The United States of America is in flames right now.
Across California, New York and a few other democrat controlled states, the President of the world’s largest economy has declared war on every institution which is essential to the functioning of the American system.
Banning universities from having foreign students is an act of war: contrived to put the government on collision course with the nation’s leading citadel of higher learning.
Deporting large numbers of Latino Americans (and African migrants too) from the East and West coast to the countries of their origins was always on the books and initiated to ensure that the demography leans quite heavily to those who would vote Republicans.
The teaching of African-American history across schools in the union, has been explicitly banned in Republican strongholds across Georgia, Florida and elsewhere.
Women haven’t been left out.
The reversal of Roe v Wade a few years ago was enshrined in law to push vast numbers of women who would normally have an abortion to have children to up the numbers as it relates to the future of white America.
What people of colour — Asians and Latinos — along with white women failed to take into account was that all this was indeed avoidable.
They failed to take heed of the warning of those who knew better.
But we shouldn’t absolve the democrats for their role in this current mess.
Joseph Robinette Biden failed to address soaring inflation and allowed Benjamin Netanyahu to kill innocent women and children at will, in Gaza.
These unconnected events played quite heavily in the hearts and minds of voters and it was near impossible to convince folks that Kamala Harris would be a much better option than Donald Trump, who learnt the painful lessons of his 2020 defeat and came back stronger and more vengeful.
While the word vengeful might suggest a degree of emotionalism, what we are currently watching unfold before us, does reflect clear strategic thinking, which the left has collectively failed to do for a very long time.
The business of winning power is a morally ambiguous undertaking; it is one which requires beguiling people with half-truths and in extreme cases, blatant lies.
Few people care about wrong and right, when they are unable to feed, much less pay their bills and reproduce themselves.
And in handing the keys of power to Donald Trump, hundreds of millions of Americans have empowered the man to remake and rebuild his country, in his image, hence the civil war.
All of which brings us to the very title of this article.
The previous civil war was waged by the Northern states to disrupt the wealthy Southern slavers, who had a greater share of the wealth.
The outcome of the war which was the end of slavery led to the creation of a new class of plutocrats and oligarchs, who would dominate at home and abroad.
Just as it was back then, this select group are set to be the biggest beneficiaries of the current disruption.
The 1 percent, who dominate every facet of public life in America, will consolidate their position at the top of the food chain, while the poorest will be poorer than ever.
With great immiseration comes even greater polarization among the races and genders, which gives the ruling class more of what they want.
And there’s every possibility that there could yet be a massive collective change in psychology among the people, which could lead to a complete reset.
But we aren’t there yet.
Trump has federal troops stationed on ground in the state of California and a curfew has been imposed.
Not unless we have a situation in which the ground troops down tools and take the side of those fighting against the government, it is impossible to see ordinary folks winning this.
Foreign Exchange are op-eds from writers who do not live in the U.S. They have thoughts but don't have a dog in the race.