Former CIA advisor tells MSNBC’s Joy Reid why the US is in danger of another civil war

When Barbara F. Walter was part of an advisory panel for the CIA, the political scientist offered insights on the conditions that can lead to civil wars and violent conflicts. And in 2022, Walter believes that those conditions can be found in the United States. Walter, author of the new book “How Civil Wars Start, and How to Stop Them,” discussed her concerns during a Monday, January 11 appearance on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut.”

Walter told host Joy Reid that when a major political party is heavily focused on “identity” and “race” rather than “ideology,” that is one of the conditions that can lead to a civil war — and the modern-day Republican Party, according to Walter, is obsessed with White racial grievance and identity politics rather than a traditional conservative agenda.

“Here in the United States, we’re in the midst of a grand transition from a white-majority country to a white-minority country,” Walter noted.

Many white Americans, of course, aren’t worried about that transition, as they have spent their lives in large urban centers that are racially and ethnically diverse. But the white Americans on the far right who are troubled by that transition may resort to violence and extremism if they feel threatened, according to Walter.

Walter told Reid, “They see the United States as a white Christian country…. Once-powerful groups tend to not go down without a fight.”