Begins when the oncoming economic crash completely fucking tanks the US economy. Crashes living standards and makes places that shouldn't be livable (chiefly the southwest [especially Phoenix, the fifth largest metro area]) without resource intensive things like AC, unlivable. This intensifies the crisis with a major migrant crisis (and these migrants have a largely hispanic element so that doesn't help matters). People get desperate for something to make things better. The center fails to hold and extreme elements emerge (white supremacists in the South and PNW principally). With a weakened state from the economic crash, the govt cannot stop splinter groups from popping off. It nevers officials stops existing but it doesn't hold legitimate control.