Polls Indicate Americans Fear A Civil War

By Makheru Bradley

The COVID-19 Pandemic, massive social unrest driven by reactions to police killings, and the turbulent 2020 presidential election are driving many people in the United States to fear the possibility of a civil war.

An October 1, the “Back-to-Normal Barometer” survey found that 61% of Americans agree that the U.S. could be on the verge of another Civil War, and in anticipation, 52% have also stockpiled food or essential goods. As regards stockpiling, the FBI reported in June that Americans set a new record with 3.9 million background checks to purchase or possess firearms, eclipsing the previous record set in March of 3.7 million background checks.

The October “YouGov” poll of 1,999 registered voters found that nearly half – 47% – don’t believe that the presidential election "is likely to be fair and honest." That poll also found that 51% won't "generally agree on who is the legitimately elected president of the United States." An additional “YouGov” poll of 1,505 voters found that 56% expect to see "an increase in violence as a result of the election."

Why 1860? Because tens of millions of Americans are likely to view whoever wins the 2020 presidential election as not their president. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot in 10 southern states. Those Southerners did not view Lincoln as their president. The result was political secession, the formation of the Confederate States of America and a devastating civil war, which caused between 617,877 and 851,066 deaths.

Nevertheless, most historians and political analysts are not expecting Red states to secede from the Union and another clash of Blue and Gray armies. Republicans have total control (executive and legislature) of 22 states. They control the legislatures in an additional eight states, for a total of 30 states where they control the legislature. The Republican-controlled Michigan legislature refused to ban guns from the state’s capitol building, after armed militia’s invaded the building earlier this year. That decision probably emboldened a Michigan militia. Those militias and other anti-government and white supremacist groups are most likely to engage in violence, along with anti-Fascists groups.

One example of how extreme the violence could be is the recently thwarted plot by a militia to abduct Michigan’s Democrat governor Gretchen Whitmer. Per the FBI and Michigan authorities the militia planned to storm the State Capitol, instigate a civil war and abduct the governor. On October 8, federal and state officials announced terrorism, conspiracy, and weapons charges against 13 men.

Terrorism analyst Kathleen Belew said, “This isn’t just a one-off event or the work of a few mad actors — it’s part of a rising tide of white power activity… The attempted kidnapping of Whitmer is linked to the call to arms of the Proud Boys, the underground training of other white power groups, the militias and Boogaloo Boys on the march and the string of mass shooters motivated by this ideology. I studied the earlier white power movement for more than a decade. Now I'm very concerned that more violence is imminent, and that these ideologies pose an imminent threat to our democracy and to people going about their everyday lives.”

The October 2020 “Homeland Threat Assessment” published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states that they are “particularly concerned about white supremacist violent extremists who have been exceptionally lethal in their abhorrent, targeted attacks in recent years.” This is coming, incredibly, from Trump’s DHS. They said, “Specifically white supremacist extremists will remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland. Since 2018, they have conducted more lethal attacks in the United States than any other Domestic Violent Extremists movement.”

This report comes after 14 years of warnings about white supremacists infiltrating the US military and police forces. A February 2020 Military Times survey noted, “More than one-third of all active-duty troops and more than half of minority service members say they have personally witnessed examples of white nationalism or ideological-driven racism within the ranks in recent months… The 2019 survey found that 36 percent of troops who responded have seen evidence of white supremacist and racist ideologies in the military, a significant rise from the year before, when only 22 percent reported the same in the 2018 poll.”

During a massive outbreak of civil unrest white supremacists in the US military and on police forces can be expected to align with their ideological comrades, just like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and others in the US military did during the 1861-1865 Civil War.

Ultimately, whether Donald Trump loses or wins the presidential election, white supremacist terrorists will turn their attention to Afrikans in America, same as they did after losing the Civil War. Afrikan Americans were subjected to racial massacres by mobs in places like Memphis in 1866 and Colfax, LA in 1873. The DHS report said, “The primary terrorist threat inside the United States will stem from lone offenders and small cells of individuals.” We know what lone wolves like Dylann Roof are capable of.

White supremacists embedded themselves in protests during the George Floyd Rebellion, wreaking havoc, and causing law enforcement to crackdown on legitimate demonstrators. They could have easily attacked demonstrators themselves.

The Afrikan American community needs to be on high alert for potential violence. Rule #1: Do not verbally engage these Neanderthugs. Their objective is to tug on our emotions and pull us into their orbit of ignorance, where they have the advantage. Be focused on preconceived self-defense strategies and survival.

For more from the author, follow his blog Makheru Speaks.