Ask a MAGA Republican what will happen if former President Donald Trump is convicted in any of his four criminal trials and the answer is almost always the same: civil war.
That answer holds true whether you speak to rank-and-file Republican voters, local elected officials or even former national GOP leaders. It’s also an indication that the right-wing politics of grievance is spiraling dangerously out of control.
In Georgia, state Sen. Colton Moore warned politico-turned-podcaster Steve Bannon that any prosecution of Trump would lead to a likely civil war. “I don’t want to have to draw my rifle,” Moore said. Concerningly, Moore also seemed to imply that Georgia state troopers would be willing participants in any effort to bust Trump out of jail. That last bit may be fantastical thinking on Moore’s part, but he’s hardly alone.
Former Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor also lent her voice to the chorus of war cries, describing Trump’s indictments as “treason” and “a hijacking of our country,” telling podcaster William Wallis, “This is war, and I hope and pray it gets resolves before we use guns…we’re at war right now, a war for our freedom.”
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For his part, even the former president can’t resist making thinly veiled references to the possible necessity of civil conflict. Ousted Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson recently asked Trump if he believed the nation was headed toward civil war. Trump answered the question by remarking on the “tremendous passion and love” evident in the mob that attacked the United States on January 6, and lamented that the media only reported the attack negatively.
“People in that crowd said it was the most beautiful day they had ever experienced,” Trump waxed poetically. “I’ve never seen simultaneously so much hatred from those people for what they’ve done to our country.” By “they,” of course, Trump means the elected officials who had committed to carrying out a lawful certification of the 2020 electoral vote. In Trump’s telling, the anger of the mob is not only justified but admirable. He also warned that, properly signaled, that pro-Trump paramilitary could find its way onto the streets again.
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No politician who claims to love this country should be encouraging a violent repeat of one of the republic’s darkest moments.
