Menu
Paynal © 2008
Donald Trump Doubles Down on Coup D Etat by Finian Cunningham!
(2020-11-12 at 13:21:21 )
Donald Trump Doubles Down on Coup D Etat by Finian Cunningham!
For the first time in the history of the United States an incumbent president is refusing to concede electoral defeat. Ominously, Donald Trump, the sitting president, has this week also packed the Pentagons civilian leadership and intel agencies with political loyalists who are described as his "foot-soldiers".
The flurry of appointees are former special forces and generals. Here is a profile of the presidents men. One Pentagon insider said of them: "These are the people who go in and do whatever they think is required to achieve his Donald Trumps agenda. They are true soldiers in the war on government, the war on what Donald Trump calls the deep state."
The shakeup in the military-intelligence apparatus has stunned observers from its audacity. There is speculation that Donald Trump will next sack the Pentagons top general Mark Milley, Federal Bureau of Investigation chief Christopher Wray and Central Intelligence Agency director Gina Haspel, to be replaced by "true believers" of his Make America Great Again project.
There is an edgy feeling that Donald Trump, a maverick megalomaniac, is actually going for it. That is, a coup d etat.
But this can not happen here, or so goes the plaintive refrain. Well, it looks like it is.
A stunning bold-faced denial of reality this week came from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who told incredulous reporters that there would be a "smooth transition".. to a second Donald Trump administration.
Most of the Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are refusing to acknowledge publicly that Democrat Joe Biden won the presidential election - despite him gaining a decisive lead of more than five million votes over Donald Trump as well as in the all-important Electoral College votes.
Donald Trump-appointed Attorney General William Barr is brazenly politicizing the justice department by endorsing Donald Trumps calls for investigations and lawsuits over allegations of voting fraud and other purported irregularities.
There is negligible evidence to support these allegations, many of which have been thrown out already by state judges as frivolous. But Mr. Barr is giving inordinate authority to shore up what amounts to tittle-tattle from a sore loser.
State election officials, both Republican and Democrat, have unanimously reported no significant electoral fraud or malfeasance.
Republican city commissioner in Philadelphia Al Schmidt, in the key swing state of Pennsylvania which was won by Joe Biden, confirmed there were no voting irregularities. He was then denounced as "disloyal" by Donald Trump. Mr. Schmidt also claims to have subsequently received death threats.
Strangely, too, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are not complaining about fraud in the down-ballot votes for the House and the Senate races where they performed relatively well in gaining or holding on to seats. Even though those ballots were cast in the exact same process as the presidential vote. How can one item on the ballot sheet be prone to fraud, but the ones which suit Republicans are not? It is self-serving duplicity that is what it is.
What Team Donald Trump is betting on is not winning litigation over the election results. There is not a chance of the president overturning the large majorities that Joe Biden won in key swing states. No, the game plan seems to be to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the elections and run out the clock so that Republican legislatures in states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona do not certify Joe Biden as the winner of the popular vote.
Moreover, it is being mooted that Republican legislatures in these states will appoint electors to the Electoral College who will nominate Donald Trump as the winner, in defiance of the popular vote.
The Electoral College is to convene on December 14 when the deciding vote is cast on who is to be next president.
Tradition and precedent holds that the state electors respect the popular vote, but this election is unprecedented.
It is not unthinkable that Donald Trump will continue insisting that the election was stolen from him by citing (baseless) fraud claims.
For many of his 72 million voters, there is a shared conviction (delusion) that the election was rigged or absurdly contend that the coronavirus was "weaponized".
Joe Biden won over 77 million votes in the popular ballot.
If Donald Trump goes for barricading himself in the White House claiming he is the rightful winner, then the United States faces a constitutional nightmare scenario.
Widespread violent protests are on the cards, if not civil war. Already Donald Trump hacks have prepared the propaganda narrative that any protests against Donald Trump are the work of "Antifa subversives" and "Marxist terrorists".
We saw that outlandish narrative being wheeled out during the recent months of legitimate massive protests against racist police killings.
As tensions boil over in the run-up to the presidential inauguration date on January 2o, what Donald Trump and his cadres will declare is a state of emergency and martial law to "protect the nation" from leftists and "deep state" orchestrated "color revolution" against a "democratically elected president".
This is the significance of the shakeup at the Pentagon and intelligence apparatus this week. Donald Trump is putting in place the kind of fascist operatives to carry out his coup d etat.
Ironically, Donald Trump claims he was the target of coup forces from the deep state after his 2016 election victory over "swamp creature" Hillary Clinton.
To be fair to Donald Trump, that effort to unseat him was real enough, centered on baseless "Russia collusion" claims that dogged his entire presidency. However, that coup attempt failed. But now another seizure of power is underway this time hatched by Donald Trump himself and his cronies.
Joe Biden and his Democrat party are being sheepishly complacent about the dramatic and daring power grab taking place by Donald Trump.
Joe Biden this week sought to sound calm and cool, saying that Donald Trumps refusal to concede defeat was merely "embarrassing".
Joe Biden really is being "sleepy Joe" if he does not realize that there is a coup going down in the White House.
Another sign of complacency was from the New York Times which headlined: "Donald Trump Stacks the Pentagon and Intel Agencies with Loyalists. To What End?"
The NY Times answered its question by speculating Donald Trump was planning overseas adventurism, perhaps a military attack on Iran or a rushed withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
How stupidly complacent.
Donald Trumps adventurism is not overseas, it is right at home.
It is all about trashing the United States constitution and installing himself for a second term regardless of democratic mandate. In short, dictatorship.
Reprinted here from the "Strategic Culture Foundation" provides a platform for exclusive analysis, research and policy comment on Eurasian and global affairs. We are covering political, economic, social and security issues worldwide. Since 2005 our journal has published thousands of analytical briefs and commentaries with the unique perspective of independent contributors. SCF works to broaden and diversify expert discussion by focusing on hidden aspects of international politics and unconventional thinking. Benefiting from the expanding power of the Internet, we work to spread reliable information, critical thought and progressive ideas.