The prospect of a second American Civil War may seem wildly unlikely, or not even logistically feasible. To suggest any equivalence between that desire and the overtly violent yearnings of the Republican-fascist movement is intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt. When Democrats or progressives report a desire to secede from the country, they are seeking refuge and self-preservation. This was to be expected: History shows that fascism in its various forms is inherently violent and destructive, both toward its opponents and members of its own movement. RELATED: Trump's Big Lie is the new Lost Cause - and it may poison the country for decades
In practice, this has led to hate crimes and other acts of violence against nonwhite people, immigrants and other targeted groups. In the Age of Trump, that has devolved into overt and direct appeals to violence in defense of an imagined "real" America. Public opinion research has shown that tens of millions of white Republicans, especially Trump supporters, view Joe Biden as an illegitimate president who should be removed from power by whatever means necessary.įor decades the right-wing propaganda machine has used stochastic terrorism to radicalize its public toward ever more extreme views. 6 insurrection, and has come very close to directly endorsing terrorism against its perceived political enemies.įor Republicans, America's multiracial democracy is anathema to their values and must be destroyed. It has embraced and condoned the violence of the Jan. Today's Republican Party has, in practice, largely surrendered to neofascism and white supremacy - currents that were not far below its surface for many years. It may be true that a large percentage of both Democrats and Republicans are willing to consider seceding from the United States, but their reasons and motivations are very different.
It's important to resist false equivalence and superficial analysis here. Alarmingly, nearly as many Biden voters, 41 percent, also feel it may be "time to split the country." This is part of a larger pattern other polls and research have come to similar conclusions. If there is a second American Civil War, which side would you choose? It may be wise to make that decision now, in the spirit of planning for the worst while hoping for the best.Ī recent public opinion poll by the University of Virginia Center for Politics finds that a majority of Trump voters want to secede from the Union.
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