The paradox of the "Trump coup" is that to deny it can seem pollyannish, but to credit it inflates its power. I am certain Trump won't be in office come January, and also that he will never genuinely concede.

Like everything with Trump, it induces anxiety and destroys trust and productive purpose in a way that has real costs, but it's also poorly executed and ineffective. How he handled China (better how China handled him) is instructive. Big empty threats, very little follow through.

The difference: China has cards to play. We are forced to wait, uncomfortably, for acquiescence that will never come. But like Bush era torture, Trump will go, and failure to figure out how to defeat him, or hold him and his enablers to account will continue to roil our politics.

Personally, and I hope this happens in the next phase, there should be an unrelenting legal pursuit of Trump's finances.