re: A24's Civil War - Spoiler Thread... eventually

Going back to the complaint of "Why would California and Texas merge?" - I think it's best to disregard the modern political stance of each state and instead looking at it from a purely logistical standpoint:

Combining Texas and California (and presuming they annex/invade Arizona and New Mexico to make it contiguous) would lead to:

1. A huge economy, which I believe would be one of the 10 largest in the world
2. Ports that can access both the Atlantic (Texas via the Gulf of Mexico) and the Pacific (California, whose shore makes up over half of the Pacific shoreline)
3. A massive infrastructure in regards to both agricultural and manufacturing
4. The strongest state-side militaries (National Guard units)
5. A potential alliance with Mexico, considering that would control the entire border with the country

Take modern politics out of the equation, and a combined California/Texas would be insanely strong and would be a combined $6 trillion economy (making it the 3rd largest economy in the world behind China and the US).

So from a movie standpoint, logically if you wanted a succession that could rival the US in terms of economy and then, from said economy, a military - then that's just two states that have to leave. Any other combination would require a LOT more states and would lose access to either the Pacific (a South East succession), the Gulf (a West coast succession), or the Atlanta (A a West coast or a Mid West succession).

From a storytelling POV, it makes the most sense. Just two states.

Would it happen in real life? Of course not.

Is it an interesting thought experiment / alternate history idea? I think so, yeah.