Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, warned Thursday that the United States could face a constitutional crisis following the November midterm elections, citing claims from researcher DataRepublican that former government officials and activist organizations are preparing to challenge the legitimacy of the Trump administration.
On Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Leahy discussed DataRepublican’s analysis of thousands of documents and hundreds of recordings that she says reveal a coordinated effort to use protests, legal challenges, and state-level resistance to undermine the federal government.
“I think Hemingway first wrote this line about how people go broke. He said, ‘They go broke slowly, and then all of a sudden.’ That’s a little bit how countries get destroyed through revolution,” Leahy said. “Changes a little bit, and then all of a sudden things happen.”
“We need to be on the lookout here in the United States because the elements for that all of a sudden are there,” he added.
During the show, Leahy played an AI-generated video summarizing DataRepublican’s findings, which allege that former personnel associated with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) democracy office established the Democracy Renewal Group after the Trump administration shut down USAID.
🚨🚨 THE ILLEGITIMACY PLAYBOOK / THE DEMOCRACY FILES: A PRIMER 🚨
I will be using this thread to track all drops, so bookmark it.
I spent most of yesterday backing everything (now 312 gigabytes) up in various sources and getting the materials out to others. I also produced an… pic.twitter.com/la5grkjLbK
— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) October 22, 2026
The video described how the group allegedly developed a strategy called Renew American Democracy, which includes blocking the administration, building public support, and pursuing structural changes to the federal government.
“Build means redesigning American government itself, and the crisis is the opening,” the video stated.
It then quoted Danielle Reiff, identified as a leader of the Democracy Renewal Group, describing the proposed approach: “We can take that breakdown moment and leverage it for a big structural reform, refounding moment.”
The video also identified the United Democracy Alliance (UDA) as a coordinating organization for protests, lawsuits, and other opposition efforts. According to DataRepublican’s findings, the network includes groups such as No Kings, Indivisible, and MoveOn.
A central allegation concerns plans for responding to a potential invocation of the Insurrection Act, which permits the president to use military forces domestically under specified circumstances. The video said organizers had identified actions that could cause them to declare that the federal government had crossed a threshold into illegitimacy.
“Cross a line, and the paper’s options include states refusing to lend Washington their resources and governors convening what it calls a Third Continental Congress,” the video stated.
The video further alleged that National Security Leaders for America, a group DataRepublican says includes approximately 1,600 retired military officers, intelligence personnel, and diplomats, was helping monitor potential constitutional flashpoints.
The allegations and the authenticity of the materials have not been independently verified.
Following the clip, Leahy said the reported strategy could lead to confrontations between the Trump administration and Democratic governors.
“This is happening right now,” Leahy stressed. “You see all these protests out in the street, the No Kings, this is all coordinated, and they’re going to go after the legitimacy of any actions taken by Donald Trump.”
“If there’s an insurrection, you can legally call on troops under the Insurrection Act. This is what it’s going to be, and then they’ll say, ‘Oh, you’ve crossed a red line.’ They’ll pretend it’s unconstitutional. They’re already saying this kind of stuff all over the place, and I’m telling you right now, blue state governors are going to be all in on that,” he added.
Leahy named Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey among the Democratic governors he believes could challenge the administration.
“Pritzker of Illinois, Hochul of New York. You already see Hochul buddying up with Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Newsom of California, Healey of Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, maybe Wisconsin, maybe Minnesota. So those governors are going to be prepared to do this stuff,” Leahy said.
He went on to play a subsequent clip featuring Dan Bongino and Vince Coglianese, where Coglianese described the allegations as potentially involving “a soft coup,” arguing that former government personnel and national security figures could be working to delegitimize the Trump administration.
Leahy said Republican governors would be central to any response.
“So where is the pushback going to come?” Leahy asked. “If you live in a red state and you have a Republican governor, you’re going to be leading the fight against this overthrow, this soft coup of the United States of America, and you will begin to see it.”
Leahy also predicted heightened tensions surrounding the November 3 election and its certification process, alleging without presenting evidence during the segment that Democrats would engage in election cheating.
“November in the United States of America is going to be very testy,” Leahy said. “Buckle up and be ready, especially if you live in a red state, ’cause you’re going to have to lead the defense of the United States of America.”
https://twitter.com/michaelpleahy/status/2112987378629632509
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
