Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way, professors of government and politics, recently warned the U.S. was heading into an "age of instability," which they said was not a civil war but more of a smoldering conflict like "the Troubles" in Ireland.
"Such a scenario would be marked by frequent constitutional crises, including contested or stolen elections,” they wrote. "This portends 'heightened political violence, they suggested, including assassinations, bombings and violent confrontations in the streets, 'often tolerated and even incited by politicians."