The Definition of a Coup.

The phrase “Military Coup” comes to us from the French phrase, “coup d’état” which literally translates as a “stroke of state” — the sudden overthrow of a government by a usually small group of persons in or previously in positions of authority.

I found myself in an interesting conversation the other day, speaking with a former Republican voter. He’s cast back his heels and relaxed, confident that although Trump is crazy, the checks and balances of the system will keep him from doing anything too drastic. Like, you know, beginning an Armageddon-like nuclear showdown with North Korea. My former Republican voter friend, let’s call him Bob, very confidently stated that he had dinner with a former Three-star General from the States the other week, and Bob says his former General friend proclaimed that the U.S. military wouldn’t follow an order to launch a nuclear weapon at North Korea. So Bob is not worried about nuclear war, because Bob’s friend the General believes the military would refuse the order. (Bob sleeps well at night).

This, by definition, is a “coup d’état”. When the military refuses to follow the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, we are no longer a three-part democracy, we are a military dictatorship. The military is not elected; it does not derive its authority from the Constitution. The military is not Congress or the judiciary; and the military in such a scenario would be acting against orders in the direct chain of command.

Imagine, in less than a year we’re already discussing whether the military would overthrow the government…. and hopeful that the military would do the right thing in the U.S. Imagine, that we are hopeful that the military would refuse the order to launch a nuclear weapon, thus instigating a Military Coup in America instead.

This is the state of American politics.