NYT guest essay sparks online claims of being pro-military coup against Trump

Social media users accused the New York Times of being in favor of a “military coup” after publishing a guest essay with the headline “We Used to Think the Military Would Stand Up to Trump. We Were Wrong.”

Former National Security Council members Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson wrote the essay on Wednesday in response to President Donald Trump deploying the National Guard to Washington, D.C., in an effort to combat crime. They remarked that this and other recent orders from Trump “registered no public objection” from top officers and warned that “in the context of domestic theaters,” the military can’t be politically neutral.

“Unfortunately, though we (and others) had hoped that the military would only respond to calls to action in American cities and states kicking and screaming, we no longer expect resistance from that institution,” they wrote. “Once, perhaps, traditionalist officers might have leaned on protocol and refused to heed a lawless order, taking inspiration from the generals — Mark Milley and James Mattis — who resisted the uprooting of established military standards in the first Trump term.”

A New York Times guest essay featured the headline “We Used to Think the Military Would Stand Up to Trump. We Were Wrong.” (New York Times screenshot)

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The essay continued, “But today, general officers no longer seem to see themselves as guardians of the constitutional order. It now seems clear to us that the military will not rescue Americans from Mr. Trump’s misuse of the nation’s military capabilities.”

Commentators across X accused Simon and Stevenson and the New York Times of arguing in favor of a military uprising against Trump.

“The New York Times is pro-military coup against President Trump. What a flaming pile of trash in The Times, written by former Obama NSC officials Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson,” GOP commentator Steve Guest wrote.

Global trade analyst Kenneth Rapoza wrote, “NYT would absolutely support a military coup if the Democrats were in the white House. Spare me otherwise. They’d then berate you in how good and just it was. Their urban educated readers who went to NYU would disown you as friends and family for disagreeing, acting as the usual useful idiots they are in service of the regime.”

“By the way, this is the very definition of a coup — and it’s the exact opposite of the oath every member of the military swears to uphold,” former Byron Donalds staff member Javon A. Price commented.

“New York Times is really saying the quiet part out loud, huh?” EV Partners founder Robert Sterling joked.

“Buy guns and ammunition,” Townhall.com senior columnist Kurt Schlichter warned.

Pirate Wires editor-in-chief Mike Solana wrote, “every now and then the media screaming gets to me and I wonder… wait, should I really be worried? and then they do something wild like ask for a military coup in the pages of the new york times and I remember nope, lol, they’re everything they say they hate.”

“NYT hoping for a military coup in America,” columnist Karol Markowicz wrote with a screenshot of the headline.

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In a statement to Fox News Digital, a NYT spokesperson defended the piece, saying it was “from two seasoned national security experts” and “thoroughly fact-checked prior to publication.”

“New York Times Opinion regularly publishes guest essays from a wide variety of writers with deep experience in their fields, and from across the political spectrum including the Trump administration,” the spokesperson said.

Simon also defended the essay, telling Fox News Digital that no one who read it could come to the conclusion that he was in favor of a military coup.

“As for actions, military leaders should give the president their best professional advice and decide for themselves whether they should resign if their advice is disregarded,” Simon said.

President Donald Trump, center, salutes passing troops during a parade to honor the Army’s 250th anniversary, coinciding with Trump’s 79th birthday, Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Washington.  (Doug Mills/The New York Times/AP)

White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly criticized the article, calling it “dangerous rhetoric.”

“It’s highly concerning that the New York Times would print this dangerous rhetoric calling on our military to rise up against the duly-elected Commander in Chief, President Trump. The President was resoundingly elected to restore a focus on readiness and lethality at the DOD, and he is delivering on that promise,” Kelly told Fox News Digital.

According to the Wayback Machine, the article was also titled “How the Military Became Another Instrument of Trump’s Power.”

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The New York Times editorial board previously wrote against Trump deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles with regard to the anti-ICE demonstrations in June. They argued that sending the troops was the “real emergency” in Los Angeles and creating “the very chaos it was purportedly designed to prevent.”