Can a military coup happen in a Western democracy?

At first glance, it seems like a strange question, and the idea of a military coup in a developed and seemingly stable Western democracy feels far-fetched. But then again, memories are short: in May 1958, France faced a military revolt in Algeria that threatened to spread to the French mainland.

Why was the top military officer preparing for a showdown?

The book recounts how for the first time in modern US history the nation’s top military officer, whose role is to advise the president, was preparing for a showdown with the commander in chief because he feared a coup attempt after Trump lost the November election.

What did Milley say about the threat of a military coup?

Milley spoke to friends, lawmakers and colleagues about the threat of a coup, and the Joint Chiefs chairman felt he had to be “on guard” for what might come. “They may try, but they’re not going to f**king succeed,” Milley told his deputies, according to the authors. “You can’t do this without the military.

Is it time to start preparing for military takeover in the US?

It may not be necessary to start preparing for military takeover in the US, but with American politics at their most unpredictable for years, the possibility of such a course of action has been mooted in the US mainstream since before Trump was even elected.

Is a coup d’état in America possible?

But a coup d’état in America had seemed so unlikely a thing, and it was so buffoonishly attempted, that the political establishment had trouble taking it seriously. That was a big mistake. It is still too soon to assess this moment in historic perspective, but we seem to be living through something like a next-to-worst-case scenario.

Why did the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey fail?

One of the key reasons why the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey failed was that the president was able to put out a counter-narrative to the coup plotters via FaceTime, and was therefore able to mobilise civilian demonstrations against the military in very large numbers in a very short space of time.

Will the battle for American democracy be joined or joined?

The battle for American democracy will not be fully joined until the counting starts. That’s when Trump will tell us that his predictions have come true—that the whole procedure is rife with fraud, that the tally is rigged against him, and that no one can be trusted except Trump himself to tell us who won and who lost.