There has been much loose talk of late about an impending civil war in the United States. For some desperate individuals, our stark political differences—compounded or, indeed, caused by differences in education, socioeconomic status, and religious (or nonreligious) belief—are so extreme that one’s opponents are not regarded merely as antagonists to be defeated at the ballot box but scarcely human enemies who must somehow be eradicated from society. Some of the insurrectionists who swarmed the U.S. Capitol on January 6 espoused such a faith—and they are not alone in that belief.

A recent survey indicated that fully three-fourths of those on the Right believe that what is at stake in their “war” against Democrats and liberals is not mere policy differences but their “survival.” Exactly how their survival is jeopardized by humane treatment of undocumented immigrants; basic civil rights extended to people of color, gays, transgender people, and other minorities they despise; making sure policemen don’t act as judge, jury, and executioner on the citizens they purport to “serve”; and ensuring that everyone has safe drinking water—how, I say, such things bring the very “survival” of these timorous souls into question is beyond my fathoming.

What’s really going on here? Is it not that these worthies are at long last facing the prospect that their status as top dogs (whether by virtue of their race, gender, or other advantages they were given at birth) is now threatened by hard-working women, people of color, and other interlopers who are realizing the American dream better than they possibly could?

Then, of course, there is the religious Right. How many of the January 6 rioters were evangelicals is unknown, but there is no question that they also feel under a nameless threat with the advent of Democratic control over the executive and legislative branches. Their absolute numbers are dwindling (they now make up an estimated 12 percent of the U.S. population, when a few decades ago they constituted as much as 25 percent), and several of their leaders have disgraced themselves by various comical scandals (do a quick Google search on Jerry Falwell Jr. if you don’t believe me). More significantly, they keep losing the culture wars—abortion, same-sex marriage, LGBTQ rights in general, and on and on. In these desperate straits, what are poor religious fascists to do? After all, they’ve gone to such herculean efforts to pack the courts (especially the Supreme one) for the express purpose of outlawing Roe v. Wade, but some panic-stricken types are beginning to wonder whether even this will accomplish their ultimate aim. Maybe they could resort to authoritarian measures to outlaw abortion—by, for example, lobbying the U.S. Supreme Court to declare the fetus a “person” by using the Fourteenth Amendment, in direct contravention of the words of that very amendment (“All persons born or naturalized in the United States …”).

Then we have Rick Joyner, founder of something called the Morningstar Ministries. This fellow maintains that there is unanimous agreement that “our last election was stolen” (talk about living in a bubble!). So what will be the upshot? “It will be a civil war and it’s going to be increasingly worse with the increasing time it takes for Americans to stand up and push back against this evil that has taken over our land.” Well, it seems that this intemperate language has alienated his own five children, who are all good liberals and therefore must be part of the “evil” he condemns. How is it that he didn’t manage to brainwash his own offspring into his extreme and intolerant faith? Must be bad parenting.

And it is hardly surprising that, after the guilty verdict handed down to Derek Chauvin for murdering George Floyd, Peter Brimelow, publisher of a White-nationalist website, opined: “Does anyone really see a way out except Civil War/secession?”

As for the January 6 insurrection (an albatross that will hang over the GOP, I hope, for the rest of time), this was a once-in-a-lifetime event that had less to do with the valiant bravery of fur-clad “patriots” than with the failures of a government security apparatus that was caught with its pants down. To be frank, the brainless jackasses who wandered through the U.S. Capitol, more intent on taking selfies or putting their feet up on Nancy Pelosi’s desk than on an efficiently planned rebellion, were all a bunch of cowards. This has been pungently revealed by the pitifully craven excuses they have made for their criminal behavior when hauled up before a judge (“I just got swept in by the crowd!” “I have mental health issues!” “I was just following Trump’s orders!” “It was all the fault of social media!”). You really think these are the people who are going to engage in a civil war? They’d have trouble evicting a rabbit nibbling grass on their unkempt lawns, let alone toppling the U.S. government.

All this violent talk of civil war will amount to nothing. Americans don’t “want a revolution,” in the words of the old Beatles song. Many of us are too fat and comfortable; we are not about to risk losing our well-manicured lawns and hefty IRAs for the dubious prospect of a new political dispensation. Even those have-nots on the Right have it pretty easy—especially now that they have been forced to endure the indignity of accepting from the government a succession of relief checks, job training, food assistance to their bountiful brood of bairns, and other infringements on their “liberties” and rugged individualism.

Don’t think, however, that I’m taking this threat lightly. A fair number of these people have weapons—a lot of them. But the government at all levels is, belatedly, going after these wretches, and I expect my tax dollars to be contributing to their comfort in prison for a long, long time.