I had a long conversation the other day with “G” (the person addressed in #23). The main point of discussion was the possibility of a second American civil war breaking out in the near future, and what could be done to avert it. G., by the way, is a former history teacher and former Wall Street lawyer, a political centrist.

Cautiously optimistic as I am cautiously pessimistic, he thought that the FBI and the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security should concentrate on defeating the domestic terrorists in our midst: White Supremacists, Neo Nazis, and right-wing militias, many of whom participated in last week’s insurrection in the nation’s capitol. Infiltrate them, arrest them whenever possible, but by all means necessary prevent them from translating their violent fantasies into action. Under pressure, pushed further and further to the margins, they will eventually disappear, as did the left-wing bomb-throwers in the 60s — the Weathermen, the Symbionese Liberation Army.

I said that I hoped that would come about. But I wasn’t entirely convinced, nagged by a suspicion that our capacity for civic and moral virtue has become so degraded that reunifying this fractured nation may no longer be possible. Reading or listening to comments from the insurrectionists has been sobering, depressing, alarming. They believe every lie spewed from the mouths of Trump and his enablers, chiefly the lie that the election was stolen, despite the facts that 50 states ratified the results and that 90 judges dismissed the 60 lWhite House lawsuits alleging fraud  for lack of any credible evidence. They continue to believe in outlandish conspiracy theories — a Satanic ring of pedophiles, led by prominent Democrats, headquartered in a Washington pizza parlor; the Covid pandemic is a hoax perpetrated by liberals to control American citizens. They are beyond the pale. How far beyond? Consider that one of the insurrectionist leaders was recorded urging his (maskless) followers to hug each other and “create a super-spreader event.” Some did. That’s edging toward mass suicide, like the cultists who obeyed Jim Jone’s call to drink poisoned Kool Aid.

A few politicians and pundits have said that these people are, in effect, victims of propaganda broadcast by social media and right-wing websites. Really? No one forced them to turn to those sources of disinformation, no one forced them to believe the falsehoods and hysterical conspiracy theories. They believe that crap because they want to, perhaps need to, as they need to stoke the inchoate rage simmering in their hearts (for reasons I can’t even guess at). It’s as if they delight in abandoning their reason and judgment. Think of it. They are so discontent, so white-hot furious that they came very close to seizing the Senate and the House of Representatives in the name of overthrowing the results of a free and fair election. A coup! It beats me why they feel as they do. They aren’t the starving masses, they had the means to travel long distances to Washington, to buy meals and rent motel rooms for days. They could afford all those flags and banners and tactical gear.

Just to be clear, I am not speaking about all Trump supporters, but of his most devoted disciples. Five of my friends voted for Trump in 2016, because they agreed with his policies on lower taxes and deregulation, or on securing the border, bringing manufacturing jobs back to America, appointing conservative judges etc. They weren’t caught in the magnetic field of his negative energy. As far as I know, none think that the election was stolen, nor that Biden will be an illegitimate president. But they could be a minority.  Polls show that Trump’s fabrications are accepted as truth by 70 percent of the 74 million Americans who cast ballots for him.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that 70 percent of those 50 million will never in a thousand years believe that Biden’s victory was anything but a colossal fraud perpetrated by radical lefties seeking to take over America.That gives us 35 million people for whom violence is justified to “save” the country. I don’t see any way their minds can be changed. They live in an alternate universe, liberated from facts; they don’t speak the same language as the rest of us, they don’t think the same way as we do. Unifying a country with such a huge number of disaffected, alienated, grievance-filled citizens is itself a fantasy.

Which brings me to a proposal I made to G.. It was semi tongue-in-cheek, that is, it was semi-serious: Let’s make the Disunited States a political and geographic reality, and avoid armed civil conflict,  by means  of a peaceable secession. I submit Texas as a feasible candidate. Talk of secession has been buzzing in the Lone Star state for a decade or more; a petition to leave the union gathered 125,000 signatures several years ago. Texas has a lot going for it as a separate country: 1. History — it was an independent republic from 1836 to 1845. Geography — its 268,600 square miles make it larger than France (248,580 sq.mi.). 3. Economics — Texas has a diverse, vibrant economy, bustling urban centers, and access to world trade through its Gulf coast and the port of Houston. Population — With 29M citizens, its population is less than half of France’s (67M). Suppose, then, that a referendum calling for secession succeeds in Texas, and the U.S. government bids it farewell and God speed; suppose further that the 35M hard core Trumpanistas are persuaded or induced to move there and establish a nation of their own, perhaps with Trump as its President for Life. The sovereign Republic of Texas would then have a population approximating that of France, in a land area 20,000 square miles bigger. Room enough for all!

G. dismissed this idea with a brusque wave of his hand. Impracticable, if not impossible. I could not disagree, What would happen to liberal Austin and San Antonio? But I was — I am — teased by the image of a state where right-wing populists might be able to live happily, giving the rest of us a chance to live happily without them.

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