# Coup d'tat of USA: scenarios? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-dtat-of-usa-scenarios/572408 "2011-02-24T02:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-dtat-of-usa-scenarios/572408/21 "2011-02-27T03:01:46Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Obama loses the 2012 election. > > January 2013, he declares martial law and refuses to leave office. > > Would this be possible? No. The Secret Service would politely walk him out the back door and into the moving van. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-dtat-of-usa-scenarios/572408/22 "2011-02-27T03:29:24Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Obama loses the 2012 election. > > January 2013, he declares martial law and refuses to leave office. > > Would this be possible? No more than the was it possible for Bush to do it - and he actually ‘talked’ about suspending elections at one point or another. (IIRC - please correct me if I’m wrong on that). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-dtat-of-usa-scenarios/572408/23 "2011-02-27T03:31:00Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Obama loses the 2012 election. > > January 2013, he declares martial law and refuses to leave office. > > Would this be possible? Sure, it’s possible. What’s unlikely is that anyone would care. Technically, YOU could refuse to leave the Oval Office, and declare martial law, if you can get an invitation. Nobody will listen, though. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-dtat-of-usa-scenarios/572408/24 "2011-02-27T04:01:10Z")
> [@simster](#): > > No more than the was it possible for Bush to do it - and he actually ‘talked’ about suspending elections at one point or another. (IIRC - please correct me if I’m wrong on that). I follow politics pretty closely, loathe Bush, and have no memory of him ever even hinting at that. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-dtat-of-usa-scenarios/572408/25 "2011-02-27T04:04:05Z")
> [@simster](#): > > No more than the was it possible for Bush to do it - and he actually ‘talked’ about suspending elections at one point or another. (IIRC - please correct me if I’m wrong on that). No, he didn’t. Certainly not publicly, nor in any insider’s recollections. (And there have been several published.) True, often forgotten fact: Elections were actually for-real suspended on 9/11. It was New York’s primary day. The NY legislature rescheduled the primaries a few weeks later. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-dtat-of-usa-scenarios/572408/26 "2011-02-27T04:10:04Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I follow politics pretty closely, loathe Bush, and have no memory of him ever even hinting at that. There was some talk about it during the 2004 elections if we were attacked by terrorists. [http://articles.cnn.com/2004-07-11/politics/election.day.delay\_1\_election-day-terrorist-threat-level-ridge?\_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS](http://articles.cnn.com/2004-07-11/politics/election.day.delay_1_election-day-terrorist-threat-level-ridge?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS) > [@](#): > > U.S. officials have discussed the idea of postponing Election Day in the event of a terrorist attack on or about that day, a Homeland Security Department spokesman said Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-dtat-of-usa-scenarios/572408/27 "2011-02-27T19:39:14Z")
Thanks - I hadn’t seen that before. But it wasn’t the President, and Condi Rice seemed to be doing her best to scotch the rumor. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-dtat-of-usa-scenarios/572408/28 "2011-02-28T01:25:13Z")
Don’t give Bush too much credit about being a strategist. I doubt he was involved in any real decision-making, ever. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-dtat-of-usa-scenarios/572408/29 "2011-02-28T02:58:06Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Florida. You’re saying Florida was the scene of an attempted military coup? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coup-dtat-of-usa-scenarios/572408.md?page=1)