An argument for a military coup

It’s a steady job, but he wants to be a paperback writer:

Donald Trump has ordered his special forces commanders to draw up a plan for the invasion of Greenland – but is being resisted by senior military figures, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

Sources say that the policy ‘hawks’ around the US President, led by political adviser Stephen Miller, have been so emboldened by the success of the operation to capture Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro that they want to move quickly to seize the island before Russia or China makes a move.

British diplomats believe that Trump is also motivated by a desire to distract American voters from the performance of the US economy before the mid-term elections later this year, after which he could lose control of Congress to the Democrats.

But such a dramatic move would put him at odds with Sir Keir Starmer and would effectively lead to the collapse of Nato.

According to the sources, the President has asked the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to prepare the invasion plan, but it is being resisted by the joint chiefs of staff on the grounds that it would be illegal – and would not be supported by Congress.

One source said: ‘They have tried to distract Trump by talking about less controversial measures, such as intercepting Russian ‘ghost’ ships – a clandestine network of hundreds of vessels operated by Moscow to evade Western sanctions – or launching a strike on Iran.’

Diplomats have war-gamed what they describe as an ‘escalatory scenario’ under which Trump uses force or ‘political coercion’ to sever Greenland’s links to Denmark.

One diplomatic cable describes the ‘worst-case’ scenario as leading to ‘the destruction of Nato from the inside’.

It adds: ‘Some European officials suspect this is the real aim of the hardline MAGA faction around Trump. Since Congress would not allow Trump to exit Nato, occupying Greenland could force the Europeans to abandon Nato. If Trump wants to end Nato, this might be the most convenient way to do it.’

I’m not familiar with the journalistic standards of the big British tabloids — I do know they operate under much stricter libel laws for publishers than in the US — but I’m going to assume this isn’t simply being fabricated.

In which case, Houston, we have some problems.

A military invasion of Greenland, besides being flagrantly illegal and utterly insane, would at a minimum. destroy NATO, and could well trigger World War III. That it’s even being discussed in the way reported in this article is a national and international emergency of the first order. If your reaction to the above is “this is just to distract people from the Epstein files,” or “Trump clearly isn’t serious about this because it would be incredibly unpopular,” or “generals won’t carry out such blatantly illegal orders” I ask you to please consider what condition our condition is in, because such reactions are nothing but the sort of extreme denial in which our entire system has been marinating for many years now. Who cares what Trump’s actual motivation is, plus assuming that at this point in his career Trump won’t do something because it would be unpopular (let alone illegal/crazy) is just absurd, while banking on the military not to carry out brazenly illegal orders is, as we’ve already seen in the context of Venezuela, a losing bet.

We’re in a very bad place indeed at the moment, so I consulted a young process-driven and detail-oriented synergistic go-getter, and this is what he told me:

Look, professor, you can’t seem to face up to the facts. The political process in this country has obviously failed in the most radical way possible if we’ve gotten to the point where Donald Trump is seriously considering invading (pardon my French) freaking Greenland, with everything that entails. It’s time to think outside the box, to move fast and break things, in short, to lead, not follow. And what we need are leaders who will recognize that no man (or woman) who saves the Republic can be said to break the most fundamental principle of political life which is that he who saves his country breaks no law, or at least no law that should not be broken.

The solution is staring us all in the face. The United States military needs to step outside its historical comfort zone, and take matters into its own hands. Every man has got a breaking point. You and I have. Donald Trump has reached his. And very obviously he has gone insane.

I’v’e been half kidding on the square here kids (to be clear, Fernando Mendoza did not give me the advice above) but not really. In all non-satiric sincerity, I believe we are rapidly reaching the point where a military coup would be:

(a) Justifiable; and

(b) The least bad option in the face of what is staring us all in the face, which is the complete failure of our legal and political systems to deal with the fact that the world’s most powerful military is currently subject to the violently apocalyptic whims of a demented madman. This is not hyperbole: this is the simplest and most straightforward description of the present emergency.

A military coup would of course be a terrible thing, but at this point it may well be a terrible thing in the way that chemotherapy that might ultimately kill the patient is a terrible, but nevertheless sometimes necessary, thing.

Donald Trump must be removed from office immediately, the legal mechanisms for doing this are not going to do it — this could not possibly be more obvious, nor could the reasons why be any more obvious, so there’s no purpose in belaboring either point — and it therefore follows that technically extra-legal mechanisms must at least be considered, by those in a position to act. The alternative is to conclude that the Constitution of the United States should be treated as a literal suicide pact.

I hope this letter finds its way to you.