#coup coup

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Democrats and grassroots activists gain traction

February 5, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

Democrats and grassroots activists worked for a second day to oppose the unfolding coup against the Constitution by Musk and Trump. Activists held protests across the nation. Legal advocacy organizations partnered with aggrieved federal workers to file lawsuits, and federal judges issued orders halting unconstitutional executive orders signed by Trump. Democrats in Congress claimed they had placed a hold on all Trump nominees (although 22 Democrats voted for VA Secretary Doug Collins, and Senator John Fetterman voted to confirm Pam Bondi).

In short, there were positive signs that should inspire confidence among those who care about democracy and our Constitution.

Even so, the Musk / Trump efforts to overthrow the Constitution and destroy the federal government continued to creep across the land like a deadly virus.

We cannot relent. We cannot ease up. We cannot normalize or minimize what is happening by describing the unconstitutional efforts as “controversial,” “disruptive,” or “illegal.” Two men—one elected and one unelected—have arrogated to themselves the power to override Congress and ignore the Constitution. If that scenario took place in any other country in the world, we would call it a coup. Our reluctant legacy media continues to bow and scrape before Trump and Musk, hiding behind euphemisms and restraint in the face of a national emergency.

Three notable exceptions are Will Bunch in the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Musk/Trump coup will not be televised and Mark Joseph Stern and Dahlia Lithwick in Slate, Elon Musk’s Power Grab Is Lawless, Dangerous, and—Yes—a Coup.

Will Bunch writes,

A hostile takeover of the government by folks who weren’t elected . . . is the classic definition of a coup.

Stern and Lithwick write,

An elected leader who illegally entrenches his own power, as Trump did four years ago, is engaged in a self-coup. . . . What do we call it when the president is too lazy to gut the government himself, giving away power to a zealous and unaccountable friend? Call it a double-self-coup . . . .

We are facing a constitutional crisis like no other in living memory. The first step is to recognize the threat for what it is: A coup designed to sunder the Constitution by installing the president as the unbounded ruler of America.

The Founders fought a revolutionary war to overthrow a monarch. Trump and Musk are seeking to undo the outcome of the American Revolution. That should alarm every American.

There is much to cover from Tuesday. I will endeavor to make sense of the many developments by grouping them into the following broad categories:

Protests

Lawsuits

Additional unconstitutional actions by Musk / Trump

Trump's comments on Gaza

Protests

Treasury Department

For the second day, protesters gathered outside the US Treasury Building in Washington D.C. The Tuesday event was coordinated by MoveOn and Indivisible. See MSN, Protesters Hold 'Nobody Elected Elon' Rally Outside Treasury Building.

Dozens of members of Congress showed up at the event—a sign that Democrats in Congress are paying attention to their constituents. A delegation of Democratic representatives and senators were denied entrance to the Treasury Building. See Axios, Congressional Democrats denied entry to Treasury Department

Dozens of readers sent photos of the protest. (Thanks to everyone who sent photos and video—I received hundreds!)

A smaller group of concerned citizens attempted to visit Senator Schuck Schumer’s office but were turned away. They then held an impromptu demonstration in front of his office building. See photos below.

An organic, national protest is planned for February 5 with the goal of holding protests in every state capitol building. See Newsweek, What Is the '50 States' Anti-Trump Protest Movement? What to Know About 50501. The short notice is a challenge. The planned protest times are included in the Newsweek article.

If you are within driving distance of your state capitol, please make an effort to show up! Protests must start somewhere, so don’t fret if the initial demonstrations are small(ish). The point is that people are finding their voices, which is good!

The National Women’s March is organizing a weekly Moment of Silence at 12:53 pm to mark the time when January 6 insurrectionists broke through the barricades at the US Capitol. See Not the Bee, Women's March announces "weekly minute of silence" on Wednesdays at 12:53, "the moment January 6th rioters first crossed the barricades".

If you would like to promote other protests, please post the details in the Comment section or “reply” to this email with the details. Change the subject line to “Protest Details.”

Lawsuits

FBI lawsuits.

Legal advocacy groups continued to file suits against the Trump administration, seeking to obtain injunctions against illegal executive orders.

Two suits on behalf of FBI agents were filed on Tuesday. NBC News, FBI agents sue Justice Department, alleging 'retribution' over their work on Jan. 6 cases.

Per NBC, in one suit, nine FBI agents argue that the specific purpose of an internal FBI survey "is to identify agents and other FBI personnel to be terminated as a form of politically motivated retribution.”

The suit seeks to represent a class of 6,000 current and former FBI agents who are on the list that has been provided by the FBI to the DOJ identifying those agents.

Per NBC, the second suit requests

“protection” from the Justice Department’s “anticipated retaliatory decision to expose their personal information for opprobrium and potential vigilante action by those who they were investigating.”

Federal employees sue over alleged “buyout offer.”

See The Hill, Union sues over Trump buyout offer. (“The largest federal government employee union is suing the Trump administration to block its buyouts for workers, calling the offer “an arbitrary, unlawful, short-fused ultimatum which workers may not be able to enforce.”)

Order prohibiting the transfer of transgender inmates to men’s prison

A federal judge issued an order enjoining the transfer of three transgender inmates from women’s prison facilities to men’s prisons. See CNN, Judge blocks federal prison system from moving three transgender women to men’s prisons

Additional unconstitutional acts

The coup by Trump and Musk continued at full steam despite court orders and assurances by administration officials claiming that “There is nothing to see here, move along.”

Musk’s hacking into Treasury payments system.

Secretary of Treasury Bessent told lawmakers in a private meeting that Musk has not gained access to payments by the Treasury—despite Musk’s boasts to the contrary on Twitter. As Josh Marshall explains, there is strong reason to doubt Bessent’s denials. See Talking Points Memo, Musk Cronies Dive Into Treasury Dept Payments Code Base.

Marshall writes,

I’m told that . . . DOGE operatives received full admin-level access on Friday, January 31st. The claim of “read only” access was either false from the start or later fell through. The DOGE team . . . . has already made extensive changes to the code base for the payment system.

If you can’t trust assurances from the Secretary of the Treasury, who can you trust? Not Secretary of State Rubio! Read on!

USAID effectively shut down

Despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s claim that the Trump administration plans to reorganize USAID, Trump has effectively shuttered the agency by placing nearly every employee on administrative leave. See NBC News, USAID announces nearly all direct hires will be placed on administrative leave.

Trump cannot legally terminate the USAID as an agency or impound funds appropriated by Congress to USAID programs. He is attempting to circumvent those legal and constitutional prohibitions by effectively firing the entire workforce.

Consumer Finance Protection Board ordered to cease work

The CFPB is a congressionally created agency that cannot be terminated by Trump. So, Trump appointed Treasury Secretary Bessent as the new CFPB head, who immediately ordered the CFPB to cease work. See NPR, New CFPB head, Scott Bessent, orders staff to halt work.

Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary, is a hedge fund manager who is no friend to consumers. Not surprisingly, major banks cheered Bessent’s appointment to the consumer protection bureau and urged the immediate repeal of pesky regulations that protect the banking industry’s customers from unscrupulous practices. (See NPR article, above.)

Trump moves to shut down Department of Education

The Trump administration is preparing an executive order that appears to pave the way to shutter the Department of Education. Although the executive order recognizes that Trump cannot eliminate an agency created by Congress, he will likely use the same tactic deployed against USAID and the CFPB—order the workforce to take administrative leave, thereby suspending all work. See Newsweek, Trump Moves To Dismantle Department of Education With New Order.

Again, Trump has no authority to prevent the disbursement of funds allocated by Congress to assist local educational programs and students with disabilities. If Trump places the DOE into suspended animation, millions of families with disabled children will be thrown into ruinous financial hardship and chaos.

Trump targets the CIA.

Trump has sent a “buyout” offer to the entire CIA workforce. See CNN, CIA sends ‘buyout’ offers to entire workforce.

To state the obvious, a mass departure from the CIA would inflict grievous harm on US national security. Other deferred resignation letters have suggested that mass layoffs are imminent. If the same applies to the CIA, Putin must be popping Champagne in the Kremlin.

Trump moves to reclassify chief technology officers in agencies

Until now, the chief information officers in charge of technology at federal agencies have been civil service employees who are selected on technical merit, not political persuasion.

Trump will change that rule on February 14. After that date, chief information officers will be political appointees because, you know, what really matters in creating a stable computer network is where your political loyalties lie, not what education, experience, and skills you possess. See NBC News, Trump admin moves to make tech officials appointees amid DOGE clashes

Trump's comments regarding Gaza

During a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump made comments regarding Gaza that were simultaneously bizarre, offensive, and destabilizing. Trump suggested that:

Two million Palestinians in Gaza should be forced to emigrate to Arab countries (Trump said, “I don’t think they are going to tell me no.”)

The US would take control of Gaza

The US would develop Gaza as “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

The context and details of Trump's remarks are here: NYTimes, Trump Proposes U.S. Takeover of Gaza and Says All Palestinians Should Leave. (Accessible to all.)

Saudi Arabia and representatives of Palestinians in Gaza issued statements condemning the proposals. As noted in the NYTimes article, Trump's proposals may imperil the second stage of hostage releases in the current cease fire. Trump's recklessness may have condemned the remaining hostages to additional time in captivity.

Concluding Thoughts

Okay, that was a lot to digest. But keep this in mind: Not everything that Trump and Musk have announced will actually occur or will be easy to implement. And we will have time to resist, fight back, slow walk, and seek injunctive relief from the courts. We can blunt some of the damage but cannot prevent it all. Still, we must do our best to protect as many people and programs as possible.

Despite the challenging outlook, we must push back forcefully. Trump and Musk have overreached; the damage will soon appear on national news and local newspapers. Tales of hardship and unfairness will be shared in church basements and grocery stores. The damage will be felt on farms and in small businesses, at colleges and primary schools, in hospitals and police stations.

Sadly and inevitably, Trump's mass firings and politicization of the federal government's information technology infrastructure will lead to technical disasters. Per the Talking Points Memo, above, Musk’s engineers are placing “backdoors” into federal agency computer systems, weakening their defenses against cyber-attacks from foreign adversaries.

All of this will backfire sooner or later. Just like Trump's ridiculous comments about Gaza. His ignorance and impulsiveness will be his undoing—and that of the GOP. It will be painful for us, so we must be prepared. There is a reason that Democrats are holding town hall meetings with constituents, but Republicans are not. Republicans fear the growing public concern about Trump's slash-and-burn approach that will hurt millions of Americans without regard to political party.

We must be tough, steeling ourselves for rough times ahead. But we must also be proactive in planning to leverage Trump's mistakes to our advantage.

Don’t give up. Don’t look away. Endure. Abide. Keep the faith. If we can do that, we will prevail. It is only a matter for time.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[magess]

These men just stole the personal information of everyone in America AND control the Treasury. Link to article.

Akash Bobba

Edward Coristine

Luke Farritor

Gautier Cole Killian

Gavin Kliger

Ethan Shaotran

Spread their names!

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[originalleftist]

If you're wondering why polling averages are suddenly showing Trump winning despite all the bad news he's gotten lately- it might have something to do with this:

Basically, Republicans are ratfucking the polling averages by churning out huge numbers of partisan polls, and the polling aggregators/analysts like 538 aren't doing due diligence to compensate for it.

Now, what is the purpose of this?

Well, in the immediate-term, it creates a narrative that Trump is winning, boosting morale of his supporters while demoralizing support for Democrats and Harris.

Beyond that, if polling averages show that Trump is winning ahead of election day-which we can pretty much guarantee they will, because see above-then they will use that as "proof" of fraud if Democrats subsequently win.

Basically, they are engineering a pretext for their next coup attempt in front of us.

The only numbers that decide anything are actual votes. So ignore the polls, and VOTE.

[existennialmemes]

Reminder that when you break the law, cops come and drag you to jail. When oligarchs and their minions break the law, several lawsuits are filed, while they're left to continue breaking laws.

The mythos of our "checks and balances" is being ripped apart before our eyes. There is no balance. Only meaningless security theater that does not impede their disastrous actions at all.

[geminisee]

ok so in the span of like 5 hours:

- the south korean president declared martial law (the first time since s korea stopped being a military dictatorship in the 80s)

- claims his political opponents are insurgents working on behalf of north korea and communism

- declares that all political activity must cease (inc the national assembly/parliament), all media must be under the control of the military, and all protests/strikes are illegal

- the opposing political party immediately assembles at the national assembly in the middle of the night

- holds an emergency vote that goes thru 190-0 to declare the end to martial law (while barricading the entrances to prevent the military from entering and removing them)

- the president concedes an hour later

- civilian protesters in the streets are calling for the impeachment & arrest of the president

please feel free to add details/correct me

as of 2:40 EST Dec 3 2024

[proxycrit]

Thought it’d be nice for ppl to see the sillies refs! They’re full of crimes and live hyrule like it’s a comedy action flick (meanwhile the rest of the audience is going through their horror drama era).

(This totk au is called Familiar Familiar, and is basically a self indulgent “what if Zelda doesn’t get slingshot back in time” art series, and then became “there is lore and i am about to make it everybody’s problem”.)

((Consider my Patreon! For two bucks, you can dig into the rest of my messy, messy sketchbooks like a raccoon diving through a dumpster. Remember to use the web or android version, since apple’s taxing 30 percent))

[socialjusticeinamerica]

[luulapants]

Some of you are falling hard for the Trump/Musk anti-federal worker propaganda. I think part of the problem is that a lot of people genuinely don't know how the federal government works, so here's an overview on the intended and current state of the so-called fourth branch of government, the federal bureaucracy:

Executive agencies are considered to be within the executive branch, officially, but can only be created, disbanded, funded, and have new leadership appointed through congressional approval. Well, in theory that is.

The majority of staff in federal agencies are called "career staff" who are nonpolitical civil servants who do every kind of work you can imagine, from IT to accounting to scientific field work to livestock inspections to nursing at VA hospitals. They do not, typically, change from one administration to the next, which is essential to ensure the government is able to continue functioning without interruption. These individuals of course can and do hold their own political opinions, but there are stringent rules on how, when, and where they can express them. It is arguably the most racially diverse workforce in the country. Many are veterans, and many are disabled.

Each agency is headed by a political office appointed by the president and confirmed by Congress. This includes a Secretary or Administrator and all of their hand-picked office staff, who are called "politicals." However, even before Congress confirms the president's nominee, the president can appoint an interim leader with no approval, who has essentially all the same powers but can't hold the position for very long. In short, even in those offices where a leader has not been confirmed by Congress, they are being led by Trump appointees.

When Trump makes an Executive Order, those orders are immediately dispensed through the executive agencies, who must abide by the letter of the order. I saw someone say NPS was "complying in advance" by taking the T off LGBT, but these changes were made across all agencies in direct response to Trump's "Defending Women" order. Any career who did not follow this order would have immediately been fired with cause, no unemployment eligibility, and in the current environment we also know their position would be permanently dissolved.

This is what we're dealing with right now. Trump (and his puppet master Musk) do not have the authority to dissolve government agencies, but they are trying to gut them, harassing careers and making the public turn against them, conducting illegal firings, threatening them into resigning. When people leave, their positions will disappear. Their intent is to diminish the staff until the agencies are non-functional. That's why careers are picking their battles. We're holding on by our fingernails to keep federal agencies alive and functioning. We're in the midst of a hostile takeover, a literal coup of the US government.

Yes, it's awful the T was removed on the website. We don't want this. But I promise that is small potatoes compared to the other battles being fought. I have trans coworkers being forced back to the office and they don't know what bathroom they can use. Our personal information is being leaked to hate groups. Careers are getting threats and spam to their work and personal emails. Most of us expect to be illegally fired. Soon. Last week was the largest layoff in American history, and it's just the beginning.

Please support federal workers. We are under attack.

[saywhat-politics]

Musk suspended @AnonOpsSE after it helped expose his coup collaborators at DOGE.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

In search of "BigBalls" and the rest of Elon Musk's SpaceX private goon squad.

Akash Bobba: Akash is a student at the University of California, Berkeley, and hails from West Windsor, New Jersey. 

Edward Coristine: Edward, originally from Larchmont, New York, currently works at LesserEvil Snacks.  He previously interned at Neuralink, one of Musk’s ventures, and has been involved in recent projects within government agencies. 

Luke Farritor: Luke is a senior at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, majoring in computer science. He gained international recognition for being the first to decode text from an ancient scroll using AI, winning the grand prize in the Vesuvius Challenge. 

Gautier Cole Killian: Specific information about Gautier is limited. He is mentioned among the group of young engineers associated with Musk’s recent initiatives.

Gavin Kliger: Gavin studied at the University of California, Berkeley, and attended Tesoro High School. He resides in Berkeley, California. 

Ethan Shaotran: Ethan is a senior at Harvard University and the founder of Energize.AI. He has authored several AI books, holds multiple patents, and has conducted research in autonomous systems. Ethan has also been involved in projects within government agencies.

[Robert Scott Horton]

[davidaugust]

[ceasarslegion]

"Voting doesnt work because not enough people in my country will vote for MY version of communism. We need a violent overthrow of the government to MAKE this happen"

[elfofthetardis]

i didnt saw one of these so here is the news

[iannmin]

Pound Town | c.sc 최승철

tags + warnings: cowboy!highsexdrive!seungcheol x fem!reader, breeding kink, creampie, praise kink, riding, public sex (?), mdni 18+

synopsis: “save a horse, ride a cowboy”

a/n: we all NEED a man like cheol ughh, anywayss enjoy my first svt fic <3 love you mwahh

୨୧ ‘ masterlist ‧˚₊•┈┈┈┈୨୧┈┈┈•‧₊˚⊹

you weren't exactly sure how long you'd been riding. a horse? no. in fact, you were riding the hottest cowboy you’d just met in the west town. the man, who hastily introduced himself as "cheol," had offered you a ride when your poor Dodge Charger broke down, but it seemed the two of you interpreted "ride" in entirely different ways. so now, instead of heading to your appointment, there you were, straddling him in a deserted parking lot beside the western pub, his vintage car creaking beneath you.

the soaring heat of the day was long gone and mellowed into a dusky twilight, casting long shadows across the deserted lot, and yet,, cheol wasn’t finished. the foggy windows and the ring of white cum forming at the base of his shaft might have been a good indication of how long the both of you might have been doing the deed but nobody seemed to be paying attention anyways.

“hah….fuck…s’good” cheol was propped up on the backseat of the car, old-fashioned belt and jeans pooling around his knees, a sheen of sweat trickling down on both sides of his forehead, but amidst the sweltering heat in the car, his eyes never left yours. while you, on the other hand, were barely keeping up with the pounding. he had both of his huge hands wrapped around the sides of your waist, guiding you up and down his dick repeatedly, simultaneously bucking up his hips rhythmically to press sweet kisses on your cervix. of course, you were a moaning and whimpering mess, blabbering incoherently, tears forming at the brim of your eyes. “nnngh…cheol…can’t” you whine weakly. “slow down, please…hah..” yet despite your protest, cheol seemed to be driving you close to your umpteenth orgasm. but this time, he was finally close too.

“fuck, fuck, fuck, that’s it, attagirl, gonna fill you up to the brim, you’re all fuckin mine.” cheol pants, snapping his hip harder into yours, the squeaky sounds from the leather of the vintage car’s seats and your skin-to-skin slapping intensifying “hnng,,can’t!” you wail, high crashing down as you tremble in his grip, sobs wracking your body as your cunt clenches down on his cock, white ring of cum thickening around the base of his cock as he rams into your pussy, swears profusely escaping his lips.

“so… fuck… going to breed you” cheol groans, gripping your waist tightly and painfully as his high hits shortly after, slamming his cock deep as hot cum fills you to the brim, warmth spreading as you wail with the overstimulation, so full already of his release, but you felt euphoric. “s’full….feels s’good” you whimpered

cheol chuckled at your fucked out state, “next time you need a ride, ride me instead, because cowboys ride harder and stay on longer.”

[gael-garcia]

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (2024, Johan Grimonprez)