Ruler Against Ruler

 ;tldr  Let's see what the commentators of old have to say about Jeremiah 51:46.

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And lest your heart faint,

And you fear for the rumor that will be heard in the land

(A rumor will come one year,

And after that, in another year

A rumor will come,

And violence in the land,

Ruler against ruler),

Jeremiah 51:46

Do the prophets of old give us any indication as to the circumstances preceding the fall of America?  Well, as predicted, we have seen plundering and rioting and violence all throughout the land.  We have seen people shut away in their "prison houses."  We have seen the removal of the things that bring us joy (dining out, sporting events, concerts, movies, etc.).  All of these were predicted for God's people at the end of the age.

And today we have ruler against ruler, and still violence in the land.

I have little to add than what the commentators of old have already stated...centuries ago...as they described what the prophets of old recorded thousands of years ago.

Ellicot's Commentary

46 And lest your heart faint . . .—Better, Let not your heart faint; fear ye not . . .

For the rumour that shall be heard in the land.—It lies in the nature of the case that the final catastrophe of the city would be preceded by a period of uncertainty and suspense. 
... 
The whole empire was in the throes of dissolution. The words present a singular parallel to those which speak of “wars and rumours of wars” in Matthew 24:6-7; Luke 21:9.

"throes of dissolution"...intense or violent pain and struggle OF the closing down or dismissal of an assembly, partnership, or official body

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

51:1-58 The particulars of this prophecy are dispersed and interwoven, and the same things left and returned to again. Babylon is abundant in treasures, yet neither her waters nor her wealth shall secure her. Destruction comes when they did not think of it. Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the greatest distances, we are to remember the Lord our God; and in the times of the greatest fears and hopes, it is most needful to remember the Lord. The feeling excited by Babylon's fall is the same with the New Testament Babylon, Re 18:9,19. The ruin of all who support idolatry, infidelity, and superstition, is needful for the revival of true godliness; and the threatening prophecies of Scripture yield comfort in this view. The great seat of antichristian tyranny, idolatry, and superstition, the persecutor of true Christians, is as certainly doomed to destruction as ancient Babylon. Then will vast multitudes mourn for sin, and seek the Lord. Then will the lost sheep of the house of Israel be brought back to the fold of the good Shepherd, and stray no more. And the exact fulfilment of these ancient prophecies encourages us to faith in all the promises and prophecies of the sacred Scriptures.

Their Redeemer is strong;

The LORD of hosts is His name.

He will thoroughly plead their case,

That He may give rest to the land,

And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

Jeremiah 50:34

Disquiet:

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Literally, "And beware lest your heart faint, and ye be afraid because of the rumour that is heard in the land: for in one year shall one rumour come, and afterward in another year another rumour; and violence shall be in the land etc." The fall of Babylon was to be preceded by a state of unquiet, men's minds being unsettled partly by rumors of the warlike preparations of the Medes, and of actual invasions: partly by intestine feuds. So before the conquest of Jerusalem by the Romans the Church had similar warnings Matthew 24:6-7.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

And lest your heart faint; and lest they should be affrighted by the succession of evils year after year that should come on Babylon. Some think it were better translated, And let not your heart faint. 
...
no, not though you should see or hear of successive troubles, and a great deal of violence in the land by the opposition of great princes one to another, for none of them shall do you any harm; but this doth not so well suit to the former verse, where they are bidden to make haste out and to save their own lives. I do therefore prefer the sense of our interpreters, and their translation of it, as making another argument to persuade them to make haste out, because they would by reason of the successive evils year after year coming upon the Babylonians live there very troublesome and uneasy lives.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

46. a rumour … a rumour] Rumour shall succeed rumour, as the years go on, and disquieting revolts shall foreshadow the final break-up of the Babylonian empire.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 46. - And lest your heart faint, etc.; rather, and (beware) lest, etc. A rumour shall both come; rather, for a rumour shall come. The war, then, will last some time, and all kinds of rumours will be in the air. Keil compares Matthew 24:6.