That's the future of America according to the Canadian author Stephen Marche. By some definitions, the level of violence and political dysfunction in America is already at a point we are close to a civil war.
In the book Stephen Marche uses information he learned from military and political experts to make scenarios of how America could fall into civil war.
The first scenario he calls "The Bridge." Federal inspectors close a bridge between two rural counties. Protestors occupy the bridge, tear down the roadblocks, and defy the federal government to close the bridge. A sheriff in one of the counties becomes the spokesperson for the protesters. Soon he is on Fox News every day giving updates from the frontlines.
Eventually the Army moves in. After months of delay, the military attacks the bridge. The sheriff is arrested and charged with treason and becomes a hero to Fox News.
In the aftermath of the fight, the President comes to town for a "listening tour." An unemployed white kid living in mom's attic and dreaming of being a hero shoots the President when she makes a surprise visit to a Jamba Juice. He becomes a bigger hero than Kyle Rittenhouse.
From there the local terrorist war becomes national. Attacks, counter attacks become daily life in America.
Marche then speculates on how the US will break into pieces since we are ungovernable. One part will be Texas, by itself. Another part will be the Pacific Coast. Then the northeast and midwest will be the land still called the USA. The South and the West will form a nation with the most land area, no abortions at all anywhere, unlimited gun rights, and an economy that will crater immediately without all the tax money they get from the rich states. South Carolina, for example, gets $7.50 from the federal government for every dollar it pays in taxes.
Marche says he has some hope at the end, but he sounds like a manager who who talks for about 20 minutes about her worst employee then says, "I know she's a good person inside." The message of the rest of the book: move to a blue state or live in Gilead.
