Martial Law: The Quiet Coup
Introduction
[You can read my previous posts in this blog series here: “The Fall Begins” and “After the Fall, Part 1.”]
Before I get into the meat of this particular blog post, I’d like to say a couple of things.
First, to my friends and family, I want to say plainly: do not worry, I have NOT gone full Rambo on you. I’m not building a bunker in the woods, or hoarding cans of beans in a fallout shelter somewhere. What I am is someone who is trying to pay attention, someone who believes we owe it to ourselves to see what is happening politically with some degree of clarity.
Second, in the first post of this blog series I opened with a simple premise: most Americans think they understand martial law, but few actually do. In that post I tried to dismantle the myths: No, marital law doesn’t always involve tanks in the streets or a president barking orders on TV. Sometimes, martial law arrives softly, cloaked in “emergency powers” or “public safety initiatives.” In other words, martial law doesn’t always kick in the front door. Sometimes it slips in through a back window.
I ended that piece with a promise – to help readers prepare. Prepare for what? In our current situation, we need to prepare for Trump’s official activation of the Insurrection Act. This will be where the proverbial martial law rubber meets the road. That’s because this is the Act that will endow our own US military the police power to legally drag protesting civilians off the streets and arrest them.
The Insurrection Act has been used at various times in US history. The last time was by President George Bush in 1992 to quell the protests surrounding Rodney King. However, in this case, one of Trump’s Insurrection Act’s directives (which hasn’t been invoked since 1965, when it was used to protect the Selma to Montgomery marches) was carried out. In this case, Trump federalized the California National Guard without the governor’s approval. This action set a new precedent. For those of us looking for signs of “martial law creep”, this was a huge red flag. Folks, we need to get our shit together and get ready, because activation is coming.
Preparation requires that we sharpen one of our most important tools : awareness. Because here’s the truth that’s becoming harder to ignore:
Martial law doesn’t have to be declared to be real. It just has to be practiced.
In my first post, “After the Fall: You Think You Know Martial Law?”, I described martial law to you by telling you both what it is and what it isn’t. Here we are now, one month later and life under Trump has given us all a chance to see what can only be described as a precursor to martial law. I am referring to Trump’s call for the National Guard under the guise of protecting Los Angeles feds and property in an effort to address protester violence and lawlessness in L.A..
Of course, this “situation” that Trump is declaring needs a military response is like many of his other so-called crises, it is one of his own making. Throwing 2,000 National Guard at the imagined problem was simply adding fuel to the fire. Adding another 700 marines on top of this was just the icing on the cake, although at the time I am writing this, none of those marines have shown up anywhere in California. Maybe the lawsuit brewing in the courts last night will cause a delay to the marine deployment.
Lawsuit? Oh, yeah, you knew it was coming, right?
A Legal Tug-of-War in Real Time
Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that Governor Newsom’s lawsuit to return control of the National Guard to the governor had merit, agreeing with Newsom’s legal position that the president’s federalization of California’s National Guard over the state’s objections violated constitutional norms. The judge then ordered that control of the California National Guard be returned to the state, a move that would have rolled back Trump’s creeping overreach.
Governor Newsom gave a beautiful public speech on this development, but before the ink was even dry, another judge issued a stay of that ruling, pausing the return of control pending further legal review. And again, we have to say, “Of course,” right?
In this case, what does this mean?
It means we are literally watching the balance of political power shift in real time – in courtrooms, not on battlefields. It means even as some parts of the system push back against executive abuse, others are enabling it through delay, deference, or dysfunction.
The tragedy? Most Americans won’t even notice. That’s the real danger.
Legal battles like this are part of the silent bureaucratic warfare that often gets lost in headlines. Yet, while it’s not as dramatic as soldiers in the streets, it’s every bit as consequential. Why? Because when judges disagree on whether your governor still has control of the National Guard—and the president wins by default while they hash it out—that’s not democracy. That’s a power grab in slow motion.
And that’s how the quiet coup keeps advancing.
The Quiet Coup
Let me say this clearly: you do not need a televised declaration for a coup to happen. In fact, the most effective coups happen in silence. For example:
- They happen when laws are bent just far enough to be “legal.”
- They happen when the public shrugs and says, “Well, I guess that’s allowed.”
- They happen when a president takes powers that were once used reluctantly—and turns them into tools of political convenience.
This is how authoritarianism creeps in. Not with a parade of tanks. But with legal loopholes exploited during a moment of chaos, with federalized troops on the streets and a population too “Trump-exhausted,” or too confused to resist.
It’s not loud. It’s not flashy. It’s quiet.
But it is still a coup.
How to Recognize It Next Time
If you want to stay aware, you’ve got to train yourself to notice the patterns:
- Federal troops deployed without local consent.
- Sudden declarations of emergencies with unclear end dates.
- Arrests made without warrants under the guise of “public safety.”
- Protest zones turned into militarized checkpoints.
- Legal rights suspended “temporarily,” but with no real timeline.
- Judges and courts sidelined in favor of executive orders.
- Media narratives tightly controlled or drowned in disinformation.
And the biggest red flag of all? When people begin to accept it as normal.
Don’t let it become normal! That’s how they win.
Conclusion
In the next post, I’ll shift gears and start offering practical advice—how to stay safe, how to communicate securely, and what kinds of resistance are still possible when the rules are rewritten mid-game. But for now, let this be your wake-up call: the coup isn’t coming. It’s already started! And if we want to stop it from hardening into a new normal, we have to see it for what it is – now, not after it’s too late.
Stay alert. Fight apathy.
And remember: The coup doesn’t need tanks. It just needs time and silence. Be vocal.
Resist, before silence becomes consent!