Read history from about 1852 through the start of the Civil War. Things now are not nearly as different as they seem on the surface.
There were groups battling of media, the big newspapers with well known names taking sides on issues and the small newspapers or pamphleteers publishing with a narrow focus, often deliberately trying to incite unrest and violence, plus weekly pulp magazines that would print anything, true or false, they could attach an eye catching image to (forerunners of they National Enquirer genre). Aside from the largest city newspapers, they mostly had small, localized, circulation but which often got a surprisingly widespread distribution through railroad employees and travelers carrying them around the country plus even sharing them via the mail.
I'd say wait and see if something similar to Bloody Kansas develops in the Southwest or in large cities from the clash between those intent on ignoring illegal immigration and those intent on stopping and reversing it.
That's where the fuse was really lit because that's where issue that could be used to hide the real, money issues, came to a head in a way that generated a lot of emotional energy.
JMHo
I am very familiar with the history of the Civil War.
That is one reason why I posted this.
There are many similarities between the Democrat Party today and the Democrat Party at the time of the Civil War.
The secession that caused the Civil War was the direct result of a plot in the Democrat Party to create a slave based economy ruled by a tiny elite.
In the 1850’s America was a one party state run by the Democrat Party. The Order of the Golden Circle was a Democrat Party organization pushing for secession. The Kansas Nebraska Act was a repeal of the Missouri Compromise that would create a slave based economy throughout the Midwest and the west.
The Republican Party was a new party when Lincoln won the presidency. Lincoln almost did not make it to Washington alive.
Democrat politicians in Baltimore with support of Democrats in Washington D.C. organized violent riots and tried to have Lincoln killed.
It was only the moral strength and resolve of the Republican Party that preserved the union and freed the slaves.