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The “civil war” exploded a dark national anxiety. In polls and interviews, some voters say they worry that the country’s divisions will lead to genuine, only rhetorical, battles.
By Lisa Lerer
A factor that unites the right and the left today: disunity.
From multiplexes to social media, the prospect of the U. S. collapsing in armed confrontation has gone from being a fringe concept to an active undercurrent in the country’s political conversation.
During the crusades, the electorate expressed fears that political divisions could lead to large-scale political violence. Pollsters ask about this concept in opinion polls. A cottage industry was born for speculative fiction, serious assessments, and forums about whether the country might be on its way. the breaking point of a fashionable edition of the bloodiest war in U. S. history.
And “Civil War,” a dystopian action film about an America mired in bloody internal conflict, has dominated box office sales for two consecutive weekends. The film exceeded expectations in theaters in Brownsville, Texas, and Boston, tapping into a grim set of national anxieties. which took hold after the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Of course, the perception of a long-lasting civil war remains a mere perception. But as a new presidential election approaches, it suddenly becomes the subject of heated debates, reflecting the sense of bipartisan unease that pervades American politics. In polls and interviews, some electorate said they feared the country’s divisions were so deep that they could lead not only to rhetorical battles, but also to actual battles.
“Personally, I don’t think we’re going to sink into a formal armed civil war,” said Maya Wiley, a 2021 New York City mayoral candidate and now president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a civil rights organization. has conducted several surveys on the subject. ” But it’s up in the air. I’m not at all surprised that we’re seeing a very particular concern about where things might go.
This concern has been stoked by the violence and chaos that subtly and blatantly permeate U. S. politics. Violent threats against members of Congress have reached record levels, as have reports of hate crimes in the nation’s largest cities. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband beaten with a hammer in their home. The criminal trial of a former president took place in a courtroom as a nearby man doused himself with a fuel accelerator and set it on fire.
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