In 1964, the movie Seven Days in May concerned a plot by American generals "to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack."
Burt Lancaster played coup-plot ringleader Gen. James Mattoon Scott. Of course, he plays the role as a wooden-headed, reactionary, far-rightist. Because 50 years ago, that American Left's nightmare was that the Right would use the military to take over the government.
But that was then, when Donald Trump was barely an adult. Now he's the president of the entire United States and his party controls all the Congress. So what has happened to the Left's former nightmare? It is now their fondest dream:
Sarah Silverman is a very minor comedienne and hardly a leading light of the Clinton-Sanders-Warren wing of the Left, so it would be easy to ignore this. But is it possible to imagine even remotely the fury and outrage that would have erupted in 2009 if anyone at all on the Right had posted anything like this?
Maybe Sarah should ponder what Glenn Reynolds wrote, that "... with a cabinet heavy with highly-respected generals, Trump has ensured that there won’t be a coup... ." And this should be comforting to Americans.
Feb 4 Update: Apparently, hope for a military coup has moved into the mainstream Left.
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