now that you mention it, it sorta seems like POTUS is trying to shunt us off onto a timeline where the Bolshevik Revolution didn't occur.
He really draws our attention to 1917 and it's not really bc of the 'Spanish flu'.
>The current system risks cascading failures
yes, just as normies are waking up to the stupidity and vulnerability of depending on China for basic meds, they are also seeing the vulnerability posed by the electrical grid as it currently works.
Best way to avoid these vulnerabilities, as I see it, is to use LENR and other types of ZPE extraction (aka "overunity") systems that have been suppressed until now, in order to produce power at the place it's needed.
This would obviate the need for big power stations, transmission lines, most transformers, substations, and all the related infrastructure.
It'd be much more difficult for an enemy to attack a very decentralized power system.
Yes, it will be a painful transition for some when the oil/gas/coal industry is left behind in favor of more modern tech. But wheelwrights and covered wagon producers weathered the same kind of transition as society upgraded from horses to automobiles. It can happen again.