How to Prevent Civil War

This week, the mayor of Chicago accused President Donald Trump of “declaring war” on his city and claimed conservatives want a “rematch of the Civil War.”

Ironically, the person more likely to prevent civil war is the very guy Brandon Johnson claims is declaring it.

Let’s zoom out a second.

The Left has abetted a massive lawlessness crisis that has divided and likely radicalized Americans.

Democrats may want us to throw the George Floyd riots of 2020 down the memory hole, but we should remember that those riots cost more than $2 billion in damage and took the lives of at least 26 Americans. The left-leaning media described the riots as “mostly peaceful,” while Democrats demonized even calls for law and order from the president.

The Biden administration saw 10 million illegal immigrants enter the United States, often aided and abetted by the very federal government tasked with enforcing immigration law. Meanwhile, soft-on-crime prosecutors, often supported by Hungarian American billionaire George Soros, publicly stated that they won’t prosecute many laws, emboldening criminals and creating perverse incentives.

Last year, the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua went door-to-door with a rifle in Aurora, Colorado, not far from where I grew up. Innocent Americans like Laken Riley lost their lives to illegal aliens who should have been deported many times before.

Meanwhile, the Antifa black bloc street rioters of 2020 did not go away. These anarchist thugs have attacked police and other authorities in Portland, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and other cities. Trump’s recent executive order to combat Antifa represents a positive—if rather delayed—step in addressing this threat.

This lawlessness isn’t hypothetical—it victimizes real people.

Consider the horrifying trend of carjacking in Washington, D.C. Carjackers hold a driver at gunpoint, forcing him to exit the vehicle, while they take it and then engage in other crimes using his property. They will often leave drivers beaten and bloodied, and implicate them in other crimes.

The nation’s capital witnessed 150 of these horrific crimes in 2019, but that number more than doubled in 2020, reaching 360. The following years saw 424 carjackings, then 484, then a flabbergasting 957 carjackings in 2023.

In many cases, prosecutors declined to bring charges.

“The same people were committing multiple, multiple, multiple offenses,” D.C. police carjacking task force leader Lt. Scott Dowling told NBC News. In at least one 2023 case, police suspected three people of carrying out roughly 50 carjackings. Criminals would often brag of their exploits on social media.

Few things will radicalize people more than an increasing crime rate, especially when their neighbors, friends, and family members become victims.

I suspect one of the driving forces behind political violence is the belief that you are under attack.

When the left-leaning media continues to claim transgender people face an “epidemic” of violence and that mere disagreement with transgender ideology is itself a form of violence, it stands to reason that some supporters of transgender ideology may act out. The assassination of Charlie Kirk, the horrific shootings in Minneapolis earlier this year and in Nashville in 2023 fit this pattern.

Democrats call for civility, but they continually compare Trump to Adolf Hitler and immigration enforcement to the Gestapo.

In fact, as Johnson accuses Trump of “declaring war” on Chicago, he himself is attempting to nullify federal law within the Windy City, issuing an executive order forbidding Immigration and Customs Enforcement from using city property like parking lots, vacant lots or garages.

If any action most resembles the kind of lawless rebellion America witnessed from the Confederacy in the Civil War, it is this blatant opposition to immigration enforcement.

Contrary to Johnson’s claim, the best way to prevent the instability and lawlessness that might lead to civil war is the firm, public, and clarifying enforcement of the law.

Authorities need to send the message that if you victimize other people, you will face justice. When a carjacker gets convicted and locked behind bars, that doesn’t just satisfy the victim and restrain the perpetrator—it also warns other would-be carjackers to think twice.

Similarly, when Trump deports illegal aliens to undesirable parts of the world, this sends a clarifying message and leads some illegal aliens to consider leaving the U.S. themselves, rather than waiting for ICE to deport them. The United States should be a beacon of freedom and prosperity to the world, and we welcome immigrants—so long as they show the courtesy of respecting our laws.

The Left’s rampant lawlessness may masquerade as compassion, but it is really a recipe for distrust, division, and ultimately violence.

Demographer and historian Neil Howe has prophesied that America is on the cusp of a great defining crisis, and he makes a strong case that the country’s divisions may result in a civil war.

While I consider a civil war terrifyingly plausible, I take comfort that Trump’s muscular approach to law enforcement may help stave off this crisis.

Contrary to Johnson’s suggestion, you don’t prevent a civil war by standing back and doing nothing as lawlessness runs rampant.

You don’t prevent a civil war by giving in to absurd demands for a system that incentivizes lawbreaking.

You prevent civil war by decisively enforcing the law, creating positive incentives, and clamping down on criminality and disrespect. You achieve peace through victory over lawlessness—an unquestionable victory that leaves everyone better off.

Let’s hope this administration is up to the challenge.