The Second Civil War Will Begin in 2024

Every Republican contender set to replace Biden comes from a state below the Mason-Dixon line except Mike Pence.

The Confederate Stars and Bars is having a resurgence. Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash

I hate to recycle this metaphor, but I can’t help myself.

If you look carefully at the remnants of the MAGA Republican ship of state, you’ll notice a swirling swarm of creatures dotting the surrounding waters.

It’s the rats deserting Trump’s sinking ship after the midterm elections. In contest after contest, 2020 election deniers endorsed by The Donald lost despite polls that foretold that the future would be different.

But if you follow any of my writing, you’ll have read my opinion that polls aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. They are a snapshot in time, and their time has passed.

The midterms proved that except for forecasting the weather, we must stop thinking we can predict the future.

As the ripples in the election waters begin to settle, it’s amusing to watch Republican survivors scrambling to put on a Sunday talk show life vest and spouting words that would have been unthought of a few weeks ago.

My favorite is one former staunch Trump supporter who made the casual observation that perhaps extremism is on its way out and Republicans should re-visit their election strategy. And, not a few are withholding their immediate support of Trump as the party’s first choice for 2024.

Really? No S#*@!

With the big red wave turning out to be little more than a trickle, the field of possible Republican contenders for 2024 is expanding.

The top Republican contenders for 2024 still include Trump, of course, but he’s dropped to number 2 behind the other Florida nutcase, Governor Ron DeSantis, whose most recent antic was to kidnap several dozen refugees under false promises and ship them north.

What is truly amazing though, is the list of potential frontrunners set to challenge Trump:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis; Florida Senator Sen. Rick Scott; from South Carolina, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Niki Haley; Texas Governor Greg Abbott; Texas Senator Ted Cruz; South Carolina Senator Tim Scott; Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin; and former Vice President, Mike Pence who hails from Indiana.

What should be noted is the intriguing similarity among all the choices. All but one Republican Wannabee is from a state below the Mason-Dixon Line. Except for former Vice President Mike Pence, they all call former Confederate states home.

And, it appears they’re all fighting for the same issues at the center of the Confederacy, including the subjugation of black men and women, state’s rights, the relegation of the status of women to chattels, elimination of voting for all except white men, and survival of a way of life whose train has long left the station.

I know I said we should stop predicting the future, but call me crazy, but I do not believe the future of the United States is wrapped in the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy.