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Comment by anonylizard | Hacker News Reader

Are you people being deliberately obtuse? A presidential candidate is equivalent to some random people? Like it was 2cm away from civil war.

Are some random gang shootings that killed 10 people worse than JFK's killing?

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I don't see any moral reasons why 10 random people being killed wouldn't be worse than a single guy who also is 70+ yo, no matter how rich or how powerfull this guy is.

Also, you can't have a civil war as long as the military in the US is what it currently is, i.e subordinate to civilian powers. You can have riots, protests, sure, but i don't see any path for a civil war that does not somehow involve part of the military, in any country at any time, and especially now that armies are professionals.

There would have definitely been very acrimonious protests attended by people who are much more likely to own firearms than the population at large. And protests can lead to civil war, look at Syria for example.

Not to say it’s certain or even likely, but it’s definitely plausible. You are much more confident than I am that the military and police would remain 100% loyal to Biden during a protracted period of civil unrest where one side believes two general elections in a row were stolen from them and their leader assassinated.

>2cm away from civil war

Don't be facetious.

You have no idea how wired this country is. HN is a nerd cluster with zero social awareness. Half this site would die within 30 days of an insurgency kicking off hardcore.

I don't think JFK's assassination supports this though because that led to President Johnson, the Civil Rights Act, various memorials and some interesting X-Files episodes and not a civil war.

You think this country is like it was in 1963? Lol ok.

It doesn't have to be. They're disproving your claim that it will lead to civil war by showing that when that event happened previously, a civil war did not break out. It _might_ happen, sure, but it's not as sure of a thing as you're making it sound, either.

The US is very divided currently, I agree, but I don't think any of us know what would have happened had Trump been assassinated, and anyone claiming otherwise is either too confident in their theorycrafting or trying to sell you something.

You don't have to possess a crystal ball to draw a rough conclusion with confidence. Here, watch this, I'll show you: If Trump were to have been assassinated in 4K high def with his head blown off filmed perfectly from multiple angles, this country would see some of the most raw shit known to mankind (domestic terrorism). There is only one group of people who is armed up to the teeth in America and it is not the Democrats. If Trump would have been assassinated it would have been open season on Democrats and anyone not hardcore-right. Anyone who doesn't acknowledge this is simply a naïve fool or willfully lying to you. Raw power is still power, even if you hate it.

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