Do you think it is possible to ever have a military coup in this country?

[kentuck]

I have never thought so. Until recently. Now, I am not so sure.

There is a lot of mistrust around President Obama. There are currents of conspiracy theories everywhere. There are whispers. "You know he is a Muslim, right?" And they talk about all the Muslims that the President has appointed to high positions in government. They say they are part of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and so forth and so on...

The whispers have become louder. It is very scary and unsettling to hear this talk, from any source. Coupled with the fear from terrorists, the gun argument has taken main stage.

May you live in interesting times. The Chinese curse.

[virginia mountainman]

1. Yes, it is possible..Anything is possible

But things would have too be orders of magnitude worse.

[uppityperson]

2. Unlikely, but I will not say never.

[Oneironaut]

3. Possible in the same way a meteor might destroy all life on earth tomorrow.

Likely? Not even close.

[MohRokTah]

4. So incredibly unlikely as to near the absolute of impossible.

The military is not so unprofessional as to throw out their oaths and defy the chain of command as laid out in the constitution with the civilian president as commander in chief.

In fact, to suggest they would is pretty insulting to anybody who ever wore the uniform.

[former9thward]

26. The suggestions always come from people who have never worn the uniform.

[marble falls]

39. You mean like Cruz, Trump, Fiorina, Jeb, Carson, Christie, etc???

[former9thward]

50. Have they suggested a military coup?

Learn something everyday.

[marble falls]

55. How do you think Trump will curtail civil rights, close all Mosques and deport all Muslims?

[dumbcat]

56. I don't think he will.

[patsimp]

5. No. There are checks and balances that would stop it.

The bigger issue is how the gop makes voters more stupid every year, under which they can pass draconian legislation.

With the supreme court resident like Thomas and scalia, who needs a military coup to get what they want anyway.

[villager]

6. You mean more overt than the Dallas-in-'63 variety?

Something more like "Seven Days in May?"

[cantbeserious]

7. This Citizen Suspects Civil War Is The Most Likely Next Tragedy To Unfold

Followed by a break up of the Federation.

Texas Republicans are planning to secede as this is typed.

[dogman]

8. I was thinking about this if Trump were elected.

Would the military carry out his crazy agenda? Would they follow Cruz and carpet bomb the terrorists? It seems like there would be a lot of collateral damage in California subdivisions.

[X_Digger]

9. As unlikely as a meteorite hitting me in the back of the head..

The military is a bit more conservative than the rest of the country, but you have to remember that a large percentage of the military is national guard / reservists.

Last I recall, there were about 2.3 or 2.4 million active military (in all branches and capacities). Fore reference, there are about 900,000 police officers in 18,000 agencies in the US.

[jaysunb]

10. This "mistrust" seems like simple racism to me.

Why don't we just call it what it is ?

[onecaliberal]

14. ^^^That.Right.There.^^^

[JI7]

27. exactly, the blacks, hispanics, gays and other minorities and women in the military

would never support it and most of the generals are much too smart to be part of the conspiracy crowd.

the fact is most of those who want to get rid of him are not in the military .

[Blue_Tires]

46. +1

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Two data points for you

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/01/west-point-law-professor-resigns-after-advocating-attacks-on-u-s-legal-scholars-sympathetic-to-islamist-aims/

http://strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/Articles/1992/1992%20dunlap.pdf

The first has led to a resignation from West Point, the second was a paper by now a US General, then Colonel, at the War College.

This is at times considered already, by even people in uniform. People who poopoo this should read these two pieces for starters, and then a few history books. In this case Cicero's is relevant. There are more modern sources as well.

[kentuck]

12. The McCarthy era probably had similar smells...

of fear and suspicions.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Yeah, but that era did not have papers at the War College

[bobthedrummer]

47. Oh yeah-I remember Dunlop as well as all the Revolution In Military Affairs/RMA crew that led to

military "privatization"/contracting.

Thanks for posting nadinbrzezinski.

K&R.

[TipTok]

15. Ever? No... Is it close? Not even remotely...

[Rod Beauvex]

16. The older I get..

..and the more I watch the country, the more convinced I become that the 1963 killing of President Kennedy was a coup.

[cantbeserious]

18. Roger That

eom

[Ghost Dog]

36. Yes.

But not specifically military?

[Rod Beauvex]

37. Who controls the military?

The generals and their financial backers. Whether or not the president is part of the club changes. Republicans tend to be, but Democrats often are not.

[hifiguy]

43. CIA/Deep state

Which Allen Dulles had liberally stocked with Nazis he funnelled out of Europe after WW II. The military is intimately connected to, but ultimately answers to, the deep state.

Dulles, before his OSS/CIA days was a corporate lawyer who represented many of the most powerful and wealthy corporations in the country. That oligarchy thought Hitler's Germany represented the bright, shining wave of the future and were NOT happy with FDR for many other reasons. They were the people who created and financed the aborted plot which General Butler exposed. They did business with Germany throughout WW II and Dulles was their point man in the OSS. Dulles also expedited the secreting of countless tens of millions of Nazi assets and squelched reports of the extermination camps, preventing them from getting to FDR and other dedicated anti-Nazis in the US government. Why? See above. He admired Nazi Germany.

The people Dulles brought in from Germany, many of whom would have been tried as war criminals. were seeded throughout the deep state in the late 1940s and 1950s. Nazi Germany won the war against the US. It took another 15 years after the fighting ended, but they won. Because powerful Americans WANTED them to win.

See David Talbot, The Devil's Chessboard, and Michael Glennon, National Security and Double Government, for the complete story

[Ghost Dog]

49. Agree. n/t

[cherokeeprogressive]

17. no

[McKim]

19. It Already Happened

I think it has already happened. The military is the most well funded sector of government. Even the president, supposedly the commander in chief of the armed forces, can't close down Guantanamo! Military generals are already speaking to the news media with political opinions that push our president around, telling him what to do next. Remember that General Patreaus had his own little
fiefdom in the Middle East where he invited Neocons to help him run countries and wars. I see this as the military not being under the control of our president. The coup has already occured.

[hunter]

20. Why would they? They already own the place.

Does anybody ever say "no" to new aircraft carriers and other useless crap. Is Dick Cheney in prison?

The Military Industrial Complex and Maintenance of Empire *IS* the U.S.A..

[Kelvin Mace]

21. We came pretty close in 1934

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler#Business_Plot

[hollowdweller]

22. No, but something like The Bundy guys but more widespread yes.

[Aerows]

23. At this particular moment in time

I'm more concerned about Turkey vs. Russia. Both are thumping their chests and it is of concern. I think we will be far more likely to see that situation explode and turn the nut crowd that wants someone to shoot or at least deride attention away from our own country.

[Downwinder]

24. Why? They get everything they want as it is.

[Scootaloo]

32. Thread winner

[Rod Beauvex]

38. Where have you been?

Haven't seen you in a bit.

[milestogo]

25. Nov 22, 1963

[hifiguy]

41. Ayup.

[snot]

28. Am I the first to suggest it's already happened?

I don't actually believe that. But I believe there's been a 1% coup, and that the military are their body guards.

[Marrah_G]

29. I think its more likely to see states leave the union

[Moliere]

30. I think it will be different than people think or expect

We have the NSA which has incriminating evidence on just about everyone and when the coup comes, it won't be a violent overthrow but rather threats in the night to get "elected" leaders to do their bidding. I'm just assuming some of this has already happened.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

31. From a military that can't win a war (except for mighty Grenada)?

I doubt it. It's simply too complicated a task that requires too much secrecy to pull off.

[Hekate]

33. General Smedley Butler staved off a military coup in 1934. My VFP friends told me about him.

You can look it up online.

We had a bloodless coup, in my opinion, with Bush v. Gore. I lost an enormous amount of faith in our system of government with that event.

[Recursion]

35. Eh...

The HUAC of the time could never find any indication that it was even plausible that MacGuire had the people he said he had.

[orpupilofnature57]

53. He's been my avater my whole time on DU !!!!! Until he was reincartnated as a senator from Vermont !

' War is a racket ' is definitely part of the message Bernie preaches, no on else on either side of the campaign choice .

[Recursion]

34. Wilmington, 1898

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_insurrection_of_1898

Nationally? It would surprise me, but obviously nothing's impossible. (Though the whole Smedley Butler story is overblown, though I've learned to stop pointing that out on DU. Except clearly I haven't.)

[hifiguy]

40. It wasn't the military, and it already happened.

The CIA. In Dallas. 11/22/1963.

A Third-World style coup with a group of strutting generals and other assorted meat-packing glitterati is extraordinarily unlikely. The Deep State is already totally in the control of the most monied interests and things run as they wish no matter which figurehead has sat in the WH for the last 52 years with the possible exception of the first part of the Carter Presidency.

The Safari Club stepped in to the breach left by the investigations of the CIA and business continued as usual, which was the primary reason Carter was defeated in 1980.

Octafish has explained/linked to all of this, so if you have questions, search DU.

[haele]

42. Not a coup. Maybe a warm civil war - regional segregation rather than shooting.

And I blame the media yap dogs and their enablers looking for a quick buck. Because a stable country just isn't profitable enough, y'know.
What's the misery of a few hundred thousand people in comparison to all the money to be made off a few million low-information cowards? And if you can get rid of the intellectuals along the way, it makes it even better. It's not like we're a country of citizens anymore; we're just consumers, and consumers are both fungible and disposable once they run out of money.

Hail Mammon!

(I'm getting more and more cynical.)

Haele

[ileus]

44. And many of us here only want the military armed...

[hifiguy]

45. Good luck fighting the military.

[Xolodno]

48. I'd say difficult.

You would need the top brass of the Army, Air-force, Navy and Marines to agree. And then they have to trust their own chain of command to support them.

The military branched out (and at times competitive against each other) makes this prospect unlikely....whereas in other nations the military is under one umbrella and makes it easier.

To speculate, I would say the President would have to make the military his enemy...and have a congress willing to go along for it to happen.

Its more likely to have a "coup" via the CIA due to an assassination as to not draw attention.

[H2O Man]

51. Yes, definitely.

And I don't think most people would have a clue to that, as their thinking on this is limited to the Central American examples.

[orpupilofnature57]

52. Ever hear of the ' Great Business Plot ' ?

[alarimer]

54. The military accounts for the lion's share of the federal budget.

So, in a sense, we already have.

What else do you call it when the military is worshiped beyond reason and can do no wrong? Budgets are never too high, despite the fact that we could use a lot of that money elsewhere (and it could conceivably do more good than killing people).

Sure, nominally, they have civilian leadership in the President and Secretary, but in reality they do whatever they hell they want to do and no one is allowed to question it.