Okay, I’ll bite.
I frequent “right wing” web sites all the time, and while I see Obama mocked, ridiculed and condemned regularly, I’ve NEVER seen ANYONE suggesting a military coup was either feasible or desirable.
Wanna provide some links? Preferably to a web site run by somebody we’ve actually heard of?
If there’s a cure worse than the disease, that’s it. There are many countries in the world where the military, even if it does not rule, is an independent political force in its own right, to which civil government must carefully listen regarding matters not strictly military; and it is never a beneficial force. We have always managed to avoid that in America. The U.S. military has never challenged or questioned its absolute subordination to civil authority. It would require circumstances far, far more outrageous than you’re describing to risk tampering with that record.
Came close a time or two, though. MacArthur maybe could have done it. And there was the Business Plot…
MacArthur? Popular dude, but I don’t believe he could have pulled it off. And the Business Plot seems never to have got past the talking stage. Brig. Gen. Smedley Butler told the plotters to take a hike.
What if the President, for whatever reason you care to dream up, becomes completely unhinged and orders a nuclear attack on Russia that is completely unmerited (e.g. Obama orders the strike today)?
There would not be time for an Impeachment. He is ordering it now, the military responds or not.
I suppose they could just refuse the order and not actually overthrow him but perhaps the president starts to try and fire generals till he finds one who will oblige him.
That said I do not know what the current rules for nuclear release are. I want to say it takes more then just the president’s order to pull off but not really sure on that.
That’s why there is a two man rule even for the President. I don’t remember who has to confirm the Presidents orders, but if the President is unhinged he wouldn’t be able to order a nuclear strike without someone else (Secretary of State? Chief of Staff? Not sure) confirming it.
And of course it’s possible that if the military suspected the Pres AND whoever this other person who is confirming the order is unhinged, it’s more than possible they would refuse to carry out the order in any case, if the request was completely out of the blue and there was no perceived threat to the US.
-XT
Bullshit.
Cite this.
Much discussion in this thread,* especially from post #15.
Unless the POTUS in question is really, you know, forceful.
“Now put yer hand on that scanner or I’ll cut it off and do it for ya!”
Oh, ermm, Caveat Doper: It’s from the General Board of Literotica.com. N quite exactly SFW. :o
So we have two guys, one of whom ends half his posts with a 
and who goes out of his way to specifically state that he is not calling for any kind of a coup, and the other speculating about *Obama *starting a revolution that turned on him, and they’re discussing what could theoretically happen in some vaguely defined circumstance.
Your claim was
I repeat: bullshit.
No, really, I’ve been messageboarding with these characters for some time now. They’re serious. And rational compared to some I’ve encountered while lurking on Free Republic.
Right but if they are just a bunch of loonies then it sort of throws off your whole OP. It would be like saying ‘A bunch of left wingers on this SD Message board think that Bush is going to invade Iran any day now!’ and then looking at the question seriously…
Oh…never mind.
-XT
The only possible situation I could see would be some sort of situation whereby the President would somehow be unilaterally dismantling the Constitution and/or perverting it to his personal ends to such a degree that the Constitution would cease to be relevant. About the only way I could see something like this happening would be if some disaster befell Congress, but not the President, so that they wouldn’t be there to act as a check or balance, and that the Pres. would just ignore the Supreme Court.
Even in such a situation, I suspect that the military would just refuse any shady orders as illegal orders (which they’re bound to do as well), and if somehow pushed to the point to where they’d take action, I suspect it would be to remove the Pres & cabinet, so that some duly-elected Congress, or State legislatures could decide what to do after that.
Still, even that crazy assed scenario would probably require the President to have some sort of personally loyal force a la the SS or SA to do things that the military wouldn’t.
Then it will no doubt be easy to link to the posts where they say what you allege, and/or to post links to the freepers saying it.
Unless, of course, you were making shit up.
I’m a little bit ashamed to admit that I’ve read many of the stories published on Literotica; most, but not all, of the authors are practically illiterate. I can’t think of a less likely place to encounter rational political discussions.
Yeah, but he could always tell the other guy that he was a cowardly bastard and that he wasn’t the voice of the people, and that they speak through the president, not the other guy, and that he had better put his goddamn hand on the scanning screen, or he’ll he’ll hack it off and put it on for him! (This scenario would require the president to be up in the middle of the night, dressed in a colorful striped bathrobe, in a 1970s-style Kubrick-esque meeting room.)
Well…the president needs to issue the command either from a command center which will be populated with military staff or via the nuclear football which is carried by an armed military officer. I would presume that if the president tried to sidestep the two man rule the officers present would see the whole thing stopped on the spot.
At least I hope so. The officers carrying the football are subjected to the most intense scrutiny that exists in our government. Hopefully that is sufficient to ensure a person of solid character who would do his duty and put a stop to it if done wrong.
I have in fact heard from one of the conservatives at the church I half-heartedly attend that several Army officers have agreed not to follow Obama’s orders if he (I forget what the condition was, maybe it was refusing to prove his citzenship).
I can’t find reference to this meme online, but similar references include this, which tells us a Lieutenant in Iraq has claimed he won’t follow any more orders because Obama is an “imposter”, and this in which a guy claims he’s had thousands of soldiers agree to his pledge to disobey if Obama institutes any program requiring the disarming or detention of American citizens. (Or something like that.) Certainly these ideas are conceptually similar to the ones Brainglutton is talking about, and are being entertained seriously, so it’s not implausible to me that he’s read the conversations he claims to have read.
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What is the never ending deal and preoccupation with Obama’s citizenship?
Do these people really think they are privy to some information that eluded the entire Republican party that was willing to throw everything and the kitchen sink at Obama to win? What about Hillary Clinton who was pulling out all stops to win her campaign? They all just sat on this juicy tidbit but never played that card because they are nice or something? Then of course there is the rest of the country and courts and whoever else (Federal Election Commission anyone?). They are all ok with Obama not meeting the Constitutional requirements to be President? Just some vast conspiracy that includes pretty much everybody but these relative few who need to save us?
I mean seriously…WTF? If they don’t like the guy’s policies fine. This is just stupid though.
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