Posted on 05/31/2026 5:00:39 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Record-low trust in institutions, deepening regional and cultural divides, political violence, and a populace increasingly viewing opponents as existential enemies is a warning of worse to come.
Rudyard Lynch, the sharp-eyed analyst behind the YouTube channel WhatifAltHist, has issued sobering warnings about America’s trajectory.
Drawing on historical patterns of civilizational stress, elite overproduction, cultural fragmentation, demographic pressures, and fading social trust, Lynch argues that the United States faces a high risk of internal conflict or civil war.
His theory resonates because the data is hard to dismiss: record-low trust in institutions, deepening regional and cultural divides, sporadic political violence, and a populace increasingly viewing opponents as existential enemies rather than fellow citizens.
Lynch is not alone. Peter Turchin, a scientist-turned-historian, using “cliodynamics” (quantitative historical modeling) predicted heightened instability and political violence in the U.S. starting around 2020.
Barbara F. Walter, a political scientist and author of How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them. argues the U.S. meets several key risk factors for civil war, e.g., anocracy, factionalism, and loss of trust. She emphasizes preventative bottom-up efforts.
Ray Dalio, billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, has publicly estimated a 35% – 50% chance of civil war-like conditions, framing it as an “existential battle” between hard right and hard left, potentially involving state fracturing and defiance of federal authority.
Yet the most compelling evidence is easily observed: we are already living through a form of civil conflict. It is not the symmetric clash of armies at Gettysburg. It is modern, technological, and like modern warfare asymmetric: subtle, persistent, and waged primarily through institutions, information, lawfare, economics, and culture. Recognizing this reality is the first step toward de-escalating it before it turns hot.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Most of the political violence recently has been done by the left. Historically it is done by the left.
The right has been restrained, but there will be a tipping point. When this occurs, the left and their minions (e.g., our media) will blame the right, of course.
We all know that CW-II is coming. We had best kill two stones with one bird (intended) by making sure it also is against Islam, because the left and that ‘religion’ are both dedicated to a brutal, immoral, and depressing third-world existence. We had best take Gen Patten’s approach when it finally happens.
Another academic analyst predicting this sort of outcome is David Betz, who originally worked on the determinants of civil war in the 3rd world.
But when applying the same metrics against Britain and Western Europe came up with similar results.
https://www.militarystrategymagazine.com/article/civil-war-comes-to-the-west/
Bkmk
A good example of asymmetry will come when we start taking out their leaders.
How many of us even talk to our neighbors anymore? There used to be things called block parties. Do anyone leave doors or autos unlocked anymore? My gal doesn't even want me to mention to anybody when we go out of town for a few days. This is not the America of old, the left is here.
“…between hard right and hard left,“
Nope. The big genius got that one wrong. They always do it seems, imply that it’s both sides.
I can’t argue with it. We aren’t about to unite with each other. Im getting more entrenched in my disdain for liberals everyday. Who would want to unite with Satanists?
“This is not the America of old, the left is here.”
Some older folks last week were comparing the national sense of celebration throughout the US in 1976, the Bicentennial, compared to the national “spirit” around us in 2026.
It seems that 50 years of socialist teachers unions training children on how bad the US is may have put a damper on this year’s observance of the 250th.
“America has emerged on the other side of deeper divisions by rediscovering its core strengths: innovation, federalism, and the stubborn individualism that resists centralized tyranny.”
You have to wonder about a writer who makes such a statement based on unstated facts. Has he noticed the huge and unprecedented percentage of the population of the current “America” that are immigrants? Or tried to estimate the percentage of those who are illegal immigrants? Or wondered how many read or speak English? Or even want to
read or speak English?
When it happens, if it happens there won't be a left or the current media.
Per Charles De Montesquieu and Thomas Jefferson, the first purpose of education in a republic is to instill love of country. No nation or foreign ideology like islam could defeat the US had this been done these past fifty years.
Damn the teachers unions to hell.
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