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It's really not possible to have a coup in the US. Government is too distributed for a quick take over. Civil war, on the other hand, could still happen, but

It's really not possible to have a coup in the US. Government is too distributed for a quick take over. Civil war, on the other hand, could still happen, but I think it would probably end up with just a few stand-off situations and be resolved quickly. I believe that the population of americans that view politics as reality TV are the majority. Also, Bush v. Gore, florida election results, 2000. AKA "The Hanging Chad" incident. Also happens to be the year that americans at large learned the words "enjoin" and "disenfranchise."

eternalban 10y ago
Is it really viable to apply old world paradigms to USA? > It's really not possible to have a coup in the US Then what exactly happened on 9/11? In non-banana variety republics, the person in charge of national air defense would have been minimally subjected to a court martial. This still happens here too [1] for far less serious events. The general in this case, however, got promoted. [2] > US. Government is too distributed for a quick take over How about a very slow and deliberate take over. Would that work? [1]: http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/another-navy-commander-tied-to-iran-incident-relieved-of-duty-1.415931 http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/another-navy-command... [2]: http://www.jcs.mil/About/The-Joint-Staff/Chairman/General-Richard-Bowman-Myers/ http://www.jcs.mil/About/The-Joint-Staff/Chairman/General-Ri...
- DigitalJack 10y ago
  > How about a very slow and deliberate take over. Would that work? No, that is not what a coup is.
pessimizer 10y ago
I think you're assuming a coup against the government, which I'm not sure has ever happened anywhere. Any coup would come from a portion of the government, aligned with powerful interests external to the government. As an example in the U.S., let's say that 3/4s of Republican governors, along with half of Republican Senators, and an absolute majority of the House, the vast majority of their individual financial backers, and a large number of generals decided that Trump lost due to voter fraud that occurred largely in states and cities with Democratic administrations. A group of them then read an open letter on Fox News about it, and the reading, while not carried on major networks, is broadcast on all channels by Comcast, Altice, and Cox Cable. As the letter is being read, a mass email goes out to the Trump email list to converge on the White House in DC and Clinton Foundation headquarters for a peaceful protest, named "Occupy the Crooked Election." As the thousands accumulate, the Governors that can announce that they're going to mobilize the state militias to do a recount, or rerun the election. Is this impossible? How do you walk it back? Also, didn't we just have a massively blood soaked civil war 150 years ago?
- greenleafjacob 10y ago
  State militia? Are you from the 1800s? The California State Army Reserve is 1500 strong. The California National Guard is 18000.
  - 0xffff2 10y ago
    What's your point exactly? While the term "state militia" is a bit unusual these days, that's effectively what the National Guard is.
    - xj9 10y ago
      The National Guard doesn't report to California.
- AnimalMuppet 10y ago
  > A group of them then read an open letter on Fox News about it, and the reading, while not carried on major networks... Fox isn't a major network? (Or did you mean "not carried on other major networks?)
- DigitalJack 10y ago
  For a succesful coup, you have to do a few things very quickly (hours), *Take over the media (simply not possible in America due to the volume), initially to block information *Take over the Military (Too large and diverse to accomplish in America.) *Arrest/Detain all political opposition. (there are simply too many local governments in America for this to happen.) You have hours to accomplish all of this. If you can't manage it in hours, you will have an uprising and if you aren't quickly put down, you are in for a civil war.
  - r00fus 10y ago
    Why would you even need #3? You simply make them persona-non-grata, or make them believe they are the bad guys (and hey, bad guys always complain about being bad guys!) #1 is entirely feasible. #2 is entirely possible as well - there are lots of revolving doors with defense contractors and the DoD... heck, just read through the Patraeus scandal [1]. This a 4-star General (Commander of CentCom), Director of CIA and was a likely presidential candidate - just read through the tawdry and incestuous relationships within the community, and wonder at how easy it'd be to simply bribe everyone with an offer they couldn't resist. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petraeus_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petraeus_scandal I posit this can be planned indefinitely. Once the hammer drops, yes countdown time is hours, but... take a look at the 2000 election results and the weeks it took to finally stop the clock on vote counting.

eternalban 10y ago

Is it really viable to apply old world paradigms to USA? > It's really not possible to have a coup in the US Then what exactly happened on 9/11? In non-banana variety republics, the person in charge of national air defense would have been minimally subjected to a court martial. This still happens here too [1] for far less serious events. The general in this case, however, got promoted. [2] > US. Government is too distributed for a quick take over How about a very slow and deliberate take over. Would that work? [1]: http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/another-navy-commander-tied-to-iran-incident-relieved-of-duty-1.415931 http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/another-navy-command... [2]: http://www.jcs.mil/About/The-Joint-Staff/Chairman/General-Richard-Bowman-Myers/ http://www.jcs.mil/About/The-Joint-Staff/Chairman/General-Ri...

DigitalJack 10y ago
> How about a very slow and deliberate take over. Would that work? No, that is not what a coup is.

pessimizer 10y ago

I think you're assuming a coup against the government, which I'm not sure has ever happened anywhere. Any coup would come from a portion of the government, aligned with powerful interests external to the government. As an example in the U.S., let's say that 3/4s of Republican governors, along with half of Republican Senators, and an absolute majority of the House, the vast majority of their individual financial backers, and a large number of generals decided that Trump lost due to voter fraud that occurred largely in states and cities with Democratic administrations. A group of them then read an open letter on Fox News about it, and the reading, while not carried on major networks, is broadcast on all channels by Comcast, Altice, and Cox Cable. As the letter is being read, a mass email goes out to the Trump email list to converge on the White House in DC and Clinton Foundation headquarters for a peaceful protest, named "Occupy the Crooked Election." As the thousands accumulate, the Governors that can announce that they're going to mobilize the state militias to do a recount, or rerun the election. Is this impossible? How do you walk it back? Also, didn't we just have a massively blood soaked civil war 150 years ago?

greenleafjacob 10y ago
State militia? Are you from the 1800s? The California State Army Reserve is 1500 strong. The California National Guard is 18000.
- 0xffff2 10y ago
  What's your point exactly? While the term "state militia" is a bit unusual these days, that's effectively what the National Guard is.
  - xj9 10y ago
    The National Guard doesn't report to California.
AnimalMuppet 10y ago
> A group of them then read an open letter on Fox News about it, and the reading, while not carried on major networks... Fox isn't a major network? (Or did you mean "not carried on other major networks?)
DigitalJack 10y ago
For a succesful coup, you have to do a few things very quickly (hours), *Take over the media (simply not possible in America due to the volume), initially to block information *Take over the Military (Too large and diverse to accomplish in America.) *Arrest/Detain all political opposition. (there are simply too many local governments in America for this to happen.) You have hours to accomplish all of this. If you can't manage it in hours, you will have an uprising and if you aren't quickly put down, you are in for a civil war.
- r00fus 10y ago
  Why would you even need #3? You simply make them persona-non-grata, or make them believe they are the bad guys (and hey, bad guys always complain about being bad guys!) #1 is entirely feasible. #2 is entirely possible as well - there are lots of revolving doors with defense contractors and the DoD... heck, just read through the Patraeus scandal [1]. This a 4-star General (Commander of CentCom), Director of CIA and was a likely presidential candidate - just read through the tawdry and incestuous relationships within the community, and wonder at how easy it'd be to simply bribe everyone with an offer they couldn't resist. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petraeus_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petraeus_scandal I posit this can be planned indefinitely. Once the hammer drops, yes countdown time is hours, but... take a look at the 2000 election results and the weeks it took to finally stop the clock on vote counting.