re: What would happen if a state declared independence?

I'd love to see a Governor openly start making moves to remove his/her state from the federal teat - that alone would get the knives out from all quarters. This scenario is shielded by those entanglements.

Seeing DeSantis or the like openly start to disentangle would have every institution panicking - it would be very entertaining. DeSantis already freaks them out with his sharp rhetoric against the agencies, etc.

I think we'll see some of it in the next decade. Although I suspect it'll be more along the lines of open/stated disregard for federal authority than the real groundwork I'm talking about above.