Let’s get straight to the point: the Second American Civil War, fueled by the right wing of the Republican Party (GOP), found its beginnings with the election of President Barack Obama. We can debate (I enjoy a good debate) whether the GOP’s reaction and the formation of the Tea Party were solely about the President’s economic policies (a valid debate) or if they were also rooted in the fact that he was, well, Black.

A quick search through the internet will clearly show that there was significant anger over the latter, and, beneath the surface, similar anger related to the Black aspect of the former. 

The Backlash

There were the conspiracy theories, “…including claims that Obama was not a natural-born citizen (“birtherism”), that he was secretly a Muslim, or that he was the antichrist. While not all conservatives believed these ideas, party leaders often did little to actively discourage them.” One guess who would go on to push those theories and be elected President of the United States in 2016.

As if that wasn’t insulting enough, there were plenty of expressions of fear and anxiety in all the usual places: “Many right-leaning voters were described as fearful and pessimistic about the outcome. Some Texas Republicans, for example, expressed a genuine fear of the new president.” I get it. The new President might end up being a President for only his supporters and not give a damn about the rest of the country, and when it was pointed out that he was not unifying the country during a very sensitive time, he would say nonchalantly, “I don’t care.”

Back to the American Tea Party and Fiscal Conservatives, I think any objective observer could state unequivocally that there are some racial undertonesin the criticisms of policies: “A number of political observers and commentators noted that while much of the criticism was framed in policy terms, it contained a significant racial component.

Some of the conspiratorial attacks, such as misrepresenting Obama’s middle name, “Hussein,” tapped into racially motivated anxieties.” Again, an individual who went on to become President of the United States of America in 2016 and 2024 would also misrepresent and mock Obama’s middle name.

Yeah, he had a lot of fun with that.

And stating the obvious, there was the “Divisive racial backlash”: “The historic nature of the first Black president’s election was a milestone, but some scholars point to his victory as triggering a racial backlash embodied by the Tea Party movement and culminating in the election of Donald Trump.” No DEI elections anymore.

The Second Civil War

While a close friend claims otherwise, the evidence of a civil war coming is everywhere. NPR, back in 2022, reported that Business Insider pushed out a poll in October 2020 saying a majority of Americans believed the U.S. was already in the midst of a “cold” civil war.” This is three months before the January 6 insurrection. How prescient?

In the same NPR report, there was also mention of a University of Virginia Center for Politics poll citing a “…majority of people who had voted to re-elect former President Donald Trump in 2020 now wanted their state to secede from the Union.”

The evidence keeps piling up. According to the Brookings Institution (not a right-wing slouch think tank), they cite a 2021 national survey by pollster John Zogby: “…found a plurality of Americans (46%) believed a future civil war was likely, 43% felt it was unlikely, and 11% were not sure.” Back then, it seemed younger people (unspecified, but I can guess) were more certain about the impending disaster than we older folks (which I find hard to believe), 53% versus 31%.

Who cares, you say? Well, the same poll revealed that 41% of us who voted for Joe, the former president, the real one, also thought it might be time to “split the country,” although I don’t remember saying that back then. But if you ask me now, I might have a different opinion.

I’ve been talking about a coming civil war in this here United States since…1964…or was it 1968…or wait a minute; I was sure it was 2008. Let me check my calendar. 2016…2020…or…

The Second American Civil War began on January 6, 2021.

Lessons Learned

Although the current resident of the White House was not elected for a second term, he ensured that his power would not be forgotten and that next time, he would not go quietly into the night. No one with any semblance of a brain believed that he thought that a little performative attack on the Capitol would save him from the White House for four more years.

Nope, the point was to scare us all into believing that he could, if he wanted to, and second, that next time — maybe if he got elected again — there would be no next time.

He, Donald J. Trump, learned his lessons that January day. When he was elected a second time, Trump was prepared. First, he dismantled the internal resistance by bringing in loyalists who would quietly maneuver through the massive Federal government bureaucracy, searching for those who posed a threat.

Then, he leveraged the enormous resources of that bureaucracy with the ‘Yes, anything you want, Sir’ people and the submissiveness of the Republican Congress, along with the stamp of approval from a Conservative majority Supreme Court (three of whom were appointed by Trump, shifting the court’s balance to a 6–3 conservative majority). 

I’m Too Busy

With all of these hints, predictors, and crazies just coming out and saying, “We’re going to kill our fellow citizens,” you might think that building that bunker in our backyard stocked full of guns, bullets, food, and water for at least five years isn’t such a bad idea. Well, after speaking to my forty-eight-year-old namesake son, Antonio, who lives in Texas, I’m starting to have the same doubts as my friend and plenty of others.

As he puts it, revolution and civil war are grand ideas until everyday reality hits. Gotta pay the rent. If I don’t show up, my job is going to that illegal alien who I already hate. But what about all this talk about people being revved up online to join up?

Yeah, let’s all meet at the Walmart parking lot on Friday at 11 a.m.

A message at 6 a.m. on Thursday: We have to reschedule. I have to get my rifle cleaned, and my car was booted.

Life seems to get in the way of revolutions and civil wars.

Here’s my final take: There was always exploitation by one class against another, or one racial group against, hell, every other. However, the real battle isn’t a civil war in the traditional sense of the word.

Forget civil war. Think the 99% versus the 1%.

The real coming battle is the one where the 99% say enough, and they get tired of subsidizing the 1%. No guns or knives. Something entertaining like a UFC battle royale.

Now, that’s something I would pay my last Social Security check to see.