Mike Wong
Recently, talks of a Second American Civil War have increased, especially after the January 6th insurrection in 2021, with the resurgence and rapid rise in US political violence and division, alongside protests, such as the George Floyd Protests. There was also a resurgence in conspiracy theories like the US election being falsely stolen and rigged, as well as the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which only fuelled further social discontent and mistrust of the Supreme Court, US military and US Federal Government. Trust was falling apart amongst the American population towards the US military and the Federal Government due to the American public seeing that lies could easily be spewed from the White House, particularly after Former US President Donald Trump took office from 2016 to 2020 and US military failures in Afghanistan due to the withdrawal in 2020, alongside more and more US servicemen partaking in politics. With all this in mind, Impact’s Mike Wong discusses the possibility of a Second American Civil War.
The United States went through the American Civil War from 1861-65, which began primarily over the issue of Slavery, Consequently, this led to the creation of the Confederate States of America to fight against the Union States, led by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, resulting in a Union victory.
mistrust in the US Federal Government and the military was at an all-time high
Over time, as America entered into the Cold War, it witnessed the Civil Rights movement and other movements, including Watergate, which led to increased US Scrutiny of the US government and demand for more transparency and an independent free press. However, in the 21st Century, mistrust in the US Federal Government and the military was at an all-time high, which increased after the US Invasion of Iraq, where the US government went in with the lie of disarming “Iraq of Weapons of Mass Destruction”, only to find out there weren’t any Iraqi WMDs, and instead, a total pointless from 2003-11, including later, the US (to be exact, the UN and the world) having to return to Iraq to destroy and defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), particularly the Caliphate that ISIS had created.
In addition, the US was also experiencing a rise in political violence, such as the rise in paramilitary groups, particularly on the American Far Right, and a rise in conspiracy theories from the 21st Century onwards. The notable examples include Former US President Barack Obama’s citizenship status, known as the “Birther movement”, which in summary, claimed that he wasn’t a US-born citizen, whilst in reality, he was born in Hawaii, the United States. Others included Pizzagate, which was a QAnon conspiracy theory, in short, falsely claimed that Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair and Democratic Party officials with US Restaurants were child sex rings and human trafficking, with the notable Comet Ping Pong pizzeria located in Washington, D.C.
a growing number of Americans believe the US Conspiracy theories primarily due to growing hatred and increased disillusionment of the US establishment and the US Press
In addition, Trump falsely promoted the claim that he should have won the election of 2020 and that the election was stolen and fraudulent, field with invalid votes, later known as the “Big lie”. Despite all these wild conspiracy theories completely being untrue, and though more conspiracy theories are circulating in the US, regardless of how untrue and outrageously nonsensical they are, a growing number of Americans believe the US Conspiracy theories primarily due to growing hatred and increased disillusionment of the US establishment and the US Press, leading to the January 6 insurrection, which demonstrated the amount of mistrust and hatred by the American public towards the US establishment.
On top of that, rising social discontent amongst the US populace occurred. Rising gun violence, and growing social protests, such as the George Floyd Protests in 2020 to demand immediate judicial and police reform, alongside other social movements erupting across the US, only exacerbated the amount of mistrust among the American populace when it came to sensitive issues such as Abortion rights, LGBTQ rights and healthcare.
Also, politicians, congressional officials and the US Press on both sides of the spectrum often took strong jabs at each other, accusing each other of stoking hatred, with Democrats, Progressives and those who were left-wing accusing those on the right of “Semi-Fascism”, whilst Republicans and those on the “Alt-Right” for rising crime, and stoking violence during the George Floyd Protests. This rhetoric was amplified in the 2020 US Presidential Elections, the 2022 Midterm elections, and continued investigations, allegations, and cases piled against Trump whilst investigations were being done on Hunter Biden for his alleged ties to Ukraine and Russia, which President Joe Biden fiercely denies.
many pointing to the 2024 elections as a possible firestarter
The possibility of a Second Civil War has become entirely accurate, with many pointing to the 2024 elections as a possible firestarter. Also, a Second Civil War will have disastrous consequences for the global community due to America’s dominant economic and social status and the amount of influence it retains. Thus, it is fundamental that the American populace must find ways to weather dangerous political crises, the US government to regain public trust, and reduce increased political polarisation.
Mike Wong
Featured image courtesy of Samuel Branch via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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