creation of the Federal Reserve (the first American coup)...
Nixon went even further and removed us from the silver standard, basing our currency on commodities instead.

Americans could learn a lot from the saying "Nero fiddled While Rome burned"...

"Trump (insert ignorant action here) while America burned"

Thanks for the comment - much appreciated...