Leftists celebrities and activists are spreading a conspiracy theory from a Google engineer that President Trump is planning a secret coup against the United States, causing the topic to trend on Twitter Monday.

“The administration is testing the extent to which the DHS (and other executive agencies) can act and ignore orders from the other branches of government,” claims Yonatan Zunger, a “Distinguished Engineer at Google, working on the Privacy team” according to his LinkedIn profile, in a blog post titled “Trial Balloon for a Coup?” published to Medium. “This is as serious as it can possibly get: all of the arguments about whether order X or Y is unconstitutional mean nothing if elements of the government are executing them and the courts are being ignored.”

“Yesterday was the trial balloon for a coup d’état against the United States,” he continued. “It gave them useful information.”

The article was shared by celebrities such as Hollywood star Mark Ruffalo, musician Questlove Gomez, House of Cards creator Beau Willimon, and #BlackLivesMatter activist Shaun King, legitimizing the conspiracy theory while gaining thousands of favorites and retweets.

Absolute must read. “Trial Balloon for a Coup?” by @yonatanzunger https://t.co/My5yHsCPTt — Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) January 30, 2017

I'm not usually into conspiracy theories but I STRONGLY encourage u to read this & share it. This feels too real. https://t.co/THsawPPkto — billy eichner (@billyeichner) January 30, 2017

A plausible blueprint for a coup in the USA, and how this weekend's events were a test run for the machinery: https://t.co/u2LSBes2Ew — Charlie Stross (@cstross) January 30, 2017

If you haven't read this, you should read it. Then you should read the piece he links within it. https://t.co/U3x9WDAviu — Cassandra, Pudgy Nobody (@ChrisWarcraft) January 30, 2017

Take 8 minutes of your day, and read this. #StopTheCoup https://t.co/jMmUOfcJ81 — Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) January 30, 2017

https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/826069510046220288

“Eyes open and on the ball. Bannon hates our government,” claimed Mark Ruffalo in one tweet about White House Chief Strategist and former Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon.

Eyes open and on the ball. Bannon hates our government. “Trial Balloon for a Coup?” by @yonatanzunger https://t.co/KFLOKkODFk — Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) January 30, 2017

“This may be a coup d’etat. The most valuable lesson I learned working in politics: always be prepared for the worst,” declared Beau Willimon. “I cannot stress enough how important it is to be thinking this way. It may be what saves us. Circulate.”

This may be a coup d'etat. The most valuable lesson I learned working in politics: always be prepared for the worst. https://t.co/xXomL0LqWY — Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) January 30, 2017

I cannot stress enough how important it is to be thinking this way. It may be what saves us. Circulate#StoptheCouphttps://t.co/xXomL0LqWY — Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) January 30, 2017

“Dem consultants are sharing this/going crazy. Apparently Trump is leading a secret coup d’état,” posted one former political consultant. “Lol. Please.”

Dem consultants are sharing this/going crazy. Apparently Trump is leading a secret coup d'état. Lol. Please. 😂.https://t.co/3QpC2yVIho — Harlan Z. Hill (@Harlan) January 30, 2017

Though the article was riddled with unfounded implications, it was shared thousands of times on social media, with its popularity fueled largely by the liberal elite celebrities that promoted it.

Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.