As historic midterm elections that will determine which party controls the House and Senate approach, a group of internet influencers linked to the Pentagon is accusing democracy advocates of plotting a “color revolution" that could bring the country to the brink of civil war.
Based on leaked audio and video recordings that appear to show former federal employees discussing “red lines” and a potential “crisis of legitimacy,” Jennica Pounds, a former special government employee, and her associates have claimed in a string of X threads and podcasts that Trump’s opponents are seeking to undermine the president’s authority in connection to suspected efforts to interfere with the elections.
In much of the ensuing discussion, Pounds and her associates have asserted that protests in response to Trump potentially invoking the Insurrection Act or pressuring congressional allies to refuse to seat duly elected Democratic candidates — or a “color revolution,” as they call it — will lead to “civil war.”
Discussing the material she obtained showing democracy advocates discussing election contingency plans, Pounds, who is better known online as Data Republican, argued on “The Rob Maness Show” last week that color revolutions “result in balkanization and, unfortunately, civil war because these kinds of operations strip away the consent of the government.”
Pounds announced in early October that she was resigning from the Department of War. Neither she nor the Pentagon disclosed what specific work she performed for the government, but the Washington Post reported in August that Pounds was one of a handful of special government employees who consistently amplified Secretary Pete Hegseth and attacked administration critics.
Rob Maness, a retired Air Force colonel and the host of the podcast where Pounds outlined her claims, is also among those the Post identified as having been employed as a Pentagon special government employee.
During Pounds’ appearance on his show, Maness laid out a hypothetical scenario in which Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who is being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, is criminally charged before the new Congress is seated on Jan. 3, 2027. “If I were the speaker of the House, I would not seat individuals, whether they got elected in spite of that or not,” Maness said. “That’s legitimate.”
Thomas M. Anderson, a retired Army colonel who is also part of the cohort identified as having served as a special government employee, also raised the specter of post-election violence, posting on X on Oct. 23, “Letting Leftist aggressors know that if they start a civil war we’ll be ready to finish it is not ‘calling for a civil war.’”
Kurt Schlichter, another retired colonel who was identified by the Post as having served as a special government employee, told Maness in response to a question about Pounds’ research, “We’d die to preserve our rights. Who are the people willing to risk death to take our rights?”
Some conservatives reacting to Pounds’ claims have expressed even more incendiary views. One of the pseudonymous hosts named Nom De Plume on the “Patriot Source Network” podcast, where Pounds frequently appears to discuss her findings, warned that if Trump is forced to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell violent protests, he should “take the handcuffs off the 78 million voters who voted for you and support you. And, by the way, they’re the ones that own probably 90 percent of the 400 million guns and 4 trillion rounds of ammo in private hands. We’ll take care of it.”
The White House did not respond to questions about Pounds’ claims about Trump’s opponents plotting a “color revolution” around the midterm elections or warnings that protests against election interference would result in civil war, referring Raw Story to the Department of Defense. The Pentagon did not respond to the questions.
But Pounds and Anderson said they’re confident that Trump and other high-ranking administration officials are tracking the claims.
“I believe that somewhere right now, President Trump is nodding his head and silently thanking us,” Anderson wrote on X on Oct. 24. “He would like to be joining us in verbally ripping apart these vile seditionists, but he always thinks strategically and is keeping his powder dry for the right place and time.”
Responding to a question in an X space on Oct. 22, Anderson said, “The White House deputy chief of staff liked my article about the color revolutions, so somebody’s reading it up there.”
Pounds added, “One comment I can say is that the right people know. The bureaucracy’s crazy, but we’re going to keep pushing, and God will lead us.”
“When a conspiracy theory like this is proposed by a government official, even if it’s a contract employee, that’s a serious thing,” Brandon Jones the director of political campaigns at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told Raw Story. “All of that raises the specter of menace.
“Part of what we’re doing is trying to persuade people that it’s safe to participate in the election and to have confidence that their vote will be counted,” Jones continued. “This rhetoric cuts against that. It’s a travesty when that kind of conspiracy theory is coming from the government — the very people who are in a position to ensure that the system does work. It’s incredibly irresponsible.”
Pounds declined to respond to a written set of questions submitted by Raw Story, citing travel.
Reached by phone, Anderson said, “I have nothing to say to you other than listen to the recordings,” before abruptly hanging up. Maness could not be reached for comment, and a receptionist at Schlichter’s law firm hung up the phone when asked if he was available to speak with a reporter.
Some of Pounds’ conservative associates have floated hypothetical conspiracy theories that they argued would justify Trump in denying the election results on Tuesday.
“What if, for instance — let’s just pick a random state, like California — [an election worker] was just handed a USB drive with about 20,000 people’s names on it who the federal government has just determined was very likely an illegal alien that is registered to vote in California, and California is sending universal mail-in ballots to illegal aliens, and those people voted?” Nom De Plume said on an Oct. 26 X space in which Pounds was a guest. “What if that red line was crossed?”
The speculation comes at a time when the Department of Justice has reportedly opened a criminal investigation on election officials in California. Meanwhile, a federal judge rejected the Trump administration’s demand that the state block some 20,000 people it claims are noncitizens from voting. State officials have said the list is unreliable and complying with the administration’s demands risks disenfranchising eligible voters.
One commenter in an X space with Pounds and Anderson suggested that California and other states’ unwillingness to cooperate with the administration’s demands to purge voter rolls would be grounds to refuse to seat their representatives in Congress.
“For states that do not comply with the law — election law — then I can see where they’re told after the election, ‘Sorry, we’ll see you in two years. But your people won’t be seated in this Congress,’” the user, known as Dr. James Joyce, said.
Pounds has counseled the conservative Trump supporters consuming her research to refrain from violence — for now.
“Many people on the Right are calling to cross a Rubicon moment of our own. To kinetically stop those who would burn down our government before they actually do it,” she wrote on X. After quoting from the Bible, she continued, “There is a time for everything, including anger and war. But the time is not now. The proper response is to thank and praise God, educate your friends, and bring your friends to the polls to vote straight Republican.”