What Americans Should Know About the Recent Attempted Coup

What Americans Should Know About the Recent Attempted Coup

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A few days ago, many Americans watched in horror as a mob of rabid Trump supporters tried to stop Congress from formally announcing that Joe Biden had won the presidential election. The Congressional session was largely a formality. Biden won the election handily, besting Trump by about seven million total votes and trouncing him in the Electoral College.

The pro-Trump mob shut down those proceedings. Proud Boys and individuals carrying Confederate flags stomped through the US capital building, yammering about stopping the steal. As of this moment, we know that five people died that day, including a police officer and several Trump supporters.

What Comes Next?

Most of 2020 was about Covid-19. It dominated the news cycle, and it still does. Many people want to go back to work. One survey revealed that 1 in 3 workers believe the potential mental health benefits of being in an office again outweigh the coronavirus risks.

Before we even begin to think about that sort of thing, though, this country needs to deal with its Trump problem. The former reality show host still has a few days before Biden officially ousts him, and until that time, he still has the nuclear codes.

Many of those close to him reveal that he’s exhibiting unhinged behavior. It’s not at all hyperbolic to state that this is a person who could be capable of anything. He fomented a revolution to keep himself in power, behaving like the fascist leaders he so admires.

The 25th Amendment

The Constitution’s 25th Amendment might be one way to remove Trump. Essentially, it allows the Vice President to take over the President’s duties and remove them from power if they’re not mentally or physically fit. Since Trump orchestrated a literal coup to try to stay in power, it’s probably not unreasonable to say he’s mentally unwell.

However, the likelihood of Pence and Trump’s cabinet removing him is virtually nil. Pence knows that would be tantamount to political suicide. He’s in an awkward position: he knows that for his political future, it can’t look like he supported an insurrection.

At the same time, he fears Trump’s base, and he’s not wrong to do so. We saw just a few days ago that many of them will stop at nothing to try and keep their cult leader in power.

A 2nd Impeachment

What’s more likely is that the Democrats, and possibly a few token Republicans, will try to impeach Trump a second time. It was really a foregone conclusion that the Senate Republicans would fail to remove Trump following the first impeachment. They voted in lockstep at that time, with only Mitt Romney siding with the Dems.

This time, the Democrats are impeaching Trump for something much more serious than the first time around. He brought about a literal insurrection and attempted to subvert the American people’s will.

Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer will lead the charge once again, and this second impeachment might actually go somewhere. The problem is that time is not on their side. It’s less than two weeks till Trump must formally step down and allow Biden into the White House.

The Twitter Ban

The latest news is that Facebook has suspended Trump from posting there indefinitely, and now Twitter has given him a permanent account ban. Reports state that Trump is beyond furious that his favorite platform has blocked his access. His supporters, predictably enough, at ranting about the 1st Amendment.

If Trump wants to keep sending out messages, he will have to resort to much less popular social media platforms. The other thing he could do is convene a press conference and address the people directly that way. Probably, there would be no way to prevent him from doing that.

The fact that we’ve gotten to this point, as a nation, is complete insanity. Some people who didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 felt like once he was in power, he might become “presidential” all of a sudden. They felt like maybe he would stop blustering and act like a competent politician and leader.

Anyone who thought that failed to realize who and what Trump is. Yet, he has shown us his true colors throughout his entire life.

Ironically, it’s probably Lindsay Graham who said it best when he tweeted four years ago about the dire consequences the GOP would face with Trump representing them. Probably even he couldn’t have foreseen this, though: an actual coup attempt to kick-off 2021.