I know I’m not the only one who sunk into a pit of despair when the pandemic raged around the globe, taking our daily lives away from us. We can make all the jokes we want about how 2020 is the worst year ever, but it won’t take away the pain we’ve felt. We’ve all been effected in one way or another, whether it was by canceling future plans or losing the life of a loved one. The time spent in quarantine gave all of us way too much time to think about what was happening in the world and what would happen after this was all over.
Throughout history, pandemics like COVID-19 have completely altered the societies they occur in. We are currently witnessing history shaping events, some of us in person, some on our screens. Following the lockdown, we saw civil unrest all over the country, protesting the public health measures taken by state governments. We’ve seen the Black Lives Matter movement make the largest call for racial justice and human rights in any of our lifetimes. This call has been met with violence committed by the state and other Americans. The message became polarized, and we’re choosing sides and planting our feet on that side firmly. All of these events, preceding a starkly divided election have created a unique moment in American history.
We’ll be recovering from the fallout of this moment for a truly unforeseeable amount of time. I think there’s a chance we never recover. Whether that is the case or not will be determined by who wins this election.
From what I’ve written so far, you probably think that being a ‘doomer’ is my only personality trait. That may be true, but I actually feel more hopeful than I have for a long time, specifically since March 25. Before I explain why, we need to accept the gravity of how terrifying our country’s situation is.
While I hate both men running for president, I tremble thinking about what will happen if Donald Trump wins the election, or attempts to steal it. It may sound crazy, and that’s because it would be an unprecedented event in American history. Our president is testing to see if he can bend our democracy until it breaks.
In his first election, Trump wouldn’t confirm or deny whether or not he would concede defeat to Hillary Clinton. He’s done the same in 2020 with Joe Biden. Obviously, he won in 2016, so we don’t know if he was serious or not.
I’m taking him seriously. As Trump has said himself on multiple occasions, “I don’t kid.”
Trump has also already laid out his plan for the election. He expects the election to be decided by the Supreme Court.
He’s only been enabled by the entrenched Republican powers who let him take over their party, and the entrenched Democratic powers, too weak to stand up to the Republicans in any meaningful way. While Republican lawmakers saved face and committed to a peaceful transition of power, they’ve pushed forward the confirmation of Amy Coney Barret to strengthen the conservative majority on the court.
Lindsey Graham said this straight out on Fox News. “The (Supreme) Court will decide and if the Republicans lose, we will accept that result. But we need a full court.”
In all actuality, the Republicans committing to a peaceful transition of power is no guarantee that it will take place. In a scenario where the election is close, radicalized citizens may take the transfer of power into their own hands. Yes, I’m talking about a second American civil war.
I know you feel it coming. It’s mainstream to not trust the government. Still, while fighting the state may not be the top priority on your mind, there are people out there who are standing by and preparing for a fight right now. The most radical amongst us from both sides are growing angrier and angrier, and the president supports one of those sides.
While the plot to capture Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is a telling sign of the increased radicalization of American citizens, it doesn’t even begin to reflect the staggering organization of American militias.
Instead of talking about the Proud Boys or Three Percenters, which all pose a threat, I want to talk about a group closer to home. The “People’s Rights” network, otherwise known as ‘Ammon’s Army.’
Originally born in Nevada, Ammon Bundy moved to Idaho in 2015 and later became a figurehead of the “Patriot movement.” He organized two armed stand-offs with federal officials, one in 2014 dubbed “The Battle of Bunkerville” in defense of his father’s Nevada ranch. The second was the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016. This was a forty day standoff that resulted in one militia member being killed. If you haven’t heard of either of these events, I would highly recommend reading up on them. This was where Bundy formed a strong core group of supporters.
As COVID-19 spread, Bundy used the moment to expand his prominence. It started on March 26 in Emmett, Idaho. Ammon Bundy and his followers began planning, and decided they had to organize against stay-at-home orders and resist. Ammon’s army has grown to 16 states.
Ammon Bundy is a wild card to me. While he may share common ground with Donald Trump on the response to COVID-19, he’s also expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s not clear to me where they would stand in the worst-case scenario where Trump wanted to illegally seize power.
What this shows me is that if our cold Civil War went hot, there would be no two sides fighting each other. It would be made up of multiple radical militant groups all with their own goals. This war would be brother versus brother versus the state. It would be the most devastating conflict in our nation’s history, and upend our country forever.
Right now, I’m being candid with all of you about my greatest fear for our country. I don’t know if this will happen or not, but the scariest part of all of this is that it’s not unfounded. It’s all a matter of whether or not the American powderkeg goes off.
The moment that demonstrated to me most of all that our country is approaching a civil war came as it likely did for many of us, when I was scrolling through Facebook. It was a terrifying meme posted by an individual that I love dearly. It had a simple layout, and said, “On December 7, 1941, in the bombing of Pearl Harbour, the Japanese woke up a sleeping giant. I believe that in 2020, Antifa and BLM have made the same mistake.”
What this meme did was compare protestors to a foreign adversary, a wartime enemy. This statement paints other Americans as an enemy as dangerous as the old Japanese Empire. This is the first step to convincing Americans it’s justified to start shooting each other.
The one who made this post is a good man, but even good men can become lost.
I don’t blame anyone for believing misinformation because I’ve done it before too. Even as a studying journalist I can’t completely sort out the truth.
Even with all of this danger hanging over our heads, I think there’s a realistic path to a peaceful transition of power. The danger comes from conspiracy theories that will call the results of the election into question, but what if something happened that was so definitive in Joe Biden’s favor that no one could realistically call the results of the election into question? I have two words for you: Blue Texas.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump have been neck-and-neck in the polling data for the entire election. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that Biden wins the state on election night. If in person votes reflected these results, the conspiracy theories would have no ground to stand on.
Not on that, but the entire election would be over for Donald Trump. Let’s say that Biden wins Texas on election night, but Trump manages to win Florida, Nevada, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump still only makes it to 268 electoral votes, while Biden ends up at 270, the exact amount needed to win the electoral college. And it’s highly unlikely that Trump will win all of those states.
This is our country’s best chance at peace, so I hope that Biden spends the end of the campaign fighting hard in Texas. We need the landslide victory Texas would give Biden to stop the tension in this country from boiling over.
2020 has been a truly momentous and historical year, and the fury that’s been building could culminate in violence. I would much prefer it culminating with Blue Texas.
