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Over the past two months we have borne witness to the most dangerous threat to American democracy since the Civil War.
We have watched the president and his co-partisans attempt to seize power through anti-democratic means. 1/x
We have watched the president and his co-partisans attempt to seize power through anti-democratic means. 1/x
But because that coup has been dressed up in proceduralism and bull-shittery, we have lacked the ability to fully see it and describe it for what it is.
Until yesterday, when it exploded into real violence directed at physical symbols of American democracy.
Until yesterday, when it exploded into real violence directed at physical symbols of American democracy.
But a procedural coup is still a coup.
This has been a calculated, multi-faceted, systematic effort to refuse the democratic will of the people.
Through disinformation and co-optation of media; through malign use of the courts; through physical intimidation and violence.
This has been a calculated, multi-faceted, systematic effort to refuse the democratic will of the people.
Through disinformation and co-optation of media; through malign use of the courts; through physical intimidation and violence.
Because this effort has been farcical at times, there has been a tendency to dismiss it as performative. But its leader clearly has never seen it that way. He has believed, and continues to believe today, that it will return him to power, in spite of the will of the electorate.
But his delusions are not simply the rantings of a madman. They have been platformed and amplified by pro-coup media and tech. They have been laundered in specious court filings. And they have rationalized a calculated legislative effort aimed at overturning American democracy.
Again, because these efforts have been farcical, we have tended to eye-roll them away as cynical posturing. But I think we have to take them for what they are:
A concentrated effort to install an unelected leader, and vest him with the vast powers of the American presidency.
A concentrated effort to install an unelected leader, and vest him with the vast powers of the American presidency.
This is a coup.
And those who have led this assault in democracy are coup-plotters. They are seditionists.
And those who have led this assault in democracy are coup-plotters. They are seditionists.
This is where the very serious opinion writers run-up against the tropes.
This doesn’t look like a coup, they say.
What they mean is that they don’t see dark-skinned young men waving rifles and riding through the streets in open military vehicles.
This doesn’t look like a coup, they say.
What they mean is that they don’t see dark-skinned young men waving rifles and riding through the streets in open military vehicles.
The fresh-faced, finely-groomed Josh Hawley does not conform to our prejudiced mental image of what a coup-leader looks like. But he is one.
He may rely on procedural finery and florid legal reasoning rather than ride around in a Hilux, but his aim is the same. He is trying to preemptively over-throw the duly-elected government of the United States.
Ted Cruz (not as finely groomed) is also a coup leader. He may be a self-promoter and a fabulist, but his aim is deadly serious: he is knowingly trying to reverse a legitimate election, against the clear will of the American people.
The Republican conference in the House of Representatives is trivialized and infantilized for their absurd antics. But this obscured the seriousness of their menace. Last night a majority of them voted to overturn a free and fair election, and hand power to a deranged despot.
What worries me now is that these coup-plotters will escape accountability for their actions. If Josh Hawley had led an assault on the Capitol, rather than from within it, he’d be justly subjected to punitive action.
The actions of the mob yesterday were always doomed to failure, and the damage done was mostly cosmetic. Eventually accountability will come to the rancid clowns who invaded the Capitol building.
But what about @HawleyMO? By any measure, his actions were more sinister and more grave. They had the power to overturn a legitimate and democratic election; indeed, it was his intention and hope that they would. What do we do with him?
He chambered a live round, and fired it at the Constitution he swore an oath to uphold. He missed, but so what?
Is an attempt to functionally overthrow the elected government of the United States absolvable behavior from a United States Senator, just because it failed?
Is an attempt to functionally overthrow the elected government of the United States absolvable behavior from a United States Senator, just because it failed?
It’s easy (and fun!) to dismiss Trump and his enablers as kooks and buffoons. But it’s time to treat their actions with the seriousness they deserve, and hold them accountable.
They attempted to seize power, in violation of the most sacred principles in American life, right before our eyes. There must be consequences, surely?
At minimum, they must be thrown out of positions of public trust, and judged by history as the seditionists that they are. x/x
At minimum, they must be thrown out of positions of public trust, and judged by history as the seditionists that they are. x/x
