Thursday, August 6, 2026

UCLA professor calls for military coup to oust Trump

“You’re advocating a military coup and claim Trump is the threat to democracy? You’re a special kind of stupid,” @JoshWeber2 wrote.

• March 9, 2025
Trump/UCLA emblem
Trump/UCLA emblem

A professor of criminal law at the University of California, Los Angeles, United States of America, Peter Arenella, has urged the U.S. military to take action against President Donald Trump as the only way out of what he believed to be an imminent U.S.—Russia alliance.

Mr Arenella ignited the furore of MAGA supporters and Republicans on Saturday after he called for a military intervention and violent resistance to stop the U.S. from forming an alliance with Russia.

“At this point, my only hope for the U.S. to avoid becoming an ally to Russia is a violent resistance by our military,” the UCLA professor said in a post on X.

In another post, Mr Arenella asked if any “military heroes” were willing to stage a coup to protect the Constitution that Mr Trump and MAGA supporters were desperately trying to tear down.

“Remember that our military has sworn an oath to protect the very Constitution that Trump and his criminal enablers are tearing down. Will some courageous military heroes engage in a counter coup?,” the criminal law professor said.

The UCLA employee said Mr Trump fired the military chiefs in his first weeks of office and replaced them with his own loyalists because he already anticipated the possibility of a coup.

“Trump anticipated that possibility and acted swiftly to minimize that type of intervention,” Mr Arenella said. “Ultimately, we will get what we deserve by giving Trump a second chance to destroy our democracy.”

His post has triggered a flurry of reactions from U.S. netizens, majority of whom are now asking UCLA to take disciplinary action against Mr Arenella, claiming that he was inciting violence with his posts. 

Some X users tagged the FBI, Secret Service and military chiefs to review Mr Arenella’s posts for action. Other netizens asked the Trump-led administration to axe all federal funding to UCLA as was done to Columbia University last Friday.

“I hope Trump stops federal funding to UCLA, you piece of shit,” tweeted @tajh86

“I know our profession is completely fucked in regards to many of its leaders, but in a just world, you’d be disbarred, fired, and kicked out of public life,” tweeted another user.

“You’re advocating a military coup and claim Trump is the threat to democracy? You’re a special kind of stupid,” @JoshWeber2

As a Law professor, I bet you have a pretty good idea about how much FEDERAL time you’re looking at now that dozens of folks on x just reported you to the FBI,” tweeted @brianmatthews.

UCLA had yet to release any statement to support or distance the itself from Mr Arenella’s controversial posts.

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