America is divided and battling many different internal “wars” — over politics, culture, language, religion. Is it possible all this internal division could culminate in a civil war? It’s easy and logical to conclude that the United States today stands as close to the edge of civil war as it has since 1861. A broad variety of voices — including Republican and Democratic politicians, academics who study civil strife, and extremists on both ends of the spectrum — now accept the idea that civil war is either imminent or necessary. But today we now have the proof. A new poll suggests a full 54 out of every 100 Americans believe a Civil War is now inevitable. The highest number since the ‘Real Civil War’ more than 150 years ago. The poll was even more distressing that a full 24% believed that Civil War was a good thing. They point to evidence that can seem persuasive: a blizzard of threats against FBI agents, judges, elected officials, school board members and elections supervisors; training camps where heavily armed radicals practice to confront their own government; and many polls showing that many Americans expect violent conflict. In the week following the Trump South Florida raid the search word of “Civil War” increased 1000% and the use of the words Civil War in social media posts increased an astounding 3000%. Oren Segal, the Vice President of the Anti Defamation League's Center on Extremism said “We are living in a country where disinformation, conspiracy thinking and lies have resulted in deadly attacks. It’s not exactly kumbaya in this society. But we have been going through this for a long time now, and I don’t see people coming together in the more coherent organizing we saw prior to Jan. 6.” Contrast that perspective with that of Stephen Marche, author of “The Next Civil War: Dispatches From the American Future,” who posits that as extremists’ threats have become more lurid and specific, their rhetoric has leached into the mainstream — leading, for example, the Texas state government to spell out instances in which it would defy federal authority and the Texas Republican Party to declare President Biden the “acting president” and seek a voter referendum on seceding from the United States. The LGBTQ+ community is front and center in this discussion of a pending Civil War.
Strong right wing voices have incorporated the narrative of anti-LGBTQ+ in political speeches, in state houses across America in legislation and in political campaigns and advertising. In 2022 the LGBTQ+ community has experienced a growing culture war against drag queens, trans community, children in schools, gay marriage and more. These actions will likely be front and center in the threats of greater actions, even violence as experts are bracing for renewed discussions of civil war, as the Nov. 8 midterm elections approach and political talk grows more urgent and heated. #politics
