Fake News

Sean Hannity stokes paranoia by claiming a 'soft coup is underway' to remove Trump from office

Fox News' Sean Hannity told his viewers Tuesday night that a "soft coup is underway" in America "in an attempt to overturn November's election results."

"Sinister forces quickly aligning, in what is becoming now, in my mind, a clear and present danger," Hannity went on, adding: "Here in America, we are at a turning point tonight with forces now forming an alliance to try and remove President Trump from office. It's that serious."

Hannity's warning isn't wholly original; in March, radio host Rush Limbaugh claimed a "silent coup" is being waged against Trump. "There is the execution of an attempt at a peaceful coup," Limbaugh said at the time. "A peaceful coup to oust Donald Trump is what we are witnessing. It's been orchestrated by Obama and the Democrat Party. It's that simple."

But a warning to all considering crying "coup": The accusations easily fly the other direction as well. Historian Timothy Snyder told Salon in May that it is "pretty much inevitable" that Trump tries to stage a coup to overthrow democracy, while U.S. News & World Report's Austin Sarat called Trump's dismissal of FBI Director James Comey a "slow-motion coup d'etat."