A rebel soldier (Jesse Plemons) in 2024’s “Civil War” flick asks quavering journalists “What kind of an American are you?”

On the eve of last week’s election, Charles Bethea, a staff writer for The New Yorker, wrote a startling piece called “The Americans Prepping for a Second Civil War."

“Many now believe,” it said, “that the U.S. could descend into political violence… Some are joining survivalist communities, canning food—and buying guns.”

To a certain degree, that looming threat was based on the baseless idea, projected by Donald Trump, that the Democrats were going to steal the election and his defenders had to come to his rescue. Well, he won, of course, so it looks like the threat of such violence has evaporated—for the moment, anyway—despite the calls by extremists such as the Proud Boys to carry out attacks on anti-Trump people.

But even if such rhetoric by extremists is no more than smoke, political strife, with a potential for violence, may be around the corner, Bethea told me on the latest SpyTalk podcast, especially should Trump launch his plans for mass deportations and/or arrests of his political enemies, including top Democrats, journalists and prosecutors who have pursued him in court on a myriad of charges. Democratic officials in such liberal redoubts as Massachusetts, Illinois, California, New York and Minnesota are already saying they will not cooperate with mass deportations.

Overblown? A fever dream? Make up your own mind after you listen to me and Bethea delve into the world of “Civil War Preppers” on the SpyTalk podcast, on Simplecast, Apple, or whatever your preferred listening platform.