We're less than two weeks into the Trump Administration and one thing has already changed: Many progressives now openly endorse violence.
Sen. Tim Kaine, the former vice presidential candidate, is urging Americans to fight Trump "in Congress, in the courts, and in the streets."
At Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards, an actor from the show "Stranger Things" brought down the house with a rousing call to challenge Trump supporters and "punch some people in the face!"
Producer Judd Apatow is warning that the violence that devastated Berkeley University Wednesday night is "just the beginning":
If Senate Republicans pursue the "nuclear option" to confirm Neil Gorsuch, left-wing comedian Dave Anthony is recommending protesters "shut down the fucking country by clogging every airport, every street, everything."
Many are even calling for a coup. An engineer at Google turned political pundit, Yonatan Zunger, is writing columns suggesting Trump's behavior is setting the stage for a "coup."
Comedian and actress Sarah Silverman is likewise calling for a coup:
Silverman is echoing the thoughts of a progressive columnist for Foreign Policy, Rosa Brooks, who hopes the military will help launch a coup.
In a column Tuesday, Brooks floated various ways to end the Trump presidency before 2020. Brooks first floats impeachment, but dismisses it for being too time consuming. "Anyway, impeachments take time: months, if not longer — even with an enthusiastic Congress. And when you have a lunatic controlling the nuclear codes, even a few months seems like a perilously long time to wait," she writes.
After discussing the possibility of a Mike Pence seizing power from Trump via a 25th Amendment-style takeover, Brooks ultimately settles on the idea of a military coup:
What would top U.S. military leaders do if given an order that struck them as not merely ill-advised, but dangerously unhinged?
It’s impossible to say, of course. The prospect of American military leaders responding to a presidential order with open defiance is frightening — but so, too, is the prospect of military obedience to an insane order. After all, military officers swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not the president. For the first time in my life, I can imagine plausible scenarios in which senior military officials might simply tell the president: “No, sir. We’re not doing that,” to thunderous applause from the New York Times editorial board.
One thing is clear: The people in the streets hear these messages loud and clear. If violence is the solution, violence will be delivered. Check out the montage above to see for yourself.