How Close is America to Falling Apart?

Is America at a breaking point?

Is this a nation in a pre-revolutionary moment?

Chris Hedges has been claiming for some time that America is heading for some redefining unrest, possibly revolution. He's not alone. America is in two camps and they both exude a "we can't go on like this" atmosphere. What if they're both right? What if the United States has become two irreconcilable camps stuffed within a common border?

My memory of American politics goes back as far as Eisenhower (fuzzy at best) but I cannot recall a national election fought so blatantly on tribalism and base instincts. The Republicans are clad in grey. They're the plantation party, the minority that seeks to preserve dominion over all. The Democrats are festooned in blue (most of them, anyway). They're those elitist northerners with their civil rights sending the country straight to Hell.

Trump has no platform to run on. His is not a record to stand on. His fallback is to wage a "dog whistle" campaign exploiting white insecurity with visions of the end of white privilege followed by an inevitable settling of scores, the same thing the Confederacy used to keep its troops desperately fighting an unwinnable war against the north.

One by one they took the podium at the RNC convention - Don Jr. and his Guilfoyle girlfriend, Eric, Ivanka - to be sure, and the other daughter, the one whose name is so forgettable. "Grifters R Us" They each blew the dog whistle. Republican America was about to be assassinated. Only Donald Trump could save the "real" Americans.  Jerrymandering and voter suppression might not be enough. Sterner measures were required and only Donald Trump could deliver.

The shooting last week of three BLM protesters by a 17 year old kid, Kyle Rittenhouse, exemplifies the rot in the fabric of America. To some, he's a murderer. On the other side he was just defending himself, caught up in an attack by this anarchist mob.

Here's something I've heard neither side mention. Take a look at the photo. There's plenty of photos and video of Rittenhouse. He maintains he was just there as a vigilante, to prevent the mob from sacking shops and such. He didn't go there to shoot anybody. Except that was very much on his mind. Look at his hands, the rubber gloves. There are two reasons for wearing disposable gloves. One, to ensure you leave no fingerprints on the weapon. Two, to prevent getting telltale gunpowder residue on your hands when you do fire.  Those gloves are evidence of premeditation, "malice aforethought." He anticipated that he might need to cover his tracks, to eliminate damning evidence that could be used to prosecute him.

Tucker Carlson defended Rittenhouse on FOX News arguing that he was only maintaining law and order where the authorities - municipal and state - had failed. The cops weren't doing their job so Kyle stepped in to do it for them. Carlson's outrageous defence of Rittenhouse has triggered the predictable outrage but what he said is what a lot of Americans believe or what they want to believe or what they're told, incessantly, to believe. Dammit, killing those people was a public service in defence of 'Ozzie and Harriet' America, the Stars and Stripes, and mom's apple pie. He did it for Jesus. Jesus versus the heathen mob.

Some pundits contend that this unrest is Trump's key to re-election. He's the tough guy who'll do the dirty business for his followers. He will crush these dangerous radicals, put his boot on their necks. None of that "I can't breathe" crap, either. Maybe the Army won't do his bidding but, no matter, Trump has his own legion, the combat troops he deployed in Portland.

Like the Reichstag fire, it shouldn't be difficult to fan the flames of unrest over the next two months. The BLM movement is the kindling. Provocation is the spark. Trump has, at his bidding, the nationwide white supremacists that the FBI label domestic terrorists and the gravest terrorist threat facing America. It's a volatile scenario.

And what if, Gawd forbid, Trump somehow engineered a win in November, what then?  Even before Covid was detected, he sabotaged federal revenues through corporate and high-bracket income tax cuts.  He tried and failed to tame the Chinese. He alienated all of America's historic allies. He allowed income inequality to deepen. He debased America before the world, especially in separating young children from their parents and confining them in what were/are dog kennels. He curried the favour of authoritarian thugs, kindred spirits, from the Middle East, South Asia, Asia Pacific and South America.  He infected the American people with a virulent tribalism, creating the "house divided against itself" that Lincoln warned of prior to the Civil War. And his base admire him for every bit of it.

What would he do for a second term? What can he do? He's a screw-up. One of his critics, Republican strategist, Rick Wilson, wrote a book, "Everything Trump Touches, Dies." He's right. Trump goes by his gut instincts and his instincts are awful plus they come with layers of cruelty and vindictiveness. This guy's an animal.

In 2016 Trump shook Washington by announcing that he might not accept the outcome if he lost the election. He's said the same thing for this election. This time, however, the rest of America might not accept another engineered win for Donald Trump.

How does this end?