The establishment worries "there may be nothing stopping a president from mobilizing the military to intervene in elections, police American streets or quash domestic protests” and that"the military’s role is unique in that soldiers and sailors are trained to obey the commander-in-chief but are told not to follow illegal orders.”

The establishment’s reported coup includes "legal action” against Trump and "quietly devising plans to try to foil any efforts to expand presidential power, which could include pressuring the military to cater to his political needs.”

• "We’re already starting to put together a team to think through the most damaging types of things that he [Trump] might do so that we’re ready to bring lawsuits if we have to,” Mary McCord, executive director of the Institution for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law, told NBC News.

• "He’s going to be one creative motherf—– when it comes to trying to figure out how to abuse it [power]. Whatever your guess is, open up your imagination a little more,”Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) told the outlet.

• "He’s a clear and present danger to our democracy,” added William Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine and defense secretary in the Clinton administration. "His support is solid. And I don’t think people understand what living in a dictatorship would mean.”