Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Sarah Silverman Calls for, Then Backs Down From, a Military Coup

Comedian Sarah Silverman shook up Twitter this week when she suggested that the military overthrow President Trump.

“WAKE UP & JOIN THE RESISTANCE,” she wrote. “ONCE THE MILITARY IS W US FASCISTS GET OVERTHROWN. MAD KING & HIS HANDLERS GO BYE BYE.”

Silverman posted her tweet on Wednesday, the same day protests broke out over alt-right writer Milo Yiannopoulos speaking at UC Berkeley. The comedian later appeared to have a change of heart, taking to Twitter on Thursday night to say that “fear” had driven her previous tweet.

“FEAR can motivate even peacenik snowflakes 2 incite violence & last night I felt it hard. Trying 2 keep in check bc damnit I love u America,” she wrote.

Silverman was an ardent Bernie Sanders supporter, and later backed Hillary Clinton. She has been a vocal opponent of Trump and his administration, taking to Twitter on a daily basis to rip apart the president and his executive orders.

“Our country is being run by racist misogynistic science deniers who can’t see beyond their own joyless greed,” the comedian tweeted last week. “HAVE A GREAT WEDNESDAY!

Thea Glassman is an Associate Editor at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @theakglassman.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $325,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.