I disagree with this authors premise. I do not think the civil war can be avoided.
The Second Civil War is inevitable. You can no more prevent it than you can prevent the tide from flowing in. There are a time and tide in men's affairs when these things become unavoidable.
There is a quote from Hegel that is appropriate here. "The first time is tragedy; the second time is farce."
During the Civil War, Lincoln didn't have the tools of the modern surveillance state available. The closest thing he had was to set up a telegraph office in the War Department and have every telegram in the country routed through there.
This time around, Trump has the ability to nip it in the bud and close it down before it becomes unmanageable.
I agree. It will be an asymmetric civil war and might have already begun.