There are a couple of military concepts that help explain what is really going on around us. First is "Battlespace" and second is "shaping" that battlespace.

The battlespace is the entire field of where a battle is occurring. "Battlespace or battle-space is a term used to signify a unified military strategy to integrate and combine armed forces for the military theatre of operations, including air, information, land, sea, cyber and outer space to achieve military goals. It includes the environment, factors, and conditions that must be understood to successfully apply combat power, protect the force, or complete the mission. This includes enemy and friendly armed forces, infrastructure, weather, terrain, and the electromagnetic spectrum within the operational areas and areas of interest." We used to refer to the "battlefield", but this term recognizes that there are other "spaces" that affect the conduct of battle, and not all of them are right in front of us.

In the political sphere, there are geographic considerations, too, but many more issues that affect results. Instead of "air, information, land, sea, cyber" it becomes "airwaves, information (and misinformation), land, sea, cyber and other media". And in that battlespace, "shaping" is occurring - "Battle-space shaping is a concept involved in the practice of maneuver warfare that are used for shaping a situation on the battlefield, gaining the military advantage for the commander. It forecasts the elimination of the enemy's capability by fighting in a coherent manner before deploying determine-sized forces."

An example in battlespace shaping is "gaining air superiority", or "a strategic withdrawal" that might lure an aggressive foe to overcommit and fall into a trap. Similarly, there are efforts -often crude, but still effective - to "shape" the political battlespace. Strategic leaks, propaganda, electioneering, PAC funding, think tanks, and "riling up the base" are all examples of how the politispace is shaped, and we can recognize the maneuvers currently in operation. And, putting willing surrogates in place through elections or appointments feed into that.

Trump is no master planner, but he is a useful tool for the GOP, which has been engaged in this endeavor for decades. The Civil War rhetoric is mostly a diversionary tactic, although fear of it does affect the polity. But, make no mistake, there are those that consider what is going on a Civil War by other means.