Military coups are always the worst solution.
But they are a solution.
Theoretically.
As we know from decision theory.
Action vs. inaction.
Legal vs. extralegal.
A history of coups.
876 BC: Zimri, a military commander of Israel, kills King Elah–Zimri then briefly becoming king (before himself committing suicide to preempt a countercoup [?] by another military commander named Omri)
Was this history’s first coup d’état?
Was it, at the very least, the first military coup in recorded history?
Many coups followed.
In many countries around the world.
And the result was governance by groups with names the likes of The Four Hundred (Athens) and the Thirty Tyrants (also Athens).
But let us not forget that coups (generally speaking) HAVE occasionally produced good, long-term results.
For instance, it was a coup d’état which ended the Roman Kingdom and marked the beginning of the Roman Republic in 509 BC.
Friendly reminder–the USA is a republic.
But let’s get back to this sticky subject of military coups.
After 876 BC in Israel, it appears the next major MILITARY coup did not occur until 185 BC–nearly 700 years later.
The site was the Maurya Empire.
Its capital was Pataliputra: present day Patna (eastern India).
The Maurya Empire in 185 BC controlled much of what is present-day India.
The emperor was overthrown by General Pushyamitra Shunga.
We cannot possibly list every example of a military coup, but we must mention Julius Caesar.
Caesar was in a very similar position to that in which Donald Trump now finds himself in January 2023.
With the prospect of a “rigged election” before him (in which his win would almost certainly have not been ratified by Pompey and his allies), Caesar crossed the Rubicon with the Legio XIII Gemina and marched on Rome.
There is only one problem (if you will): it certainly APPEARS that Donald Trump (nor Bolsonaro in Brazil) no longer commands anything equivalent to a Roman legion.
He DID command it.
As Commander-in-Chief of the entire U.S. military.
But it APPEARS that he left office.
Why?
When Caesar marched on Rome, the Roman senate fled to Greece.
Pompey fled to Egypt (where he was murdered).
Did the Roman Republic end with the First Triumvirate?
Even if the First Triumvirate was a misnomer of sorts (involving a political alliance between Pompey and Caesar)?
The political alliance of the First Triumvirate began to disintegrate.
Political corruption and violence consumed Rome.
Let it be remembered that Pompey’s wife was Julia: daughter of Caesar.
She died in childbirth during this time.
But here is the key point: CAESAR CHOSE CIVIL WAR OVER LAYING DOWN HIS COMMAND.
Yes, that is a quote from Wikipedia.
This would have been akin to Trump refusing to leave the White House.
When did Trump find out that CJCS Milley had been in secret contact with the Chinese (according to The New York Post) and even guaranteed them that any attack on them ordered by Trump, in the final days of his Presidency, would be preceded by a WARNING to the Chinese FROM MILLEY HIMSELF?
His Friday statement comes days after the tell-all book “Peril,” by Washington Post staffers Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, revealed the general made several calls to counterpart Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army to assure him of US stability.
Milley reportedly first called Li on Oct. 30 to reassure him that the US military “are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.” Milley reportedly went so far as to tell Li that if President Donald Trump did order military action against China, “I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”
https://nypost.com/2021/09/17/milley-claims-china-calls-perfectly-within-the-duties-of-his-role/
What the fuck?!?
That sounds like the most clear-cut case of treason of which I have ever heard.
Milley has retained his role as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Biden.
Milley is, officially, head of the U.S. military.
His immediate boss (in the tradition of “civilian” control) is General Lloyd Austin: Secretary of Defense (who had to get special dispensation from Congress to hold this role [due to his previous experience as a U.S. Army general]).
It APPEARS there was no coup.
Trump publicly said he would never “do a coup” with the likes of Milley.
Trump’s last Secretary of Defense, Christopher Miller, stated explicitly that his goal in the final days of the Trump Presidency was to prevent a coup.
Adam Ciralsky wrote about Christopher Miller and Ezra Cohen (both of whom gave the journalist exclusive inside access during Trump’s final days) in Vanity Fair. Of Miller, he writes:
He had three goals. “No military coup, no major war, and no troops in the street,”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01/embedding-with-pentagon-leadership-in-trumps-chaotic-last-week
This is a significant article because it shows particularly Cohen IMMEDIATELY throwing Trump under the proverbial bus upon the transition to the Biden administration.
As Cohen strangely told Ciralsky,
“The president threw us under the bus. And when I say ‘us,’ I don’t mean only us political appointees or only us Republicans. He threw America under the bus. He caused a lot of damage to the fabric of this country. Did he go and storm the Capitol himself? No. But he, I believe, had an opportunity to tamp things down and he chose not to. And that’s really the fatal flaw. I mean, he’s in charge. And when you’re in charge, you’re responsible for what goes wrong.”
Why would a Defense Clandestine Service (Defense Intelligence Agency spy) be such a pussy when it comes to something as tame as January 6th?
Really: does Cohen spend his weekends playing croquet and knitting koozies?
Does he drink beer with his pinky in the air?
What the fuck?!?
This is the same bizarre, “righteous” indignation which characterizes CJCS Mark Milley as concerns January 6th.
The following meme has been fact-checked and the quote is a verbatim utterance of the Chairman:
What makes Milley particularly pathetic is his sycophantic thralldom to the Biden administration.
There was nothing racial about January 6th, yet Milley felt compelled to make it an issue of race.
Milley felt compelled to imply that Trump supporters were strictly white.
And that the violent parties on January 6th were, therefore, white Trump supporters.
But the most egregious aspect of his argument is that Trump supporters, concerned that the 2020 election was not free and fair, turned out at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 motivated by “WHITE RAGE” [emphasis mine].
Milley may have gone to Princeton, but it appears he never really learned how to research.
And I bet Putin could trounce him in ice hockey (to boot!).
His logic is so thoroughly-shoddy that he implies Trump supporters were racist for wanting Trump (a white man) instead of Biden (also a white man) as President in 2020.
It APPEARS Trump missed his Julius Caesar moment.
Is this good for America?
Perhaps.
Is this bad for America?
Perhaps.
It is true that Caesar declared himself “dictator in perpetuity”.
But when exactly did the Roman Republic end?
The truth is far more rich.
The Roman senate backed Caesar into a corner.
They “telegraphed” that they would not allow him to win the coming election in which he sought to run.
The Roman senate sought to castrate Julius Caesar’s power.
Just as Mark Milley unconstitutionally castrated Trump’s power as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces.
Trump was Milley’s boss.
Milley went behind his boss’s back and called our biggest adversary (the People’s Republic of China) to ASSURE them that he would give them a “heads up” were his boss to move towards kinetic military action against them.
That is treason.
There is no good excuse for that.
Milley, like James Comey, only PRETENDS to be an honorable man.
But let us pause for a second.
Who, in the American political landscape, most corresponds to Pompey (if Trump was Julius Caesar)?
The emotional pick might be Mike Pence.
And I can understand why Republicans loathe Pence.
Indeed, I would not piss on Pence were he on fire.
But I think the best analogy to Pompey was Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi is now politically finished.
It took a long time.
It was messy.
But it involved no crossing of the Rubicon.
The problem remains, however: will the 2024 election be clean enough of corruption to be truly characterized as “free and fair”?
I liken Biden’s “victory” to that of Lukashenko in Belarus.
The Western establishment does not recognize the 2020 election in Belarus as having been “free and fair”.
They consider Lukashenko to be a “pretender” President.
Fine.
Then, as my song goes, we can say, “Lukashenko won fair and square just like Joe Biden” [and vice versa]:
https://open.spotify.com/track/3Afhd6zFEgYkQMj6XudKpT?si=af284fddc1514975
N.B. Probably the only country and western song ever written about a Belarusian leader.
Nancy Pelosi initially won.
She and her cronies got away with the rigged election of 2020 in the USA.
But she was LEGALLY defeated in 2022.
She’s done.
She is no longer the Speaker.
I am not a fan of Kevin McCarthy.
But let’s be honest: is the pendulum about to swing back the other direction BIGLY?
Yes.
Kevin McCarthy is no Trump.
He’s not even a Jim Jordan.
But let’s be honest.
He’s not Pelosi.
Few Democrats are as nasty and corrupt as Pelosi.
And she is gone.
Out the door.
No more power.
No more power to preside over kangaroo courts.
We endured two years of it.
Enough!
There was a civil war in Rome.
Caesar vs. Pompey.
That is exactly what would have happened in the USA had Trump been allowed to win (he did win!) the 2020 election.
Antifa and Black Lives Matter would have destroyed the country.
Trump would have had to use the American military ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
This would have been tragic.
Let it be remembered, by the way, how forgiving Mark Milley was of the George Floyd protests (riots):
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley dismissed the George Floyd riots as “penny packet protests” — insisting they weren’t an insurrection because the mobs only “used spray paint,” according to a new book.
https://nypost.com/2021/09/17/milley-told-trump-the-george-floyd-protests-were-no-big-deal/
The USA would have become very much like Russia had Trump staged a military coup (assuming a coup could have even been mustered and coordinated).
Trump would have become very much a Putin sort of character.
Or a Julius Caesar sort of character.
“Caesar held both the dictatorship and the tribunate, and alternated between the consulship and the proconsulship,” to quote that estimable source that is never wrong (Wikipedia).
Sound like anyone?
Sounds like Putin to me.
And I love Putin.
I really do.
I think he is a great leader for Russia.
But that is not what happened in America.
That is not the path Trump CHOSE.
APPARENTLY.
Will Trump look like a genius if he can manage to return to power PEACEFULLY (unlike Julius Caesar)?
Yes.
Trump will look like a genius if that happens.
But it appears we have to wait two more years for that.
My only complaint about Trump is that he is (how shall I put this kindly?) a #VaccineMoron .
And this is a very serious issue indeed.
I wrote about it in my last article here:
https://paulydeathwish.com/2023/01/20/der-untergang-2004/
This CURRENT article (which I am writing at the moment [and you are reading {are you still reading?}]) is dedicated to Dr. Steve Pieczenik–without whom my ability to understand complex dynamics would not exist.
The link which I just posted is dedicated to Alex Jones (who agrees that Trump has made [and continues to make] a very grave mistake in pissing on the backs of Americans and telling them it’s raining).
Trump’s weak spot is this: the vaccines.
It is my opinion that this could be rectified in a matter of moments.
HOWEVER, every day that Trump waits to tell the TRUTH about the COVID vaccines (that he RUSHED to market!) is going to make it that much harder for him to WIN BACK the TRUST of the American people.
Trump has been selling the same load of shit on the vaccines as Anthony Fauci.
That is a VERY bad look.
And it will become exponentially more so by the day.
GOOD advisors tell their bosses the truth.
I have heard that Trump doesn’t particularly like people who kiss his ass.
Good.
Mr. President, please disavow the COVID vaccines ASAP.
They are bullshit.
You know it.
We know it.
Yet you persist in singing their praises:
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-says-he-saved-100-million-lives-covid-vaccines-1774178
I am here with unsolicited advice for Trump…because (like Alex Jones) I WANT Trump to win in 2024.
But I cannot support a candidate who is a fucking moron and a goddamned liar when it comes to the vaccines.
There is the TRUTH, Mr. President.
I hope you are President again.
The choice is yours.
I am prepared to campaign for ANYONE who gets the vaccine issue right.
It is THE ISSUE, sir.
Get this issue wrong, and you lose the election.
It will not be a matter of being rigged or not.
It will be you FUCKING IT UP.
Don’t fuck it up, sir.
Tell the truth about the vaccines.
They are neither safe, nor effective.
[as my most recent article simply and elegantly proves in truly very few macro data points]
-PD
paulydeathwish 