Seven Days in May Revisited

Radical Republicans are again suggesting a military coup to unseat the elected government of the United States. This time it is a little piece of fluff called John Perry in this article in NewsMax. (Note: NewsMax has taken down Perry's article without comment but it can still be found mirrored on several conservative sites.) Perry sugarcoats his coup, saying it will be "civilized."

Perry suggests the casus belli will be the Middle East, with generals deciding they can do a better job than civilians. Perry suggests that President Obama will be kept as a compliant figurehead, although that could only be accomplished by holding him and his family prisoner and threatening their lives. Adding to what I said six months ago,

• Republicans are bragging about efforts to promote mutiny in the military.
• Republicans see in the Honduran military coup a blueprint for the United States. (The coup in Honduras is usually described as "exactly how a functioning government should work.") Note that, Republicans believe that the military removing an elected president is not only acceptable but government at its finest.
• The military has been wargaming a US military coup since 1992.
  
• We should remember that radical Christians have infiltrated the US military.
• As have neo-Nazis.
  

A military coup need not have tanks patrolling the streets of Los Angeles. In fact, if it comes to that the coup would fail, there are not enough US soldiers to control the country if the people actively oppose the coup. A successful coup would be a decapitation. The President, most congressional Democrats, and the civilian leadership would have to be imprisoned (or murdered). The broadcast media would have to be controlled and the Internet shut down to control the message that we were all in grave danger and the military heroically, and "reluctantly" stepped in to "save the country." There are certainly many Republicans willing to be the "civilian face" to a military dictatorship.

I'm not saying it will happen. I am saying that anyone who believes a US military coup is impossible is a fool.