Lindsey Graham, the senior United States Republican Senator from South Carolina, said last week that if he were president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he would deploy the military in Washington D.C. — forcing congress to vote in favor of his agenda, specifically to restore defense spending cuts to their previous funding levels.
The proposal was greeted with disbelief, because use of the military against the United States government would amount to a military coup, and a president who attempted such an outrageously illegal and shocking tactic would essentially be appointing himself Dictator of the United States.
The 59-year-old, third-term U.S. senator made the bizarre remarks at political event in Concord, New Hampshire, on March 7, but Graham’s seemingly insane proposal became public only on Wednesday when a political blog published audio of the comments made at the Concord City Republican Committee.
“Here is the first thing I would do if I were President of the United States,” Graham, who is rumored to be considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, declared.
“I wouldn’t let Congress leave town until we fix this. I would literally use the military to keep them in if I had to. We’re not leaving town until we restore these defense cuts. We’re not leaving town until we restore the intel cuts.”
The baffling remarks were met with immediate incredulity.
“Graham would use the military to force members of Congress to not just vote on the bill — but to pass it. Graham didn’t say ‘until I get an up-or-down vote on restoring defense cuts.’ He said ‘until we restore these defense cuts,’ ” wrote Vox.com columnist Amanda Taub.
“In other words, Graham is proposing that his first act as president would be to use the military to force the legislative branch to pass his agenda.”
Taub noted that the action Graham proposed is known by political scientists as a “self coup,” which is when “a legitimate leader uses the military or other armed force to unlawfully seize more power than is permitted under the constitution of the country in question.”
How could any active politician seriously propose such an outlandish act, which would have monumental reverberations for decades to come, establishing a precedent for chief executives to use military force in order to impose their own political aims on the country?
Graham’s office says he wasn’t seriously proposing it, calling the Lindsey Graham military remarks “over-the-top humor.”
[Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images]
