Nearly three in four Democrats would support or shrug off a military coup against President Donald Trump to "safeguard the Constitution" — the same party that lectures the country about threats to democracy is fine burning the Republic to keep one man out of power.
The numbers come from a poll of 683 Democratic voters conducted by the Center for Strategic Politics in collaboration with Liberal Currents, and they expose the authoritarian core driving the modern left. If generals seized control of the government and deposed an elected president, 59 percent of Democrats told pollsters they would feel positive. Another 13 percent said they would have neither a positive nor negative opinion. Just 28 percent would object. That is not a fringe. That is the mainstream of the party.
The poll tested five paths for Trump to leave office before the end of his term. Democrats backed four of them with net-positive approval, including death by natural causes. The only scenario underwater was assassination — and even there, 31 percent said they would feel positive about it. Fifty-six percent said they would feel positive if Trump died overnight in his sleep.
Constitutional mechanisms fared even better. Eighty-six percent said they would feel positive about impeachment and conviction, and 84 percent said the same about the 25th Amendment. But the comfort with raw force — generals overthrowing the civilian government — is what separates a loyal opposition from a faction that has abandoned the constitutional order entirely.
HotAir noted that the poll sampled mainstream Democrats, not some DSA fringe. The top preferred nominees were Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, and Gavin Newsom. AOC did not crack the top five; Mark Kelly polled higher.
The Daily Caller reported that the appetite for retribution extends well beyond removing Trump. Seventy-seven percent of Democrats want members of his administration criminally prosecuted for immigration and border enforcement. Seventy-three percent want Stephen Miller prosecuted for his role in that enforcement. Seventy-two percent want prosecutions over lethal strikes on drug-trafficking boats in South America. Sixty-nine percent want Secretary of War Pete Hegseth charged for "directing the US military to violate national and international law." Sixty-six percent want the administration prosecuted for the War in Iran.
Even Biden officials are not spared: 57 percent want both the Trump and Biden administrations prosecuted for "actions taken related to Israel's genocide in Gaza."
The framers debated how to build a republic strong enough to withstand faction and demagoguery alike. They did not contemplate a scenario where one of two major parties would cheer a praetorian guard removing a president in the name of the Constitution the coup itself would destroy. The question now is whether the 28 percent of Democrats who still object to a military coup represent a brake on their party — or merely a speed bump.
