How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them

Content Warning: The source text depicts acts of violence and other crimes associated with civil wars.

Walter begins How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them by discussing Adam Fox, the leader of the attempted kidnapping and assassination plot of Michigan’s Democratic Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, in 2020. Fox blamed his inability to find well-paying jobs and maintain healthy personal relationships on the Democratic party. He grew especially frustrated with Governor Whitmer’s stay-at-home policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He created a new militia group, which included 14 individuals, most of them men. The group conducted firearms and tactical trainings and attended anti-lockdown rallies. They also put together a plot to kidnap and assassinate Governor Whitmer. After discovering the group on social media platforms, the FBI infiltrated the group and prevented the plot from coming to fruition. In interviews, Fox stated that he hoped the assassination of Governor Whitmer would lead others to join the cause, starting a civil war. He believed that the change he wanted to see in the US would only occur with a second civil war.

For a long time, many researchers and laypeople assumed that civil wars could not occur in democratic countries like the US.