Trump may have just bribed the military to help him stage a coup: historian

[turbinetree]

By Daniel Hampton
Published April 4, 2026 10:10 PM ET

Renowned historian Timothy Snyder leveled two explosive accusations against President Donald Trump: that his proposed 50% defense budget increase could be a bribe to secure military loyalty for a coup attempt, and that a staged domestic terror attack is his best remaining path to nullifying elections.

Snyder, a Yale historian recognized as one of America's foremost scholars of authoritarianism, made both cases in a Saturday Substack post laying out five historical scenarios through which Trump could exploit the ongoing U.S.-Iran war to nullify the 2026 midterms and seize permanent power.

On the defense budget, Snyder was unambiguous.

https://www.rawstory.com/trumps-military-budget/

[struggle4progress]

1. I won't assume everyone is so craven. But we'll see.

[turbinetree]

2. I keep thinking of the Russians meeting with him in the white house recently.........again..............

[littlemissmartypants]

3. All being psychopaths, they are. Bet on it.

Characteristics of Psychopaths

1. Aggressive, callous, and cunning
2. Complete absence of conscience and empathy
3. Very adept at manipulating others
4. Willingness to engage in immoral, criminal conduct
5. Willingness to take what they want and do as they please, regardless of who is hurt or wronged
6. Deceptive ability to appear outwardly benevolent
7. Deceptive ability to behave in superficially charming ways to hide purely selfish motives
8. Willingness to use intimidation and violence to control others in order to satisfy their own needs
9. Willingness to intentionally violate the basic inherent human rights of others
10. Complete absence of any sense of guilt or remorse for the harm their actions have caused to others
11. Rationalization of their own immoral behavior
12. Will attempt to lay blame upon someone else for their own conduct
13. Denial, will deny their own wrongdoing outright
14. Utter contemptuousness toward the feelings and desires of their fellow beings
15. Pathological lying, will say anything without any concern for truth to advance their own hidden agendas
16. Ablity to feign [fake] normal human emotions and empathy
17. Distorted sense of the consequences of their actions
18. Total failure to accept any responsibility for their own socially irresponsible ways
19. Strong bellef that they will never be brought to justice for their criminal behavior

[struggle4progress]

4. Song of the French partisan

[littlemissmartypants]

5. From the replies

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[dpibel]

6. Direct link to Snyder's Substack

https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-next-coup-attempt

[TommyT139]

7. Excellent article!

Thanks for posting it, especially the direct link to Tim Snyder's substack, in the comments.

[Another Jackalope]

8. Putin came to power through staged terror attacks. Like father, like son?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Russian_apartment_bombings

In September 1999, a series of explosions hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings, together with the 1999 war of Dagestan, triggered the Second Chechen War.[1][2] The handling of the crisis by Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, boosted his popularity greatly and helped him attain the presidency within a few months.

Four apartment bombings took place and at least three attempted bombings were prevented.[26] All bombings had the same "signature", based on the nature and the volume of the destruction. In each case a powerful explosive was used, and the timers were set to go off at night and inflict the maximum number of civilian casualties.[27][28] The explosives were placed to destroy the weakest, most critical elements of the buildings and force them to "collapse like a house of cards".[29] The individuals behind the bombings were able to obtain or manufacture several tons of powerful explosives and deliver them to numerous destinations across Russia.

Although the bombings were widely blamed on Chechen terrorists, their guilt was never conclusively proven.[14] A number of historians and investigative journalists have instead called the bombings a false flag attack perpetrated by Russian state security services to win public support for a new war in Chechnya and to boost the popularity of Vladimir Putin prior to the upcoming presidential elections. Former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who blamed the FSB for the bombings and was a critic of Putin, was assassinated in London in 2006. A British inquiry later determined that Litvinenko's murder was "probably" carried out with the approval of Vladimir Putin and Nikolai Patrushev.

[GoodRaisin]

9. Good read.