Is the US ripe for a coup?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

They wouldn't have any say in the matter, but even if they did have a say, I very highly doubt they'd mount a coup. These are men and women who have sworn their lives to this country. The idea that they'd knowingly tear it apart -- because a coup would most certainly have that result -- is highly implausible.

The concept of civilian control of the military is deeply ingrained in American military doctrine throughout the ranks, as well.

Between those two factors, a military coup, while not entirely impossible, is so implausible that it doesn't merit serious consideration.

Definitely this.

Thump and I are both US Air Force veterans. Take it from two of us who have been on the inside: this scenario is implausible in the extreme. Any generals trying something like this would be quickly put down.

That is not to say that an order to launch the nukes would necessarily be obeyed. There might very well be a refusal if the officers in question believed they were taking orders from a mad man. The furthest I think they would go beyond that though is to plead with their most immediate civilian superior to invoke the 25th Amendment. But a military coup? Like Thump said, that is unthinkable in the US military. Even if there are a few mavericks in high positions that would be willing to go there, the large bulk of
the ranks would not oppose them.

All that said, I am still STUNNED that there are enough fucking, clueless idiots out there that Donald Fucking Trump was actually elected President of the United States. I would have thought it more likely that Bozo the Clown would have been elected. So what do I know.

He didn't get the majority vote. He won in the Electoral College.