When "the base" claims they want a "civil war" do they know what is involved in a civil war or is their impression based on cartoons and memes?

@ninalanyon It’s more that they say one is coming.

@LeopoldBloom I imagine that they (whoever 'they' are) don't really have much idea what a civil war is. Especially in the US people seem to think that the War Between the States 1861-1865 was a typical civil war. Any future civil war is unlikely to be much like that. The mood in the US seems more likely to result in something like the English Civil War 1642-1651 in which one could trust no one even if they had been your neighbour your whole life because the split is not along geographical but along social and political lines.

Of course what is probably most likely is just an increase in incidents of insurrection which will be put down by the government of the day regardless of which party is in the ascendant in government.

I do hope that none of this comes to pass and that people do not become inured to the idea that violent civil unrest is inevitable. I have friends in the US, I would like to believe that they will be safe.

@ninalanyon It will be more like Syria, but on steroids. The U.S. Civil War wasn't really a "civil war," it was a sectional war, more like the American Revolution. Your description of a real civil war is more accurate.

If you're interested in this stuff, Robert Evans, the podcaster who does "Behind the Bastards," did a series called "It Could Happen Here." It's now another regular podcast, but the first season goes into detail on what a real civil war in the U.S. might look like.

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/

Sort it with the oldest first starting in March 2019.

@LeopoldBloom I think I'll give it a miss. The news from now is depressing enough, news from that possible future sounds altogether too depressing.