Tag: coup

Thinking The Unthinkable: A Creative Coup


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Since 9/11, a lot of people far smarter than me have wargamed every possible creative way the US might be attacked by international terrorists. But, at the moment, that seems rather quaint.

If we’re going to get attacked in some coordinated manner, we’re probably going to get attacked by a deranged group of MAGA New Right people. At the moment, on first glance, it seems as though if a small cadre of committed conspirators went after the US government with the aim of getting Trump back in office they just could not pull it off.

The chief issue is — the line of presidential succession is, at the moment, all Democrats. But, just today, something happened and I grew alarmed.

Because the Senate is split 50 / 50, if you were an evil cabal of coup plotters with enough organization, you actually could successfully stage a coup in the United States.

The moment you, God forbid, knock Vice President Harris out of the picture after Biden, she would no longer be there to break a tie and, the case could be made that Sen. Grassely would become president pro tempore of the Senate and, as such if you’ve successfully knocked out Speaker Pelosi, he would become president.

Then, citing his advanced age, he named Trump his veep and steps down.

Or, at the very least, if the attack happened very quickly the moment you had successfully knocked out Biden, Harris and Pelosi (how you could possibly effect this, I have no idea) the country would be thrown into a huge, lingering chaos because Republicans would say Grassley is president while Democrats would say Sen. Leahy was.

The issue would be so up in the air that that, in itself, could potentially start a civil war.

The above is all very speculative and dark. But it’s something to think about.

America Has A Very January 6th Vibe To It Today


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

In general, the endgame of the bullshit Cyber Ninjas “audit” of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona seems to be come out swinging then walk it all back gradually as they’re forced to produce fact to backup their claims that “#TrumpWon.”

As of this writing, the audit’s results haven’t come out yet, but I will be flabbergasted if the Cyber Ninjas report doesn’t makes it clear that #TrumpWon, at least in their eyes.

The question is — then what?

If you keep an eye on the Twitter search for this subject, the usual suspects are growing hysterical…but they don’t seem to have any clear answer to, “and then what?” I’m assuming they think they can somehow magically decertify Biden’s win in at least Arizona with an eye to the whole thing.

Even though none of that is legally possible, that’s what they’re hoping for.

If you think about it, this is similar to the logic of January 6th where the MAGA New Right pinned all its hopes on Pence not doing the thing that he had to do, even if he didn’t want to: certify the vote.

The logic on the part of the MAGA New Right is so similar to what happened on January 6th that it’s enough to make one at least a little uneasy. Once the inevitable Cyber Ninjas “proof” comes out, then Trump is going to demand as many states that will listen “decertify” Biden’s win.

Then what?

When Trump isn’t magically re-instated, then they’re going to start talking about nullification or secession. The point of all of this is we could be careening towards a sharp, sudden and severe political crisis in the next few days.

And, yet, it could be that January 6th was a very specific set of circumstances — Trump was president at the time, afterall — and, lulz, it could be this bullshit just becomes another quiver in the #TrumpWon talking point list of things to say whenever a piviot is needed.

Who knows.

Will Cyber Ninjas’ Arizona Election Audit Cause An August Decertification Crisis?


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve given it some thought, and it seems the point of the Cyber Ninjas bullshit is this — they put out a bullshit report today that “proves” Trump “won” Arizona, then they have a month to back up the results of their findings. Everything can fall apart, they can walkback the findings to the point of meaninglessness, but the fact will remain: for the MAGA New Right they will now have a talking point to piviot to whenever we findout Trump was selling human babies to ETs for experimentation. (I’m joking, I hope.)

So, both the bonkers idiots of MAGA will have what they want and normal fact base people will have what THEY want. It’s a win-win.

But there is a very real risk that just like with January 6th’s certification crisis in DC, we could have a national DECERTIFICATION crisis once Cyber Ninjas release their bullshit report today. (I guess there’s a chance they might actually lulz everything and admit that Trump didn’t win, but that would only cause someone else within the MAGA New Right to try AGAIN to prove Trump won. They’re not stopping until they get that fucking talking point.)

The interesting thing will be to see how quickly the call to “decertify” Biden’s win will happen. It will happen starting the moment the report comes out, I bet. It won’t matter that this is meaningless and idiotic, we live in an age of “gesture politics” and so the GOP wants images of “brave” Arizona law makers giving long speeches about how #TrumpWon and then they unanimously vote to decertify Biden’s win in the state.

Where thing goes from that point who knows. It could be that some sort of momentum builds and other states get all excited and decertify Biden’s win just because it makes the base feel better — this is what Trump wants, obviously — or it could be they will invite Cyber Ninjas into their state to pull the same bullshit.

The fact that a month from now Cyber Ninjas will release the “evidence” to support their bullshit findings and it turns out to be the sham that we all know it is, won’t matter. For Republicans, to be Republican means to believe #TrumpWon, no matter what they have to destroy, or break to prove that “fact.”

Are we going to have a civil war over this bullshit? I don’t know. The moment that bullshit report comes out and “proves” Trump “won” then, yes, the conditions will be there. But it could be I’m way ahead of myself and, thankfully, everything is going to be a big old dud.

Only time will tell.

The Only Reason Why The Military Hasn’t Forced Trump Out Of Power Is, Well, That’s Not Their Scene

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

We live in surreal times. It’s a testament to the stability of the United States government that the tanks aren’t in the streets right now. It is just against everything we believe in for the military to even THINK about fixing political problems that the civilian government can’t.

Literally the only way I could imagine the U.S. Military doing anything in the sphere of governing the country directly (however briefly) would be if Trump was legally impeach and convicted by Congress…and he just ignored it and spent all day tweeting in a passive-aggressive manner.

So, I just don’t see a coup of any sort happening anytime soon. We may creep towards a sort of a very American elected dictatorship with extensive use of Emergency Powers, but even then…that’s debatable.

I guess we’re just going to muddle along like we always do. But the longer this shut down lasts, the more people might at least start to think out loud of any number of drastic measures that might be employed to end it.

So, When’s The Coup?

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

If the United States was any other country in the world, there would be open talk of a possible coup — military or otherwise — taking place pretty soon. The entire system is broken, rotting or completely frozen up so it appears as though literally the only thing stopping someone, a Man On A Horse, if you will, from seizing power is that’s just not how Americans see themselves.

I do, however, believe that there will be something pretty close to a coup of some sort within 20 years. How exactly would it break down? That’s a very good question.

It’s so outside the self-perception of the United States that something like that would happen, but I find it difficult to even plot it out. In the near term, I think you could make the assumption that should Trump ever been impeach and convicted and he refuses to leave office that the military might step in to remind him that he needs to leave.

That, in turn, would be the bent rule that would eventually pave the way for an actual coup. I think if there was a “coup” of some sort in the next 20 years it probably would be if the country finally begins to physically tear itself apart. The military is currently the only institution with bi-partisan support, and, as such, I could see a “light touch” coup happening on the part of the military that would simply exist for a few months to cool things down a little bit in an overheated political system.

Gen. Mattis would be a perfect Lord Protector of the United States in such a situation. Someone who was respect and moderate who could help force some decisions to be made as well as transition to a new, elected government.

9/10ths
a story fragment of a possible near future
by Shelton Bumgarner

August 2019

The eyes of the world were on the White House.

Just moments before, President Donald J. Trump, 45th president of the United States, had been convicted by 67 members of the Senate for a whole list of high crimes and misdemeanors. Trump had for weeks now been ranting on Gab about his case in the Senate, bouncing back and forth between threats to start a war with Iran or the DPRK and not-so-subtle hints that he might take his own life should he be convicted by the Senate.

And, now, at last, the moment of truth had arrived.

Trump legally, at least, was no longer president, but he had been oddly silent since the verdict had been announced with great fanfare from the well of the Senate. Trump’s conviction had come after months of investigations on the part of the now Democratic Congress. The length and breath of Trump’s malfeasance discovered by these hearings had rocked the nation to its very core. On more than one occasion, MAGA talking heads on cable news had been interrupted by astonishing breaking news that left them, for once, unable or unwilling to defend the president.

The hearings had ground on for months to such an extent that Trump’s approval had slowly drifted to the 20s and stayed there consistently. Trump’s support was now made up of the very rich and the very poor. Oddly, despite Trump’s near constant demands on Twitter for violence on the part of his supporters, little, if any was reported. Trump had grown so frustrated that he had all but abandoned Twitter at one point for the more receptive Gab social media platform. Though on more than one occasion Rudy Giuliani had made it very clear it was within the rights of the president to declare martial law if he deemed it in the best interests of the nation. More than one delegation of Senate Republicans had gone to the White House to explain to Trump that he was going to be convicted, no avail. Trump made it clear to them, in not so many words that his simply living in the White House made him president, a sentiment best expressed by the legal saw that, “Possession is 9/10ths of the law.”

Finally, a post to Gab came out: “My so-called ‘conviction’ is the work of the Deep State and as such illegitimate. I remain president.”

This set off a chain of events, the likes of which Americans had never seen. Suddenly, everyone on Twitter became a Constitutional scholar as everyone studied the exact wording of the Constitution as to what happens if the president is removed from office by the Senate. The wording is quite clear: he or she is no longer president and that’s it.

Nowhere in the Constitution did it explain what to do if the president simply decided to ignore the Senate. What’s more, nowhere in the Constitution did it state what to do with the nuclear launch codes should a president be removed from office and he refuse to accept the decision of the Senate.

The next few hours were chilling as they were surreal for millions of people not just in the United States but around the globe. The issue of Trump’s physical access to America’s nuclear launch codes was suddenly at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Though it was finally announced that while the nuclear football remained in Trump’s possession, Sec. of Defense Mattis had ordered the American armed forces to stand down for the duration of the crisis.

Trump, on Twitter, was as defiant and unhinged as usual.He threatened to kill himself. He threatened to start a nuclear war. He vowed to declare martial law.

The usual suspects on cable news did their best to spin all of this for Trump. As an anxious nation waited for the now former president to leave the White House, a cavalcade of former Republican Senators and Trump White House staffers attempted to make the former president’s case. Their final argument was that for the good of the country, Trump should be allowed to remain president, despite his lawful conviction by the Senate.

Things began to move rapidly at this point.

Vice President Pence was sworn in but Chief Justice Roberts in a dark, somber event in the Old Executive Building. Meanwhile, it was learned Trump had quietly replaced his Secret Service detail with a private security force that made it clear it was prepared to defend Trump until the bloody end.

At this point, two things happened. A final bipartisan delegation of Congressional leaders came to the White House grounds under the flag of truce. During the course of an hour-long meeting, Trump screamed at them that they had never supported him and the world would be better off if it just ended instead of allowed the forces of the Deep State to ruin America. He made it absolutely clear that he would never leave the Oval Office willingly.

With that, they left.

Next, a surreal, bizarre event, the FBI slowly began to surround the White House. There was much debate online and on TV about how long the nation should wait for Trump to leave the White House. CNN went so far as to do a deep dive into the exact amount of food the White House grounds might have available at any one moment.

Finally, shots rang out from the White House as the battle was joined. It took several hours but in the end, the FBI was finally able to secure the facility. Nearly a dozen personnel on both sides died during the course of the Battle of The White House.

In what would become ionic footage, Trump was quietly escorted from the White House grounds. He spent the remainder of his days ranting on Twitter and Gab that he was the rightful president.

The End.