# Is there any real risk of a right wing coup de etat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 22, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408 "2010-03-22T23:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/41 "2010-03-23T02:43:16Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Actually, Lennon was kind of a prick himself. And now the world knows not to put our dicks in the crazy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/42 "2010-03-23T02:46:28Z")
Coupe de Ville, maybe. Coup de tat, nope. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/43 "2010-03-23T02:54:41Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Coupe de Ville, maybe. Coup de tat, nope. [/QUOTE] It’s going to be coup de tit for coup de tat, is my guess. Yes…it’s likely to happen. In fact, the planning is going on as we speak. The entire right wing will rise up, in conjunction with the military, ‘right thinking politicians’ and farm animals (don’t ask), and they will overthrow the government and replace it with… …me. I shall become God Emperor at last! MUAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAAHAA! Phear me and despair… (or, it could all be loony lefty paranoia. One of those two…not sure which yet, but I’m hopeful…) -XT ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/44 "2010-03-23T03:02:46Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > It wouldn’t surprise me if more guys do stuff like that prick that crashed his plane into an IRS building last month. To be fair and all, that was a pretty isolated incident. Where was the outrage at the IRS for taking him to the cleaners? There is something about a divorced dude with kids owing money to the IRS that he can’t possibly pay back that makes him dangerous to society. That happened at a building my wife trains in weekly. ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/45 "2010-03-23T03:05:06Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Typical; your position is indefensible, so you completely distort what I said into a strawman. I didn’t say anything about the left being perfect, or never being violent, and you know it. > Ah, again with the attempt to compare fringe groups with zero support from the mainstream left, much less the Democrats, to right wing violence and threats of it that has support in Congress; not to mention all over the right wing media machine. > > Oh, please. The mainstream, the Republican leadership has been encouraging and excusing the fanatics for decades. They pretty much ARE the mainstream, now; that’s why so many people have left the Republicans. “Someone should kill Clinton” and “someone should kill Obama” weren’t and aren’t fringe attitudes among the Right in this country. When someone kills a doctor for providing abortions, I hear plenty of cheers from right wingers and I don’t even frequent right wing sites. > > Unlikely at this point, but hardly as crazy as you make it out to be with the military packed with right wingers and constantly bombarded with right wing propaganda. “It can’t happen here” isn’t much of an argument; America is not magically immune to such things. America has been sliding towards a right wing dictatorship for much of my life; if Bush had been more competent and more focused on domestic policy he could have pulled it off and set himself up as President For Life. How many sizes of tin headgear do you currently have on hand DT? It isn’t nearly enough, they (yes, they) are coming to get you. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/46 "2010-03-23T03:26:06Z")
Shit. Most of these teabagging clowns are just talk. Yeah, a few of them might be crazy enough to try something, but most of them don’t have the balls to do anything more than strap a gun to their hip and pretend to be badasses. Hell, if Glen Beck were ever to face enemy fire, he’d shit his pants so fast his intestines would come flying outta his ass. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/47 "2010-03-23T03:30:48Z")
By a whacky coinkydink, the _Law & Order_ rerun playing on TNT right now is one about a crazy RW militia. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/48 "2010-03-23T03:46:50Z")
[QUOTE=joebuck20] Shit. Most of these teabagging clowns are just talk. Yeah, a few of them might be crazy enough to try something, but most of them don’t have the balls to do anything more than strap a gun to their hip and pretend to be badasses. Hell, if Glen Beck were ever to face enemy fire, he’d shit his pants so fast his intestines would come flying outta his ass. [/QUOTE] And all the left wingers really went to Canada, right? 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/49 "2010-03-23T03:59:35Z")
A coup d’etat would require there be some relatively widespread organization and I don’t see that. The United States has a lot of institutional inertia. There are people who don’t like the Obama administration but I don’t think they want to overthrow the entire American government over it. Assassination and terrorism? Those require only a few extremists and they’re possible. But the conservative mainstream will go with electoral fraud before they try a coup or revolution. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/50 "2010-03-23T04:04:40Z")
Jesus. The only hatred I see flying around here is coming from the left. You guys have no idea how hypocritical you look. You yap about anyone on the right side of the fence as if they’re drooling monsters just ready to kill your women and children, and then complain about all the ‘hate’ on the right. Truly amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/51 "2010-03-23T04:07:26Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But the conservative mainstream will go with electoral fraud before they try a coup or revolution. :rolleyes: Gee, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/52 "2010-03-23T04:23:44Z")
Hey, I didn’t say it would be their first choice. I’m sure they’d prefer to win power legitimately. I just said that if they did decide to take over by illegal means they’d go with electoral fraud before staging a coup. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/53 "2010-03-23T04:25:17Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Jesus. The only hatred I see flying around here is coming from the left. You guys have no idea how hypocritical you look. You yap about anyone on the right side of the fence as if they’re drooling monsters just ready to kill your women and children, and then complain about all the ‘hate’ on the right. Truly amazing. I suggest you read up on [Pastor Wiley Drake](http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-03-22/health-care-fatwa/?cid=hp:mainpromo2). He’s a wiley one all right. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/54 "2010-03-23T04:29:27Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Jesus. The only hatred I see flying around here is coming from the left. You guys have no idea how hypocritical you look. You yap about anyone on the right side of the fence as if they’re drooling monsters just ready to kill your women and children, and then complain about all the ‘hate’ on the right. Truly amazing. Note: The views expressed by Der Trihs are his own, and do not neccesarily reflect the views of the Democratic Party. That being said, the frenzy over this mild reform bill is simply bizarre. And it can’t be sustained. We didn’t exactly pass universal health care, or single payer. We passed a moderate conservative insurance reform bill, and the right wing is going apeshit with the doom and gloom. So it wouldn’t suprise me to see an uptick in domestic terrorism over the next couple of years. The right-wing is really disappearing up its own asshole in this country, and you can’t expect all the demagoguery to have no affect on the weak-minded. So a guy who in cooler times might have spent his days muttering in his trailer and shooting at the neighbors cats might decide to do something more spectacular. I think it might take more than one election cycle, but pretty soon the Republican party is going to realize that its interests are sharply divergent from the Conservative Entertainment Media complex. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/55 "2010-03-23T04:41:51Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > That being said, the frenzy over this mild reform bill is simply bizarre. And it can’t be sustained. We didn’t exactly pass universal health care, or single payer. We passed a moderate conservative insurance reform bill, and the right wing is going apeshit with the doom and gloom. I haven’t seen anything approaching this level of divisiveness since the Nixon years and Vietnam. I watched yesterday as spittle-flying Congressmen used words like Facism, Stalinism, jackboots, and Communism to describe the UHC bill. The world is full of nuts on all sides of the political spectrum, but it’s scary when the elected officials are nuts as well. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/56 "2010-03-23T04:55:35Z")
But this isn’t even a UHC bill, for chrissake! We didn’t pass socialized medicine, we didn’t pass single payer, goverment didn’t take over health care. We passed some incremental health insurance reforms, that’s it. And the conservatives are going into convulsions. My only explanation is that they don’t care a bit about the substance of the reforms, that the opposition to this is all (or at least 95%) symbolism. It doesn’t matter what’s in the bill, what matters is that Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi are for it, and that’s all they care about. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/57 "2010-03-23T05:32:08Z")
[el wrongo] ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/58 "2010-03-23T06:05:58Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Jesus. The only hatred I see flying around here is coming from the left. You guys have no idea how hypocritical you look. You yap about anyone on the right side of the fence as if they’re drooling monsters just ready to kill your women and children, and then complain about all the ‘hate’ on the right. Truly amazing. Straight dope is not really a cross section of the nation. It is further to the left, and the conservatives here are not like the ones I am talking about. Mild health insurance reform has people talking about assassination and comparing Obama to Stalin and Hitler. When Bush was president you had people marching and comparing him to Hitler. But I don’t think you had millions calling for his assassination or a military coup. Nor were the leaders of the democratic party encouraging the most crazy and uninformed members of those groups to become more extreme and radical. You are Canadian, correct? You really don’t know what goes on in small towns in red states down here. In some of those areas, saying you want the military to kill the president really doesn’t even raise an eyebrow. You have endless millions secretly wanting violence against the political establishment right now. And for pretty minor reasons. Mild health insurance reform driven by a president who tries to be conciliatory? If that drives millions to call for a military coup, I’d hate to see what a real radical would cause those people to think. ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/YZzsjULXDnA/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/YZzsjULXDnA?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/59 "2010-03-23T06:12:53Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Straight dope is not really a cross section of the nation. It is further to the left, and the conservatives here are not like the ones I am talking about. > > Mild health insurance reform has people talking about assassination and comparing Obama to Stalin and Hitler. When Bush was president you had people marching and comparing him to Hitler. But I don’t think you had millions calling for his assassination or a military coup. Are there millions calling for Obama’s assassination or a military coup? ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408/60 "2010-03-23T06:16:47Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Are there millions calling for Obama’s assassination or a military coup? Now, now… it’s not nice to burst a persecution complex that has been so lovingly nurtured. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-risk-of-a-right-wing-coup-de-etat/533408.md?page=4)