Right-wing media figures declare “the first shots of the second American civil war have already been fired”

A disturbing new narrative is building across right-wing media that “the second American civil war” is here, “the mutineers have the momentum,” and President Donald Trump must “burn down the Bastille” and “purge the deep state and flog its media collaborators” if his presidency is to survive.

Right-wing media: “Time to burn down the Bastille”

Alex Jones: “The first shots of the second American civil war have already been fired,” and it will be “unstoppable until they’re burning down all the cities.” In a June 14 video posted to Infowars, Alex Jones said that the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) meant “the first shots of the second American civil war have already been fired.” Jones blamed “all these betas” in the mainstream media for advocating violence against Republicans “over and over again.” Jones noted that he has “studied history” and found that “war is actually run by betas” seeking government benefits; this “curse of the betas,” Jones said, is “unstoppable until they’re burning down all the cities and killing each other.” [Infowars, 6/14/17]

Roger Stone: Robert Mueller’s investigation will “spark a civil war in this country.” Appearing on the June 15 edition of The Alex Jones Show, Trump adviser Roger Stone assailed the “climate of hate egged on by the mainstream media” for resulting in both Scalise’s shooting and the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate the president. When Alex Jones asked about “this beta death dance, where they want a civil war but are going to lose,” Stone replied that “we’re going to spiral into anarchy” and “have a cycle of violence like the country has never seen.” Stone also predicted that Mueller “is going to indict our president despite the facts, and he’s going to spark a civil war in this country.” [Genesis Communications Networks, The Alex Jones Show, 6/15/17]

Newt Gingrich: “We are in a clear-cut cultural civil war.” After Sean Hannity asked if anti-Trump sentiment was “a clear and present danger for the country,” former House speaker and current Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich said that “we are in a clear-cut cultural civil war,” and that “Republicans who don’t get it” should “look at the lesson” from Attorney General Jeff Sessions in being “prepared to go nose-to-nose with liberals every time they smeared him.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/13/17]

Pro-Trump conspiracy site WND ran three articles about a new “civil war” in three days. On June 14, WorldNetDaily posted a brief article asking that the “Washington inbreds” in Congress start “lowering taxes, ending illegal immigration, repealing Obamacare and hunting down terrorists” instead of “inciting a civil war with a witch hunt that’s an avowed nothing burger.” On June 16, WorldNetDaily ran two more articles about “the inevitable question: Are we already in a civil war,” and how “blame” for the coming civil war “squarely lies with the leftist media, epitomized by the granddaddy of these hateful and dishonest cable networks, CNN,” as well as several print and online outlets. [WND, 6/14/17, 6/16/17, 6/16/17

Pat Buchanan: The US is “approaching something of a civil war,” and it’s time for Trump to “burn down the Bastille.” Pat Buchanan warned that the U.S. is “approaching something of a civil war where the capital city seeks the overthrow of the sovereign and its own restoration.” Buchanan claimed the “deep state-media coup” to destroy Trump features “the appointment of a special prosecutor” and “street clashes between pro- and anti-Trump forces.” Buchanan wrote that Trump “should campaign against the real enemies of America First by promising to purge the deep state and flog its media collaborators,” concluding that it’s “time to burn down the Bastille.” [CNSnews.com, 6/13/17

Fake News Purveyor BeforeItsNews: “The left is going for the kill -- literally” in “the coming civil war.” BeforeItsNews, a hyper-partisan fake news purveyor, wrote that “Trump is our proxy” in “the coming civil war” against “the left’s warmongering and treason.” The site quoted Ayn Rand on “civil disobedience [being] appropriate only as a prelude to civil war” to claim that “the left is going for the kill -- literally,” and “for the moment, the mutineers have the momentum.” [BeforeItsNews, 6/17/17]

Trump radio ally Michael Savage: “There’s going to be a civil war.” On the June 13 edition of Westwood One’s The Savage Nation, host Michael Savage asserted that “there’s going to be a civil war” because of “what this left-wing is becoming in this country.” When Rep. Scalise was shot the following day, Savage said that he “know[s] what’s coming, and it’s going to get worse.” Savage also said of the shooting that “this blood is on [Democrats’] hands.” [Westwood One, The Savage Nation, 6/13/17, 6/14/17 via WND]