Skip to main content
Tuesday, November 10, 2026Nov 10
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Talk of ‘civil war,’ ignited by Mar-a-Lago search, is flaring online

Supporters of President Donald Trump protest the result of the election at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix on Nov. 7, 2020. More than a century and a half after the actual Civil War, “civil war” references have become increasingly commonplace on the right. While in many cases the term is used only loosely, observers note that the phrase, for some, is far more than a metaphor. (Adriana Zehbrauskas/File/The New York Times)
Supporters of President Donald Trump protest the result of the election at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix on Nov. 7, 2020. More than a century and a half after the actual Civil War, “civil war” references have become increasingly commonplace on the right. While in many cases the term is used only loosely, observers note that the phrase, for some, is far more than a metaphor. (Adriana Zehbrauskas/File/The New York Times) Supporters of President Donald Trump protest the result of the election at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix on Nov. 7, 2020. More than a century and a half after the actual Civil War, “civil war” references have become increasingly commonplace on the right. While in many cases the term is used only loosely, observers note that the phrase, for some, is far more than a metaphor. (Adriana Zehbrauskas/File/The New York Times)

By Ken Bensinger and Sheera Frenkel / New York Times News Service 9 min read

Soon after the FBI searched Donald Trump’s home in Florida for classified documents, online researchers zeroed in on a worrying trend.

Posts on Twitter that mentioned “civil war” had soared nearly 3,000% in just a few hours as Trump’s supporters blasted the action as a provocation. Similar spikes followed, including on Facebook, Reddit, Telegram, Parler, Gab and Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform. Mentions of the phrase more than doubled on radio programs and podcasts, as measured by Critical Mention, a media-tracking firm.

Posts mentioning “civil war” jumped again a few weeks later, after President Joe Biden branded Trump and “MAGA Republicans” a threat to “the very foundations of our republic” in a speech on democracy in Philadelphia.

Now experts are bracing for renewed discussions of civil war, as the Nov. 8 midterm elections approach and political talk grows more urgent and heated.

More than a century and a half after the actual Civil War, the deadliest war in U.S. history, “civil war” references have become increasingly commonplace on the right. While in many cases the term is used only loosely — shorthand for the nation’s intensifying partisan divisions — observers note that the phrase, for some, is far more than a metaphor.