No firebombing necessary.
Once you cut off the supply chain/energy of a place with that many people, hell will break loose pretty fast.
If Manhattan was completely cut off from the world, how long could it last?. the island 90% dead within a month.
My take. WW III is a better chance of happening than a new Civil War. BUT... If the World War comes up as a defeat for the USA (War might only be for a year or two) with a UN settlement and no nukes. Then, the nation will be shattered and the people want scapegoats for the defeat—That’s when the civil war comes. The Axis would love to see America cut into several nation states to never dominate the Earth.
Do you think these rich blue cities will just sit in their cold apartments and wither away(well, most will)
No, they will organize their armies and seize the energy supply (Nuclear, hydro, gas etc and expensive whatever lives it takes to secure and maintain that supply.
Millions will die in these areas but millions more will die in the suburbs and rural areas where electricity will be cut off and food denied because of transportation and production interruption.
Think the blue areas will allow food to be killed and packaged? Think again
Most wouldn’t know how to turn wheat or corn into flour and cattle herds don’t jump into the meat grinder by themselves!
Herds would be decimated by the nearest blue areas anyway. At a cost,sure but urbanites have lots of surplus mouths to eliminate anyway.
It will be a bloody mess and then we die.
Reading *One Second After* is very enlightening.
Whether you agree with the EMP part or not, the picture he paints of societal breakdown is very realistic and sobering.