The Risks of Insurrections and Coups

 

That the Jan 6 assault was a coup attempt surely is possible, even probable. We may never achieve proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

So, if successful, then what? What did the insurrectionists plan to do if they had succeeded?

Write a new Constitution – or was it just a crass grab for power so Trump could hide behind the DOJ memo to avoid prosecution for various “transgressions”?

Yet, there may also have been others with nefarious intentions.  As often happens in a coup, the lead actors’ position is supplanted by others with different, dangerous purposes.

What about the Russians? All those Shakespearean protests about a rigged election fill the air with the acrid smoke of a 2016 steal. (see Hamilton’s Federalist 68 warning)

Big Q – how would our military react? The coup could spark a civil war – so many guns in the wrong hands.

Coups have a way of leading to places unintended – and dangerous.  Think French Revolution and the Terror.

Next time, it might not be an empty-suited carnival barker behind a coup attempt.  It might be a competent person who actually understands how to pull off a coup, and greviously damage the country.

Then, we will have lost a great legacy, and for what?  And with what dire consequences? Time for work beyond mere diligence.  Time for public officials whose main focus is the nation instead of job security.