There certainly are similarities to Rome, but closer to home, I see similarities to the Soviet Union - deep-state, uniparty rule from the capital, central-planning, post-modern/collectivist ideology covering for state-power and individual power grab, massive intel and surveillance apparatus used at home and abroad, controlled media, military engagements and color revolution around the globe - all while bankrupting itself in wars, and trying to maintain the political status quo at home.
Personally I see similarities between now and the 18th century (1700's) English speaking world (including America) just before the 1st Great Awakening. This included a sexual revolution just before the Awakening, political persecution, squelching opposing speech, and a large push for deism then atheism.
In other words, we've been here before. And we came out of it without getting into a dictatorship. Instead, we became spiritually and politically freer. The question is, are enough Americans today led by the Spirit to take us into the next Great Awakening?
Yes, you draw an apt comparison here, but there is also something about America (the government) that is beyond the Soviet comparison: they are extremely arrogant, and feel unconquerable, unbeatable…the sole superpower with the entire world supplicant to them. This extreme arrogance is a little more like Nazi Germany, but probably beyond even that.
It is that arrogance, that willingness to treat other nations and peoples as playthings that will eventually unite other powers to unite and destroy the cancer that the United States government has now become.