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REFERENCE  ·  DOSSIER  ·  UPDATED 2026-09-30

Rolling Coup

A slow-motion, multi-front attempt to entrench power by degrading the machinery of free elections — distinguished from a single coup event (Jan 6) by being incremental, legalistic, and distributed across agencies. Coined by former Reps. Gephardt and Skaggs and former Sen. Wirth; popularized in Jonathan Alter's June 2026 scenario.

What this is

It names what unifies otherwise-separate stories into one apparatus aimed at the 2026 midterms:

Most often cited alongside

Donald Trump 16ICE — Immigration and… 12Pete Hegseth 9Crypto-Kleptocracy 8World Liberty Financi… 8Compute Barons 5Department of Homelan… 5Epistemic Fragmentati… 5Rolling Co…

Edge weight = number of briefs and sources citing both. Amber = a typed relation exists.

Receipts timeline · 73

  1. Trump launches AI site America.gov [Source]
  2. The Daily — Tue September 29, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  3. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Signs Directive Halting Tenured Civilian Positions at U.S. Military Service Academies [Source]
  4. EXCLUSIVE: Hegseth to double cuts to generals, admirals in major Pentagon shakeup [Source]
  5. A Pentagon Influencer Called Liberal Women a 'Pestilence' Who Will End Western Civilization [Source]
  6. The Daily — Fri September 25, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  7. The Civil Rights Division Walks Away [Source]
  8. The Outsiders Pitching Martial Law [Source]
  9. The Daily — Wed September 23, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  10. The Daily — Tue September 15, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  11. Supreme Court Blocks New Mail Voting Restrictions From Taking Effect This Year [Source]
  12. The Daily — Fri September 11, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  13. The Daily — Thu September 10, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  14. His Own Party Tells the Court No — GOP secretaries of state ask SCOTUS to leave the mail-ballot limits in place [Source]
  15. Denver sues to block armed ICE agents from polling places [Source]
  16. California, other states warn Supreme Court of 'chaos' if it lets USPS mail ballot rules stand [Source]
  17. DHS asks Supreme Court to OK use of Social Security data to verify voting eligibility [Source]
  18. The Daily — Mon September 7, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  19. Legal veterans lead fightback against Trump's rollback of democracy ahead of midterms [Source]
  20. The Daily — Tues September 1, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  21. The Daily — Mon August 31, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  22. One Judge, Every Case — DOJ routes a nationwide trans-care-records subpoena fight to Fort Worth [Source]
  23. Trump Renames Lake Ontario "Lake America" [Source]
  24. The Daily — Fri August 28, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  25. We Went to Big Bend National Park. What We Saw Will Shock You [Source]
  26. The Daily — Thurs August 27, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  27. Two Dozen States Sue the Post Office — a new suit over the mail-ballot envelope rule [Source]
  28. The Daily — Weds August 26, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  29. The Billionaire Behind JD Vance: Peter Thiel's Political Takeover [Source]
  30. The Daily — Fri August 21, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  31. Voted Out, Refusing to Leave — Avenal, CA council defies its own recall [Source]
  32. The Statute Turned Around — FBI searches Eric Swalwell under a federal color-of-law statute [Source]
  33. The Daily — Thu August 20, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  34. "The Nerd Reich": How Silicon Valley Billionaires Took Over Washington [Source]
  35. The Suit Became the Subpoena — DHS asks for the names in Maine plaintiffs' Signal groups [Source]
  36. The Daily — Wed August 19, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  37. The Promise the Pentagon Won't Make — Slotkin presses Hegseth and Caine to rule out a military role in November [Source]
  38. Can We Stop a Coup With State of Emergency Declarations? [Source]
  39. US government spied on anti-ICE protesters, unions and non-profits, court records show [Source]
  40. Something DARK Is Happening in RUSSIA... FSB Turns Back Into KGB [Source]
  41. U.S. indicts former SPLC executive in alleged fraud scheme over payments to informants in white supremacist groups [Source]
  42. A Ruling Party That Faces No Consequences for Open Corruption Has No Reason to Accept Elections [Source]
  43. The Daily — Wednesday July 29, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  44. Did the Civil War Ever End? [Source]
  45. Trump administration asks Supreme Court to clear the way for new mail-in voting restrictions [Source]
  46. Trump administration sought phone records of NYT journalists and their relatives [Source]
  47. WIREFRAME NEWS Daily — Monday, July 20, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  48. FBI Will No Longer Investigate Confrontations Involving ICE [Source]
  49. WIREFRAME NEWS Daily — Friday, July 17, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  50. WIREFRAME NEWS Daily — Thursday, July 16, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  51. Trump's July 16 declassified-documents primetime address [Source]
  52. WIREFRAME NEWS Daily — Wednesday, July 15, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  53. Trump says ICE should keep making traffic stops after DHS paused them [Source]
  54. The Smoke and the Gutted State — Canadian wildfires meet a hollowed disaster apparatus [Source]
  55. With New York Times subpoenas, Trump is brazenly escalating his attacks on the press [Source]
  56. WIREFRAME NEWS Daily — Tuesday, July 14, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  57. Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing: Trump's lackey up for attorney general [Source]
  58. The Republican Movement Is Replicating the ISIS Child-Soldier Playbook [Source]
  59. Donald Trump Has Launched His New Coup Plot [Source]
  60. WIREFRAME NEWS Daily — Monday, July 13, 2026 DAILY [Daily] [Brief on Substack]
  61. A Senate Seat, Kept in the Family (Graham succession, July 2026) [Source]
  62. Is Trump Following Viktor Orban's Playbook? | Interesting Times with Ross Douthat [Source]
  63. Are We Becoming 'Weimar America'? | Interesting Times with Ross Douthat [Source]
  64. Government Says Terabytes of Signal Chats are Central to the Case Against Minnesota 15 [Source]
  65. WIREFRAME NEWS Daily Brief — Sunday, July 5, 2026 DAILY [Brief on Substack]
  66. Historically, Human Eradication Takes Six Steps. Trump Has Completed Four. [Source]
  67. Remarks at Mount Rushmore on the Eve of America's 250th (Freedom 250) [Source]
  68. The Last Heist: Latest Disclosure — $8.9 Billion in Taxpayer Money to Trump Sons [Source]
  69. Trump Claims He Asked Prosecutor to 'Do Me a Favor' and Look Into the California Election [Source]
  70. Federal judge bars Trump from implementing proof of citizenship requirement to vote [Source]
  71. Judge Finds Justice Dept. Overreach in Subpoenas to Minnesota Officials [Source]
  72. Stopping Trump's Rolling Coup [Source]
  73. National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) [Source]

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