Right wing media and politicians claim that opponents of President Donald Trump are orchestrating a coup d’etat. These claims are focused primarily on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and the FBI. They also sometimes point to the Clintons, former President Barack Obama, and the “deep state” and “liberals” generically as perpetrators of this supposed “soft coup.”
As I have documented previously, such rhetoric is dangerous for many reasons. These include potentially undermining the findings of Mueller’s investigation, or even setting the stage for political violence meant to consolidate President Trump’s power against perceived domestic “enemies” or “terrorists.”
#CoupWatch is a project to monitor and document the use of “coup rhetoric” among right wing media and politicians.
Headlines for 17 December 2017
Developing: Huckabee Says Corrupt FBI Elements Intended “Coup” Against Trump Presidency https://conservativetribune.com/huckabee-corrupt-fbi-coup-trump/
The former GOP governor of Arkansas and father of White House Spokeswoman Sarah Huchabee Sanders, said on Fox News that text messages by a former FBI counterterrorism agent demonstrate “an intent to stage what essentially amounts to a coup d’etat of the highest elected office in the United States of America.â€
Fox News’ Jesse Watters: We May Have an Anti-Trump ‘Coup on Our Hands in America’ http://www.breitbart.com/video/2017/12/17/fox-news-jesse-watters-may-anti-trump-coup-hands-america/
Fox News host Jesse Waters said on Saturday, “The investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign has been crooked from the jump. But the scary part is we may now have proof the investigation was weaponized to destroy his presidency for partisan political purposes and to disenfranchise millions of American voters. Now, if that’s true, we have a coup on our hands in America.”
Here’s A Who’s Who of Deep State Criminals, Corruptors and Elites http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/12/a-whos-who-of-deep-state-criminals-liberals-and-elites/
Gateway Pundit wrote, “The entire Mueller investigation is a scam created by the deep state to overthrow the US government and is the deep state’s ultimate plot to re-take the country. Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolten called the deep state’s actions against President Trump the first Coup D’état in US History.”
‘A Coup in America?’ Liberals, Media Freak Over Fox News Chyron in Kellyanne Conway Interview About Mueller Investigation http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/12/coup-america-liberals-media-freak-fox-news-chyron-kellyanne-conway-interview-mueller-investigation/
Gateway Pundit points to the use of a chyron on Fox News asking whether the U.S. is in the midst of a coup. “Liberals and the media are freaking out after the Fox News Channel ran a chyron posing the question ‘A Coup in America?’ during an interview with Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President, during Saturday night’s Watters’ World.”