Two retired US Army officers have written an open letter to General Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in which they lay out a scenario that’s been described as “coup porn.” In this fantastical work of fiction, which they apparently believe wholeheartedly and without irony, they think that Trump will lose the election this fall and refuse to leave the Oval Office.<\/p>\n
They, again unironically, think that Trump will use his “militarized Homeland Security agents”.\u00a0 These are the law enforcement agents seen protecting federal court houses in Portland and several national monuments and locations in DC earlier this summer. These agents, the coup provocateurs say, were used “against domestic political demonstrations [which] constitutes the creation of a paramilitary force unaccountable to the public. The members of this private army, often lacking police insignia or other identification, exist not to enforce the law but to intimidate the president\u2019s political opponents.”<\/p>\n
They warn Milley that he will face a moment where he has to choose between the President and the Constitution. If Milley doesn’t use the US military (the writers suggest the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division) to remove Trump from office by force, he “will be complicit in a\u00a0coup d\u2019\u00e9tat<\/i>.” Again, they are serious in suggesting that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the highest ranking officer in the American military, should use the force of the world’s greatest military power in all of Human history to remove a President. If he doesn’t<\/em> use military force to overthrow the President, then he’s complicit in a coup. It sounds to me like using the military to overthrow an elected leader would be the coup, but what do I know?<\/p>\n The authors are retired Army Lieutenant Colonels Paul Yingling and John Nagl. Yingling served 22 years and Nagl 20. Both men have several deployments on their record.<\/p>\n I suggest reading the whole letter to really see what these guys are working with. Yingling has been an outspoken critic of the modern US military, even before he left active duty. Nagl has had a far less inflammatory history until now.<\/p>\n Hat tip to ninja for sending this one in.<\/p>\n