Midweek notes: the ongoing GOP coup that is dismantling our Republic
TAT readers,
These days, there is no midweek relief, pointing us towards the downhill slope of the cominge weekend. Everyone with a pulse, is intentionally kept on edge by an administration hellbent on the cruel, short-sighted dismantling of our constitutional republic, in the most chaotic way possible. The hits come most days, on an hourly basis, I wrote about previously with an essay titled, Chaos is the Point. There are ways to fight back, despite the lack of leadership in the opposition or “resistance.” It is up to all of us, to do what we can. One of those most effective methods, are something that we can all do and very easily. That will be one topic in today’s work.
The other issue which I write about regularly, are the actual threats stemming from this coup. Monday evening at 10 p.m., East Coast time, the Trump White House issued a PR/ Press Release that seems to have gone unnoticed by the overwhelming cowardice of most mainstream news entities. That PR was a warning to all Americans that between 60 - 90 days from the release, martial law is possible. Today’s brief essay will focus on both the PR and a key tactic being ignored by the opposition and the majority of us, fighting back; Branding the GOP as a co-equal, alongside of the heinous personalities like Trump, Musk, and the Cabinet-members, behind the coup.
The executive order portrayed above, is simply gibberish, political-speak, threatening Martial Law in 60-90 days from this past Monday. There is no other way to interpret this as that it is written to intimidate those who don’t speak political horse manure. Certainly, no lawyer of repute wrote this threat. This is simply street-level thuggism. This language is present in all of the Trump White House’s constant attempts to mask their abuse of our constitution, our constitutionally guaranteed rights and our surrender to Putin’s playbook of fascist principles. In other words, Project 2025 and far worse.
Both P25 and January 6th are coup attempts. We survived and prospered after putting down the first and now, due to the reasons stated in my post-election autopsy, we’re in far worse shape. Many of the reasons can be found in the essay expressed in the caption of the political cartoon below. It is actually one of my favorite essays and will provide some deep insight into today’s Seditious GOP.
If we are to stop this current coup, one of the must-dos is to remove the GOP from power via the mid-terms or sooner, should the opportunity (s) arise. We won’t even make it that far if we don’t change some of the most basics things we do in our everyday life, to resist the GOP’s full support of Trump’s, Musk’s and Putin’s fascist playbook. In Monday’s TAT, I wrote about the three primary requirements that cannot be ignored and regularly taking the fight directly to the GOP representatives in their home offices, is one of those things. It is not just loudly protesting in massive numbers, but the way we talk about the coup in our own social media, and especially at the sites of our protests, including signage. After all, there would be no fascist takeover of our republic if the entire voting GOP didn’t support this coup.
Every elected Republican in Congress, gives this coup a free pass. Hell, Senator John Thune, the senior senator from South Dakota and Senate Majority Leader, was supposed to be the “adult in the room” but somehow, all of Trump’s parade of circus clown nominees except for pedophile Matt Gaetz, passed the Republican controlled Senate process.
The three must do items to slow and stop the GOP Coup. 1. Take the fight directly to the home offices of Republican congressmen and drag your local media along with them. Media is mostly ignoring protests… this is called cowardice Protests in town squares are nice, but not as effective as a full-frontal assault (rhetorically) on GOP congressmen, that are apparently in the “Witness Protection Program” and hiding out. There is only a 2-seat margin of error in the House of Representatives and many GOP congressmen are in swing districts. Put loud and massive protests on their doorstep! All congressmen begin looking at the next election, the moment the last one is over. Most in swing districts are in very deep and hot water at the moment. Let them feel the heat. 2. Never make this a partisan political party fight. This is a key component. Make this about restoring our constitutional republic period! No hedging on this. It’s the glue that allow disparate elements of US society together to restore our republic. 3. Find a leader like USN ADM (R) William McRaven or his peers, to lead a unified party of true patriots, regardless of political views. Okay, maybe I’m biased in favor of ADM McRaven, because he was twice my commander and in two different roles. He is as good as it gets, as a leader. He has excellent foresight and has led at the very highest level, with honor, morality, pragmatism and truth. He can and will get the job done, if we give him our support. - To stop the MAGA GOP coup, we must do three things right now. - Truth About Threats - Cobaugh - April 28th, 2025
Marketers in particular, talk a lot about branding and although in my core profession of Narrative Warfare or NW for short, there are other terms, “branding” will be used here for ease of understanding. The past 40-50 years of the GOP have used branding effectively, among other tools of influence. The DNC still has its head somewhere where they won’t need a haircut. The only value they have to offer opposition, it to donate their campaign infrastructure and media contacts. They should not control any aspect of the actual campaigning. The party brand has no value in the influence game at this point.
The key to NW is identity and by focusing exclusively on big names like Trump, Musk, Hegseth, Noem, Bondi, Gabbard and Waltz etc., it lets the entire Republican Party off the hook for being a fully complicit partner, in overthrowing our republic. The profession of influence, when done well requires deep NW experience and countless nuanced approaches. Branding is one of the more important components, that must be addressed, sustained and in every aspect of public communications.
This morning, I did a personal, unofficial poll of Substack Notes and found that those in opposition exclusively used the word Trump or some other heinous administration official’s name. Here’s what needs to change; We must always include the words, GOP, MAGA GOP or Republican Party in addition to just saying “Trump” etc. It must be a common policy to boldly associate the GOP with the high-profile thugs running our country. If we do this beginning today, by the Midterms, audiences will also begin to blame the GOP as a co-equal partner of his cabinet and himself. The GOP understands this very well and it is one of the reasons that they perpetually toss out their culture war attacks, which are nothing more than a diversion from the coup and their ongoing kleptocracy.
Tragically, the left is every bit as brainwashed as the GOP when it comes to culture wars. If the opposition continues to put culture wars as a priority over winning, they never will win. The left’s affinity for fighting culture wars over unpopular progressive issues like their support for somewhat less than honest conspiracy theories regarding Gaza and Socialism, are the GOP’s dream opponent. It’s not that the true plight of innocent Gazans isn’t important, but what I have witnessed personally at rallies and in reading news reports of them, they are not fully honest and in truth, repeat the propaganda of Iran, Russia and other violent extremist groups in the Middle East and beyond.
Protests and protesters: honorable intent or a product of foreign and domestic malign influence?
Gaza protests are emblematic of willful tunnel vision... on all sides.
Socialism also is a non-starter in this environment, so stop wearing those bright red tee shirts that say, “socialism is the future.” These issues can be sorted out and addressed later, but now… it’s the rough equivalent to committing political suicide. Where I come from, the intense focus on these unpopular (even among most on the left) progressive agendas, would be called, “putting the cart before the horse.” Not only won’t we stop the coup, but without a win, these causes will never again see the light of day.
The bottom line here is, when posting anything that targets the perpetually fascist actions of the Trump era Republican Party, it’s okay to point a finger at Trump or the rest of his administration, but… always include something along the line of; “He couldn’t have done this without the full support of the Republican Party.” When the economy goes south, which it is doing currently for everyone, be first in the news cycle condemning a subservient and subversive GOP. Heck all of you are creative and will likely find more ways than I could to fixate blame on the GOP. After all, you will be telling the truth. Without the entire party and their evil oligarchs, there would be no Trump, no Musk, or the rest of the FOX News-type imbeciles in Cabinet positions.
Well, my friends and fellow citizens, this is enough to digest for today. Everything I offer here comes from long, operational experience against other violent extremist groups in combat zones, Russia, China, Iran and other areas of concern for US and global security. It’s not that I’m a genius of any sort but I also don’t like losing, especially where our nation’s safety is concerned. I desperately will fight for my children and grandchildren’s future, and yours too.
My career on uniform taught me the hard way what works and what doesn’t. The Department of Defense and most of the IC/ Intelligence Community are still clueless and willfully ignorant of such insights. In fact, in my autopsy of the last election, they are one of the four entities I put full blame on for our loss to Putin’s and Republican influence operations. I share them here for everyone’s benefit that still reveres our constitutional republic. Of course, these days that does not include those still voting Republican.
Back on Friday,
Paul
“Let Freedom Ring”