——Then we destroy ourselves to destroy them——
I would argue that your premise is wrong.
“We” that is the American Republic, is already destroyed to the point it will never recover on it’s own. To return to as near as we can get to the original we must cut out, destroy, obliterate, the metastasized cancer that has killed the Republic.
That surgery, chemo, radiation treatment must first be conducted on California that has already in effect left the Union. California officials have repeatedly declared that American law is invalid and secondary to California.
It is true that California has left the Union, but what can be done about it?