It is undeniable that Mr Trump has said he wants to suspend the constitution and be dictator "For a Day". Which is how it
always starts.
Given that Trump supporters so freely wave their guns around and also are extremely willing to make violent threats against those they disagree with, it is not unreasonable to think that at least a minority of them would be willing to follow through with that. What remains to be seen is how small (or large) that minority actually is.
Also, on Hitler (and thanks for Godwinning the thread), no, I do not think every atrocity is justified in preventing such a calamity. Especially when all peaceful methods of preventing it have not been exhausted. In fact, I suspect that organized violence by left-wing groups at this point would likely trigger that calamity and accomplish nothing at all. And historically, while plenty of atrocities and war crimes were committed by Americans in WWII, we certainly didn't commit every
possible atrocity.
Some people with more knowledge and expertise than me, and a lot of my fellow Americans, also see a nonzero risk of a civil war in the near future:
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/is-t ... civil-war/
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1214278131
The political dynamic is different than in 1860, so it isn't likely that we'll see a civil war with large-scale organized fighting by people in uniform with clearly delineated front lines. More likely it will be smaller armed groups fighting amongst themselves and killing anybody who gets in their way. That's still technically a "civil war". Think more Lebanon than the US in the 1860s. Also since local governments and federal authorities will likely be completely useless in keeping people safe in such a situation,
more armed groups will spring up in self-defense. All of the material to make it spiral wildly out of control is already there.
I hope I'm totally wrong. I'll be very happy if that is so, because no sane person would to live through (or die in) such a thing. Maybe Trump will lose the election this fall, give a gracious concession speech, and peacefully retire to Mar-A-Lago. And his supporters will go back to acting like normal people. That would be nice.