The endgame of Hawley, Cruz, et al isn’t mysterious. It’s the same as that run by Democrats post-Reconstruction—to legislate electoral restrictions that favor one party, overwhelmingly if possible.

They know this effort will fail for the election of 2020, but it sets up demands for state and federal action to reassure those who harbor the baseless doubts they themselves have fanned. That it cleaves Trump voters to them in the short term is a bonus.

People need to stop imagining the outcome as civil war or a collapse of the country. It’s far more likely to be years and decades of Republicans demanding voting restrictions that tilt elections still further in their favor, and Dems need an effective response.

And of course, the price extracted in the 19th century was the political participation of most African Americans.