title:  While We Were Sleeping, Trump Declared Civil War
text: I woke up this morning completely unfazed over the idea that Donald Trump had yet another overnight Twitter meltdown. After being skewered in the media over his repeated claims that millions of people voted illegally, which is the only reason he lost the popular vote, Trump vowed to investigate.I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and .  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017All this, despite the fact that there is no voter fraud.Many, of course, are theorizing that Trump s Twitter tantrums are simply a distraction from his real disasters, and that s true, to a point, but when you dig a little deeper, you ll find something much, much more sinister; Trump is declaring Civil War and three things he s done over the last 24 hours prove it.While threatening to investigate voter fraud might be (and likely is) a distraction, it s more than a threat. It s very specific. He s going after only the states that he didn t win.During Wednesday s White House briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked about Trump s false claim that millions of fraudulent votes cost him a victory in the popular vote. After that lie was ridiculed Tuesday, Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning that he would order a  major investigation  into voter fraud. But the claim is not just unsupported by any evidence it was contradicted by his own campaign lawyers, who argued there was no evidence of fraud when Green Party nominee Jill Stein sued for a recount in some states. Why should anyone believe him now?Spicer s answer was stunning. There s a lot of states that we didn t compete in where that s not necessarily the case,  he said. You look at California and New York, I m not sure that those statements were we didn t look at those two states in particular   I think when you look at where a lot of places where a lot of these issues could have occurred in bigger states, that s where I think we re going to look. Source: The AtlanticThe second shot fired in the Civil War is against sanctuary cities, or cities where undocumented immigrants can report crimes committed against them without fear of legal retribution. Most of those cities, not surprisingly, are heavily Democratic. Trump signed an executive order that would take away federal funding from states that don t make life a living hell for undocumented immigrants. The majority of sanctuary cities are in firmly blue states, but we ll be curious to see if Trump s threat will come to fruition in red states.The third was on a smaller scale, but in its way, far more frightening. On Tuesday night, Trump quoted some Bill O Reilly statistics and said that he was going to  send in the Feds  to deal with Chicago s violence (Chicago, by the way, doesn t even crack the top 30 in most murderous cities).If Chicago doesn t fix the horrible  carnage  going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017We re still unclear about what  send in the feds  actually means, but the implication is that Trump intends to declare martial law and it might be over a petty feud with Chicago s mayor, Rahm Emanuel. Illinois is also a state that voted for Hillary Clinton.In another time, Republicans would be furious! What Trump is threatening violates state sovereignty. No president has ever won 100 percent of the vote, but we ve never had a president who s threatened those who dared vote against him. We ve especially never had a president who threatened martial law over a political dispute. It s also a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids federal troops from acting as local police except under cases of extreme emergency. If Trump does send troops into Chicago, against the will of the mayor and the governor, it will clearly be an act of war.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images