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So what exactly is a 'coup'?

trump bannon coup

President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office of the White House, January 28, 2017 in Washington, DC. Also pictured, from left, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence and White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. (Photo: Drew Angerer, Getty Images)

You may be seeing the word “coup” flying around due to a popular Medium article entitled “Trial Balloon for a Coup?”.

Regarding President Trump’s executive order on travel to the U.S. by foreign nationals from seven Middle Eastern countries, the writer, a Google engineer named Yonatan Zunger, wrote,


In the post, Zunger argues President Trump’s recent actions have aimed, in part, to test the administration’s control over executive agencies. Trump’s goal, according to Zunger, is to create a private inner circle of decision makers and insulate that circle from the checks and balances of other government branches in preparation for a coup.

The Department of Homeland Security, Zunger believes, is a key test example, as the department continued to detain and deport people arriving to the U.S. over on Sunday, disregarding multiple court orders to desist.

But let’s back up a second.

What exactly is a “coup d’état” — or “coup” for short?

You may recall the phrase “coup d’état” from middle school history class when learning about the Glorious Revolution or the Beer Hall Putsch.

It’s a French phrase, meaning literally “stroke of state” or, in other words, an overthrow of the state or the seated government.

How is a “coup” different from a “revolution”?

They’re not the same thing.

“The chief prerequisite for a coup is control of all or part of the armed forces, the police, and other military elements,” Britannica states, while a revolution “is usually achieved by large numbers of people working for basic social, economic and political change.”

In other words, in a coup, the military is usually involved in a movement to unseat whoever is in power. And it usually happens very quickly.

And coups typically involve a relatively quick change in power, while a revolutionary movement can take time. Think: American Revolution (1775-1783), French Revolution (1789-late 1790s).

But while this terminological difference may be simple, the current political climate Zunger references is not so cut-and-dried.

Still, Zunger doesn’t seem to be suggesting that the military is about to turn on President Trump and take the government over from him. He’s using the word coup to refer to his concern that the inner Trump circle is testing out a takeover of the entire federal government:


Nowhere does he suggest anything about military involvement.

OK, so, is Zunger right, or … ?

It’s important to note that Zunger’s post is eliciting a lot of reaction, including criticism.

Cornell history professor Tom Pepinsky is among those who don’t subscribe to Zunger’s theory. He writes that so far he believes “the conclusion to draw from the past ten days is just how little power this president is able to exert over national politics.”


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