Perhaps even to save the country from plunging into civil war?
"The threat from the right wing is to plunge the country into civil war," he said.
Your "defense" of the people was to plunge them into war.
I could plunge four empires into civil war with a single decision.
"Almost 80 years ago our country was plunged into civil war," he said.
Yet in each case you may take it for granted that Congress would have plunged us into war.
Twice before in this century, such conflicts plunged the world into total war.
China, meanwhile, plunged into civil war, with the Communists in control by 1949.
Then he took up arms, and the country was plunged into war again.
The assassination of the President plunged the country into civil war.