When was the last time a United States presidency faced a military takeover?  I think it was talked about back in 1861, after Lincoln was elected president. Southern politicians who supported  slavery  attempted a military takeover to prevent Lincoln’s inauguration.  They even planned an assassination before he was able to reach Washington DC by rail.  The coup d’etat didn’t succeed, but Civil War soon broke out.  After that, there has never been such an attempt—until now.  Last year, the USA came close to a coup d’etat.

Republican Donald Trump was probably one of the most divisive presidents we’ve ever had in the United States.  Nevertheless, he won the election, defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016.  Like it or not, he was the president until January of 2021..  Now, along comes General MIlley, chairman of the  Joint Chiefs of Staff who, with Democratic  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, decides Trump is going crazy after losing the 2020 election. .  No medical diagnosis, just a gut feeling.. They fear that he will attempt a coup to stay in power, and might even start a war with China. .With the encouragement of Pelosi, Milley calls China and offers to give them a heads up if Trump launches an attack.

To me, when one political party tries to undermine the powers of  an elected president with the help of the military,  that constitutes an attempted  coup d’etat.

Coup d’etats were pretty common in Latin  American countries.  In fact, our government actually supported the 1955 military takeover of Argentina when Peron was the elected president. (Remember “Don’t Cry for me Argentina?) However,  for the past 160 years, our country has always had a peaceful transfer of power, even in hotly contested elections like Bush vs Gore in the year 2000.

But now,  a military commander planned to  usurp the  presidency with permission of  the opposing party.   This  tells me the country is as close to a civil war as it’s ever been.  When one political  party colludes with the military to take over the powers of the president, that’s a coup d’eat.  If we were that close to such a possibility in the year  2021, what will happen next in this deeply divided country?