Editor's note: Andrew Korybko is a Moscow-based American political analyst. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Members of a right-wing group and supporters of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement clashed on August 15 in Stone Mountain, a city in Georgia, U.S., that's (in)famous for its huge stone carving of Confederate leaders. Riot police were forced to intervene to restore order, but this incident ominously serves as a sneak peek at America's future, one where ideologically competing groups clash with one another with increasing frequency.

It doesn't matter whether Trump is re-elected or beaten by Biden since either outcome is poised to further radicalize average Americans.

This weekend's Stone Mountain incident was illustrative of America's multilayered differences that are rapidly unraveling at the seams with violent consequences. On the surface, it appeared to be a clash between racists and anti-racists, but the situation isn't that simple.

It's inaccurate to assume that everyone who's against the BLM movement is a racist by default even though there are certainly some racists who mingle among them. The same can be said about BLM since it too has some racists (albeit anti-"white" ones) in its midst.

Some Americans are simply against the nationwide crime wave and campaign of intimidation carried out by criminals in the name of BLM, just like others are disgusted with the racist actions committed by those who identify with right-wing causes.

Digging deeper, these differences aren't just reactionary, but part of each side's respective worldviews and strongly held beliefs about the future of America. Right-wing folks think that society is too leftist and spiraling out of control, while their opponents think that it can't change radically enough.

There's no common ground between these contradictory ideological forces, but if such outlooks were only shared by a fringe minority of people then they wouldn't be all that troublesome.

The problem, however, is that tens of millions of Americans sympathize with either side even if they don't actively protest in support of them. They became this way as a result of everything that transpired under Obama's two terms and Trump's current one, which emboldened left-wing and right-wing forces respectively while radicalizing their opponents.

Even before those two presidencies, Americans' ideological divergences had really entered their present trajectory of inevitable conflict after the end of the Cold War, when the country was compelled to consider its role in the world and the responsibility or lack thereof that it has for shaping the international order.

In any case, after bubbling for decades, this volatile pot of ideological conflict overflowed after BLM protests over George Floyd's death at the knee of a Minneapolis police a few months ago descended into riots all across the country.

That trigger event catalyzed the spree of local conflicts that have begun to occur more regularly, with the latest one being the Stone Mountain incident. America's ideologically opposite camps are starting to clash with one another in the streets.

BLM wants to fight what it regards as the country's racist filth and radically restructure the world's largest economy while right-wing groups want to protect law, order, and their nation's historical heritage (the latter of which relates to preserving Confederate monuments) as well as retain capitalism.

Both groups are emboldened like never before, with each believing that the upcoming election is the most pivotal one of their lives that will determine which of the two ideological camps will shape America's future for the next generation, considering everything of significance that's at stake at the moment.

In other words, this is a fight to the political death, metaphorically speaking, which explains why they've shed their prior restraint and are now desperately clashing with one another in America's streets.

It's difficult to imagine them stopping anytime soon now that Pandora's Box has been opened. In fact, the Stone Mountain clash is a sneak peek at America's future since the losing ideological side of the upcoming election will probably cause even more chaos than they currently are, thus raising the likelihood of a larger civil conflict developing after the November vote.

America's future is dark, and the country might never be "great" again regardless of who leads it unless this political violence is put to a stop as soon as possible.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)