Donald Trump Just Dragged Us All Closer to a Second Civil War

Banning him isn’t enough.

Photo by Chris Hardy on Unsplash

Growing up in Georgia, you learn a lot about the first civil war. My 8th grade history teacher spent months on it. He drew every major battle on the board and made us memorize them.

We started with the First Battle of Bull Run.

It’s sometimes called “the picnic battle,” because civilians and politicians actually rode out to watch. They brought food. They were looking forward to a good ol’ Yankee ass whoopin’. According to Kat Eschner of Smithsonian Magazine, “many Americans believed the conflict would be short and relatively bloodless.” Instead, it ended with five thousand causalities. By then it was pretty clear how wrong everyone had been, and how carelessly they’d acted. Both sides had spent years provoking each other, with no idea what they were getting themselves into.

The lesson here is simple: War never goes the way anyone plans. It doesn’t obey orders. It doesn’t take sides. It doesn’t wait for a declaration. There’s no winners, just a bunch of death and destruction.

Nobody needs another one.

We’re down a path now.

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