Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Thomas E. Ricks has stopped fearing that the United States is headed for civil war, according to his Monday Washington Post opinion piece, despite past concerns about the possibility of sustained political violence.
Following the election of former President Trump in 2016, Ricks wrote a series of articles in Foreign Policy Magazine that saw him anticipating widespread assassination attempts, bombings and perhaps even a second civil war.
One article from July 2017 saw Ricks discuss assessments from national security experts who concluded the chance of another war at home sat at around 30%. He warned that some outliers put that number at 60%, or even 95%.
Another article saw the journalist detail "What a new U.S. civil war might look like."
Ricks’ concerns about political violence largely stemmed from his scrutiny of right-wing organizations, which he feared were "heavily influenced" by White nationalism. He anticipated conventions organized around the goal of defying federal laws, firing state employees complying with federal orders and a refusal to convict anyone on the conservative wing of American politics.
The author and journalist acknowledged that the country is still deeply divided. He described the Supreme Court as a federal judiciary "packed with reactionaries," asserted that right-wingers appear "comfortable" with threatening violence, and knocked Congress for appearing "unconcerned" with such language.
"And yet, for all that, I am less pessimistic than I was back then," Ricks wrote in The Post.
Ricks revealed that his main concerns over another civil war culminated in the January 6 riots.
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"At the time I feared that the unprecedented insurrection was the beginning of a sustained war on American democracy," Ricks recalled. "Yet nothing much happened."
While the author made sure to note that the country still has a long way to go, citing Trump followers with the potential of being elected to Congress, and the uncertainty surrounding House control, he also suggested that the wave of "hard right reaction" appears to have waned.
"So, while the patient is not yet healthy, I see some signs that the fever is breaking and the prognosis is improving," Ricks concluded.
The media has long hypothesized that the U.S. could be headed for civil war.
On September 2, MSNBC historian Michael Beschloss compared President Biden’s Thursday speech at Independence Hall to President Lincoln’s speech prior to the American Civil War and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech leading America into World War II.
He recalled telling Biden at a meeting with other historians that this moment in time is similar to 1860 and 1940.
Last month, MSNBC host Tiffany Cross worried that "the civil war is here" due in part to alleged pro-Trump right-wing extremist’s distrustful of the U.S. government.
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"The spike of violent rhetoric on MAGA message boards is reminiscent of what occurred before the deadly January 6 insurrection. We all remember that," she said. "It’s not like the civil war is coming, it feels like the civil war is here," Cross declared.