We have seen coups of sorts in Washington before, not that anyone one calls them that.  (Remember JFK, Nixon.)  The one against Trump is of a different order of magnitude.  It had been plotted by the Deep State even before he was inaugurated.  Significant power nodes had always refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of this presidency, and they remain relentless.  Regime media ceaselessly pump out false stories designed to smear the President and his team, the leaks have turned into a deluge, the courts usurp executive powers . . .

This is without precedent here, but Deep State perpetrators did it in Ukraine and elsewhere—and pronounced it marvelous.  Why not do the same at home?  The Constitution has been a near-dead letter for decades anyway, as witnessed by the blocking of the immigration order by the Ninth Circuit.  The judges have blatantly substituted their ideological preferences for the constitutional and statutory authority of the president—the border-security equivalent of Roe and Obergefell.  The message is that even in the areas most directly under legitimate executive authority (as opposed to presidential usurpation of Congress’s war power, with which the plotters are perfectly pleased) the judiciary has now said, “We rule here, not you.”

The only way to defeat this coup is to proceed with shock and awe.  Trump needs to keep changing the narrative on his enemies so as to keep them off balance.  This must include a vigorous campaign of legal prosecutions against and/or related to Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, the Clinton Foundation, Flynngate, etc.  Doubling down on his populist domestic and foreign policies must be part of the countercoup, Russia included.  Most self-described Republicans support Trump’s declared desire for constructive relations with Russia.  This is a potentially winning policy, but he has to spell it out, arrange a quick meeting with Putin, brave the hysteria as he well knows how to do, and serenely go about dominating the national debate.

The most important motivation for die Putschisten in the Deep State is forestalling any rapprochement with Moscow.  The mobs of useful idiots on the streets are motivated by disparate enthusiasms that all converge on a hatred of the identity and values of the traditional American nation.  But the paymasters behind the disorders, notably George Soros, are concentrated like a laser on the Russophobic primary goal of the Deep Staters.  There are open calls for a removal of Trump by the intel professionals, as our “last line of defense.”  Thus do progressives reveal the undemocratic, even totalitarian, impulse at the core of their worldview.  A rapprochement (better yet, an entente) with Russia is still possible.  Moscow will still welcome it, even if it’s appalled by what we all have witnessed since January 20.  Trump has to be willing to tell any officials who refuse to collaborate, “You’re fired!”

At the time of this writing the signs are not encouraging.  With the removal of Flynn and installation of McMaster (and with NATO-forever enthusiasts like Pence, Mattis, Haley, and McFarland already on board), the chief aim of the plotters vis-à-vis Moscow appears within reach.  If they succeed, they may let a neutered Trump remain in office as a colorful, twitterful figurehead while they ensure a continuation of the failed strategies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.  On the other hand, the risk that Trump might do something impulsive—like withdraw from NATO, or terminate our defense pacts with Japan or South Korea, which he could do with a signature—is too great.  In the end they need to be rid of him.

To prevent this, it is essential not to have another episode like tossing Flynn under the bus, or allowing any turn of events where Trump lets the opposition determine the agenda and create the impression that there is blood in the water.  Flynn was a bishop; Bannon is the queen.  If he goes, Trump will be ready for any pretext of impeachment, which up to one half of congressional Republicans would be all too happy to support.  If his presidency is to survive, Trump must engage in a constant crusade, an endless campaign of going to the people over the heads of the bipartisan establishment, a strategy of steady movement—“hit ’em where they ain’t.”

First and foremost, a vigorous campaign of legal prosecutions is needed.  Jeff Sessions must empanel a grand jury and throw the book at the criminal leakers.  Trump’s, Bannon’s, or Miller’s condemnation of the media as “the enemy of the American people” is true and necessary, but talk is not enough.  If the criminal leakers get away with it, they will push on.  America needs Deep Staters’ heads on pikes.  If that does not happen soon, Trump’s will have been the shortest revolution on record.

At the end of the first hundred days we will know which way this will go.  If Trump goes down, calling the United States a banana republic would be too charitable.