Great Divide

The Great Divide was a multi-party civil war in the United States of America sparked by the criminal conviction of former president Donald Trump as well as his subsequent election to a second nonconsecutive term of office. Many factions vied to determine the country's socio-political future, including Trumpists, Populists, Progressives, and others.

## Trump trials

Trump was convicted in federal court in Washington D.C. on May 3, 2024 amid enormous crowds of protesters who arrived in the capital for the grand jury's decision.

Following the storming of federal buildings and the clashes with police and the military in Washington, other cities and communities experienced mass rioting and shootings that collectively came to be known as the Red Riots.

## Coalition triumph

Reeling from invasion, the Populists and Progressives formed a coalition and hosted the Chicago Conference to push through a new constitution and elect a President of the Coalition Government, who would then undergo a true nationwide election once the civil war was over. Stacey Abrams narrowly defeated Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a vote at the conference. Abrams chose Josh Shapiro as her vice president. The Coalition immediately underwent a wartime industrial buildup across territory they held, and called for the U.S. armed forces to denounce support for Trump and enter the war on the Coalition side, granting reprieve as necessary to commanders who had for years fought against the American people. The Gulf Fleet still did not budge, but much of the Air Force and some of the Army did agree to support the Coalition Government. With this support the Coalition was able to beat the Russians back in the east, and Coalition forces moved west to form a front along the Rocky Mountains. The Coalition fought the U.S. military in Texas and won, and with the Chinese encroaching across the Southwest, the U.S. commander signed a surrender act.

At this point, Trump and his vice president J.D. Vance, along with the official government had moved to Orlando. A surprise guerrilla offensive by the Coalition's New Africa Army secretly moved from Georgia through northern Florida and threatened to infiltrate the government and murder them. Trump, Vance, and some of the government officials attempted to escape via Russian naval escort while the New Africa Army fought Russian and American forces. But at this point a naval coup had been completed and the Gulf Fleet was instructed to fight the Russian navy and intercept any vessel Trump might leave on. The Battle of the Bahamas erupted between the new Coalition-supporting U.S. Navy and the Russian Navy, while a separate naval force landed in Tampa Bay to send forces inland to support the New Africa Army.

In a last ditch attempt, the Russian tried to evacuate Trump and the other officials via plane to Bermuda but the Russian jets were shot down and Trump's plane was diverted to Atlanta. There he was arrested along with the other officials.

As the new U.S. government forces fought the Chinese and Russians around the country, with the aid of the Latin Army, there was mass cleansing of the military that had signed the surrender agreement. Many were arrested and killed, but many served dutifully in the new armed forces too.

To build up military equipment, Abrams signed the historic North American Industrial Alliance to build massive factories in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, provide housing for workers, and enable free exchange of workers, goods, and services between the three countries during wartime.

Older Material

The highly contested election hinged on the results in the state of Pennsylvania, which had been mired by electoral controversy beginning with Governor Doug Mastriano's renewal of the voter rolls in 2023 and including violent protests, voter intimidation, mass shootings and terrorism at polling places, and finally a contested result in which both Biden and Trump claimed victory over the state's 19 electoral votes. When Gov. Mastriano swore to certify the state's electoral votes for Trump, protests that had already been going on were ignited further, and a case was rushed to the Supreme Court and decided in Biden v. Pennsylvania, with the court voting 6-3 to certify Pennsylvania's voted for Trump, thus handing him the electoral victory. By this time, Philadelphia was in complete lockdown and anarchy, and when Biden urged protesters to "stand down" he was categorized as a lame duck.

Between the time of the election and the Supreme Court decision, students began striking in universities and soon a large number of universities were occupied by students in encampments and classes were canceled. This student occupation continued for a long time.

Socialist protesters gained control of Philadelphia and declared the Free City of Philadelphia separate from the laws of the state and nation. A similar attempt at capturing the city of Washington, D.C. was put down at the Battle of Anacostia. Following this, right-wing militias captured sites in Virginia to surround the capital with right-wing friendly areas. Calls went out for Biden to deny Trump's victory and fight as a rebel president, but he made the decision not to fight the process. On the day of Trump's inauguration, an enormous amount of military were in attendance, and Biden himself did not attend to pass the baton of the presidency. He flew to Chicago to confer with Barack Obama.

As his first act as president, Trump launched a campaign to retake Philadelphia from the Free Citizens. Naval ships sailed up the Delaware to surround the city and the army and marines staged an invasion from the west and north. The assault gained a large amount of news coverage, and witnessing the brutality of the military's tactics against their fellow Americans, protests fomented elsewhere. New York in particular became embroiled in violent protest, and more military were dispatched there. Protesters broke into Wall Street, financial headquarters, and other symbols and headquarters of the rich and wreaked havoc.

Behind the scenes, military officials who were against Trump planned a coup d'etat, led by Chief of Army Reserve Jody Daniels, Joint Chiefs of Staff member Christopher Grady, lieutenant general Robert Marion, Commandant of the Coast Guard Linda Fagan, and retired generals Marshall B. Webb and Karl Schultz. Coup officials succeeded in capturing military bases mostly around the Mid-Atlantic, including Quantico, Norfolk, Fort Dix, Fort Lee, Annapolis. They failed to take Joint Base Andrews and Fort Meade in Maryland. Gen. Grady attempted to smuggle a gun into the joint chiefs room to kill all generals and Trump himself, but he was foiled and killed by security. The coup attempt immediately caused violent conflict across the U.S. military, with so-called loyalists trying to hold out against rebel military personnel, most of whom deserted or fled instead of fighting to take control of bases, ammunition, weapons, and armor. When the dust settled, about 70% of the military remained loyal to the president.

The 30% rebels were enough to deter the military from retaking Philadelphia and New York, and intense fighting occurred in the ensuing weeks across the northeast region. Eventually the rebels established a territory of control with a southern/western border at the Susquehanna River. The rebels blew all the bridges over the Susquehanna. The federals established a large base at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Free Citizens did not necessarily agree with the rebel military leaders' vision of a restored union, but allied with them nonetheless. This territory was not completely controlled by these groups, however, and frequent terrorist activities from right-wingers occurred within. Mass shootings become the order of the day, especially in large cities, and people live in fear when in public places.

To stop the mostly urban rebellious conflict, Trump ordered all municipalities over 200,000 under complete lockdown and martial law.

With powered entrenched on the right-wing side, militia members began rooting out people they hated and killing them en masse in different ways: mass shootings, roundups and executions, lynchings, etc. And left-wing militias worked in the shadows to oppose them. Fighting became especially devastating in the south, where racial hatreds reigned. The Republic of New Africa was formed in Atlanta, with holdings in cities like Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, and New Orleans. This group was opposed by the United Dominions of Christ, with holdings in Dallas, Houston, Shreveport, Jackson, Memphis, and Nashville.

Right-wingers descended on the Austin Enclave and tried to break it.

The northeast rebel faction consolidates as the Council of Free Citizens

Other Factions

Republic of New Africa

United Dominions of Christ

Proud Boys Battalion

Oath Keepers

After months of martial law in cities, governors and officials from the western states declared the Pacific Coast Compact, a secession of the four western states of California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. The states declared all federal military assets seized by the states themselves, and this led to fighting, especially in Hawaii, where much of the Pacific Fleet was declared state property, but the naval loyalists put up a fight. With the Pacific Fleet embroiled in civil war, China made an opportunistic strike against Taiwan to seize the island without U.S. intervention. Trump deployed naval assets stationed on Pacific islands like the Philippines, Japan, and Guam, but they were not enough to resist the Chinese invasion. Hamstrung from sending reinforcements across the ocean, the war was left to be fought between China and Taiwan.

Leading figures in the Pacific Coast Compact included Gavin Newsome, Jay Inslee, Katie Porter, Tina Kotek, Knute Buehler

With the threat of international enemies encroaching on the U.S., the iron grip of the military began to weaken. The South was all but abandoned by the federal military and the territory left to be fought over by factions. Hawaii was reconquered and established as the most important military installation for fighting off international incursion. Alaska was also secured as a military installation to defend against an anticipated Russian attack. The state of Florida became fully martial and a base for military operations to protect the Caribbean and the eastern seaboard. With the military taking a hands-off approach to civil fighting within the country, this fighting exploded in intensity. Nazis struck Spokane and declared a white ethnostate that stretched to Missoula, naming it the Weissreich.

Right-wing faction attempted to control farmers and forced them not to sell to cities. Intense fighting resulted. Some farmers' fields were burned and they were killed for selling to urbanites.

Leaders in northeast emerged to draw up a new constitution. Stacey Abrams, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, John Fetterman, Kathy Hochul, Helen Gym, Tiffany Caban, Jamaal Bowman, Ed Gainey, Jahana Hayes, Maura Healey, Danielle Allen, Kate Snyder, Ayana Johnson, Michael Mann, Prakash Kashwan, Jack Reed, Nirva LaFortune, Gonzalo Cuervo, Antonio Delgado,

Barack Obama tried to put forth the Chicago Compromise

With the U.S. not accepting most international trade, global economies suffered and revolutions were fomented. In the Philippines, people rose up against Bongbong Marcos and China stepped in to put the island under martial occupation. Vietnam also rose up, but when China tried to step in, Vietnamese eagerly fought back. Russia finally moved to take the whole of Ukraine, plus Moldova and Belarus and add them to its nation.

The United Dominions of Christ moved westward and a conflict ensued in the Southwest as California militias moved eastward to take Arizona. Lawlessness reigned in the Southwest region, and Mexican cartels took hold of assets, people, and towns. When Pacific Coast armies finally managed to capture Phoenix, the United Dominion militias and U.S. military staged a siege from the mountains north and east of the city, and eventually cut off water to the city. Amid a heat wave, this killed thousands. Knowing that the capture of Phoenix would provide an easy path to Los Angeles, where the Pacific Coast rebellion, and perhaps the entire rebellion, could be crushed, Trump devoted significant assets to seizing the desert city. After several unsuccessful attempts to take the city, he order an atomic missile strike on Phoenix. The strike killed over a million people, destroyed the Pacific army that was in the city, and enabled the federals to move in once the fallout cleared. As the federals drove toward Los Angeles, the international community stepped in to put an end to the disastrous war.

The Pacific coast came under federal hold in the ensuing months, but meanwhile European troops were landing in Canada to stage an invasion. They crossed into Free Citizen territory through New England and upstate New York, and staged a full invasion from Toronto, battling with the federals at Buffalo. There were naval battle off the East Coast as the two sides fought for control of the waters. In the west, the federals captured Vancouver and fought with Canadian citizens in the mountains of British Columbia. The allied European and Free Citizen army moved through Pennsylvania and got locked in intense combat at the Battle of Blue Ridge in the Appalachian Mountains between West Virgina, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

After the capture of Washington, the government fled to Dallas and Texas became a stronghold. The federal navy blockaded all Mexican ports and tried to establish supremacy over the Caribbean. A Cuban invasion was attempted, which faced fierce resistance, but Havana and its port was captured.

The allied army used three separate lines of attack to crumble the defending federals. One army, Group West, moved south from Chicago, though Missouri and Kansas and eventually Oklahoma to strike Dallas from the north. Group Mid moved from Columbus through Cincinnati, Kentucky, to take Nashville and then the Mississippi River to strike Dallas from the east. Group East bombarded the Florida coast into submission, then battled to take the Caribbean and stage an amphibious invasion of Houston before moving to take Dallas from the south.

By 2028, Dallas was taken, the federal government crushed, but insurgency remained, especially in Texas, which had to spend years as an occupied territory. Trump was found hiding in a bunker in New Mexico and he was put on trial in Washington. The new constitution was ratified and Stacey Abrams was voted president. The insurgency period lasted long and insurgents had to be rooted out in forests and mountains such as in Idaho and Montana, in the Mojave Desert, in Florida swamps and forests, and in the Ozarks.

These states ratified the new Constitution: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia (the Virginia Compromise moved DC into the state of Virginia), North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.

After the war, these states were officially occupied by the United Nations before conditions of restoration to the United States (which included ratifying the new Constitution) were fulfilled: Florida, Texas, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Utah--17 of 50 states. Together these states gained the name Heartland Occupied Territorial Zone, also known as simply the Heartland or the Hot Zone. Major insurgent activity continued in these states for several years after the war, and many within the states saw the new constitutional government as illegitimate as it excluded many states.

The map of the U.S. and its states changed after the Restoration Period. Puerto Rico became independent. North Dakota and South Dakota merged into a single state of Dakota, as did North and South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, and Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The state of Cherokee was created out of parts of North Carolina and Tennessee. The new state had a western border on the Tennessee River and an eastern border on the Catawba River. The state of Navajo was created from Navajo, Hopi, and other tribal lands between Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. The state of Iroquois was created from parts of northern New York. And the state of Okanagan was created from Eastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle. The remaining state of Washington was renamed Cascadia.

In Canada, British Columbia was renamed Chinook.

Refugees

Many fled from border cities like Detroit, Laredo, El Paso, San Diego, Buffalo, etc.

Factions and nicknames

Boogaloos, boogs

QAnon

Oathkeepers

Weissreich, torchbearers, torchies, ties to the American Redoubt movement of James Wesley Rawles

Continental People's Congress, CPC, hammerheads

Free States of America, Freestaters, Free Citizens, rosies, leets, coast roaches, freetards

FSA has factions within it, socialists in the CPC, progressives or "progs"

Army of Eternal Freedom, molons, lambdas

Stormfront - website for rightist militia dark web activities

Coyote Wildlands, also known as simply the Wildlands, an attempt to create a stateless anarchist society with several indigenous peoples in the Southwest, they fight with Mormons a lot, they blow a few dams on the Colorado River

Black Rose Battalion, la rosa negra, Latino socialist battalion working in the west/Texas

Terrorist attacks/mass shootings during the Great Divide

Cleveland nightclub shooting

Harvard car bombings

Highway IEDs, I-10 the Highway of Death