2041 United States Coup d'état

Location
  Armed Forces

The **2041 United States Coup d'etat** occurred on September 6, 2041, as the culmination of the constitutional crisis which had enveloped the nation following the disputed 2040 presidential election. The coup saw the deposition of the constitutional acting president, Robert Menendez, and the installation of General Mark Milley as the 51st president of the United States of America on the same day. Alongside the removal of civilian government, President Milley suspended the United States constitution and called for a new constitutional convention to restructure the state. The 2041 coup represented the first and only time that an American government had been directly overthrown by the military, ending 265 years of continuous democratic rule.

Following the tied results of the 2040 presidential election, political deadlock meant that no individual was able to be elected as president or vice president by either the electoral college or the joint chambers of Congress in a subsequent aborted contingent election. During the contingent election, rioters and far right paramilitary members took control of Capitol Hill and held members of Congress hostage, necessitating the declaration of martial law in Washington D.C. and the use of military force to recapture the legislative building. Despite having rescued members of Congress, the armed forces demanded the relocation of congress-people to secret military bases across the country, effectively suspending the legislative branch's ability to function. With Congress unable to sit, a further contingent election became impossible, and on January 20, 2041, Senate president pro tempore Robert Menendez became acting president with the full powers of the presidency. During Menendez's short presidency, his administration clashed repeatedly with the armed forces over security measures and came under pressure as riots and local uprisings became common features of American politics.

In the morning of September 6, 2041, military governors across the 50 states and Washington D.C. began moving military assets across the country to seize control over key parts of national infrastructure, such as interstate motorways, television networks, social media companies, and internet providers. At the same time, General Mark Milley travelled to the White House in Washington D.C. to meet with President Robert Menendez; during the meeting, Milley fruitlessly attempted to persuade Menendez to voluntarily resign his office, before ordering the forceful consolidation of army control over the building. In the ensuing conflict, Menendez was killed by a stray bullet whilst attempting to flee the White House, effectively toppling the democratic government of the United States. Following the death of President Menendez, acting Chief Justice Amy Barrett inaugurated General Milley to the office of president of the United States of America at 3:27pm EST, granting the military full executive control over the nation. At 5:45pm EST, General Mark Milley held a televised press conference announcing that President Robert Menendez had tendered his resignation, and that the armed forces would be forming a temporary military-civilian government for the remaining duration of the 2041-45 presidential term; during the coup process, Menendez's death was hidden from the general public, until November 19, 2041 when it was claimed that Menendez had died of a heart attack.

With the announcement of the Military-Civilian administration on September 6, 2041, President Mark Milley dismissed all members of the government and began to assemble his own administration. On September 7, 2041, President Milley announced that former vice president Mike Pence would be assuming office as vice president once again as part of the new government, conferring a sense of legitimacy upon the new regime. In response, large protests in major Democratic-leaning cities across the countries erupted as leading left-wing figures branded the takeover as a partisan coup to subvert an electoral mandate from the population; many of these protests were brutally surprised by members of the armed forces, only further encouraging further protests across the country. In response to the protests of civilians, total martial law was furthered with the implementation of curfews, checkpoints, and the requirement for personal identification cards. On November 11, 2041, President Milley announced that the United States constitution would be temporarily suspended and a new constitution written in its place; alongside the suspension of the constitution, the twin major political parties were officially prohibited, with membership becoming a civil offence. In place of the Democratic party, the protest driven Take Back America movement reformed into the Progressive party led by former president Alexandria Raines and chaired by former vice president Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whilst the Republican party remnants fractured between the pro-military Patriotic party led by Elise Stefanik, and the libertarian Freedom party led by Liz Cheney.