Laura Loomer had 4 phrases for it. “This can be a coup.”
Not a speech. Not a keynote at a progressive suppose tank abroad. A coup. Barack Obama flew to Toronto, greeted Mark Carney, delivered a keynote at a gala, and by the point the clip hit X, Trump’s media ecosystem had determined the republic was underneath assault from its forty fourth president.
Here’s what truly occurred. Canada 2020, an impartial progressive suppose tank celebrating its twentieth anniversary, hosted Obama as keynote speaker at a sold-out gala at the Fairmont Royal York. Carney posted a brief video of their handshake on X and wrote a welcome notice thanking Obama for conversations about constructing “a greater and extra simply future.” There is no such thing as a public proof of negotiations. No proof that Obama tried to affect Canadian authorities positions in a dispute with america. Obama and Carney have identified one another professionally for years. By each accessible public commonplace, this was a routine cease on the previous president’s talking circuit.
What made it flamable was the timing. Canada-U.S. relations are already strained by tariffs, Trump has spent years accusing Obama of making an attempt to destroy him, and Carney has been promoting Canada as much less depending on Washington. So the clip left the occasion and have become proof in any person else’s panic.
Then the web weighed in.
Why is Barack Hussein Obama assembly with world leaders whereas President Trump is in workplace?
This can be a coup. https://t.co/yqu5Ck5BVv
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) May 9, 2026
The Reactions, in Order of Escalation
Nick Sortor, a extensively shared MAGA commentator on X, posted: “Barack Obama is up in CANADA holding non-public discussions with Prime Minister Mark Carney. Obama wants to sit down down and work out his freaking place earlier than his ass leads to jail for violating the Logan Act. Trump is our President. You’ve been sidelined, Hussein.”
Gunther Eagleman, a pro-Trump X character, saved it temporary: “Barack Obama belongs in jail.”
Mike Davis, an lawyer and former Chief Counsel for Nominations for the Senate Judiciary Committee, requested: “What’s Obama, a subversive Marxist, cooking up in Canada?”
Tom Fitton known as Carney’s welcome put up a greeting to the “notoriously corrupt former president who spied on, and tried to jail and destroy Trump.”
Catturd, a conservative X account, contributed probably the most economical take: “Logan Act.”
MAGA Kitty, 85,000 followers: “SHADOW DIPLOMACY? Logan Act? Arrest Obama already!”
One recurring criticism, said with obvious seriousness throughout a number of accounts, was that Carney known as Obama “President” somewhat than “Former President,” as if the longstanding American courtesy title had been a current globalist plot.
What the Logan Act Really Says
The Logan Act was handed in 1799. Greater than two centuries later, no one has ever been convicted underneath it. Its textual content prohibits unauthorized non-public residents from coping with international governments concerned in disputes with america, with the precise intent to affect these governments. A former president delivering a keynote at a suppose tank gala doesn’t meet that threshold underneath any cheap studying, and the Federalist Society, not precisely a liberal establishment, has famous that nobody has ever been convicted of violating the legislation.
Each administration in current reminiscence has watched opponents invoke the Logan Act as a weapon. It was geared toward Michael Flynn. At John Kerry. At members of the Trump orbit in the course of the transition. It features reliably as a political accusation. No prosecutor has ever made it stick.
The Half That Ought to Make Everybody Cease and Learn Once more
Kirill Dmitriev is a Russian businessman. He additionally serves as a particular envoy for Vladimir Putin. On Friday, Dmitriev amplified Carney’s welcome put up on X alongside present allegations about Obama from the Trump camp.
A Putin envoy was, in different phrases, a part of the response to Barack Obama giving a keynote at a Canadian suppose tank. A Russian presidential envoy and American conservative influencers had been pushing the identical suspicion about the identical handshake video inside hours of Carney’s put up. No person within the Logan Act crowd appeared too bothered by the corporate they had been maintaining.
Then Saturday Arrived
If Friday rattled the MAGA ecosystem, Saturday handed it one other downside.
Pete Buttigieg and Senator Elissa Slotkin, two names already circling the 2028 Democratic dialog, had been scheduled for a separate summit with Carney and center-left politicians from Europe. The occasion, organized by the Middle for American Progress Motion Fund and Canada 2020, centered on progressive technique, financial safety and democratic energy. CAP President Neera Tanden framed one query bluntly in Semafor: “How will we battle the authoritarian proper?”
Obama gave a speech on Friday. Then two potential Democratic presidential candidates appeared north of the border on Saturday at a summit the place Carney additionally delivered remarks.
The Logan Act crowd known as Obama’s speech a coup.
They might wish to sit down earlier than they course of the remainder of the weekend.
