Sure, it's not like we don't have crumbling infrastructure that can be taken out. Thank God China doesn't have the ability to make nukes or put satellites in orbit, or else it's certain that they would have one in a polar orbit that they can detonate over the US at will and take out our whole grid with a HEMP attack.
Assuming it works as intended.
The HEMP device or our grid?
If the HEMP device (which is not hard to make for a nuclear power) is only 10% effective, then a third of the US is fucked rather than the entire lower 48. If our grid is only 90% effective at dealing with it, that 1/3 of the country drags the entire country's grid down with it. Maybe in that scenario, the 2/3 that only got dragged down rather than being actively surged can be energized in a month or two, and they can help bring the actually attacked part of the grid up in another year.
I am in no way confident that we are that competent.
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