I've copied the post below (with new additions) across from elsewhere, because I'm thinking that the possibility that Trump is plotting a coup deserves its own thread.
It's easy to scoff at the notion that he might be planning a coup, but we've seen many times before that Trump is crazy, breaks all norms and conventions, and cares not all about democracy. For him, staying power and not being seen to lose is everything.
Consider this article in The Guardian - ‘It must be made to fail’: Trump's desperate bid to cling to power - of which this is an extract:
"[The] continued leaks about the Trump team’s long-shot strategies for overturning the election result, and references such as one by the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, on Tuesday to a “smooth transition to a second Trump administration”, fed a sense of alarm that America was witnessing more than just hardball politics, cynical fundraising or Trumpian sour grapes.
'What Donald Trump is attempting to do has a name: coup d’état,' said Timothy Snyder, a history professor at Yale University specializing in authoritarianism, on Twitter. 'Poorly organized though it might seem, it is not bound to fail. It must be made to fail.
'Coups are defeated quickly or not at all. While they take place we are meant to look away, as many of us are doing. When they are complete we are powerless.'
... Simultaneous to the Trump campaign’s move against election results in six key states, Trump was installing loyalists in the defense department and in other key security-related government posts. That was activity that might have prompted a warning from the United States about an authoritarian takeover if it happened in Turkey or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Trump fired the defense secretary, Mark Esper, by tweet on Monday and appointed as chief of staff Kashyap Patel, a key Republican operative during the Russia investigation. Trump also replaced the heads of intelligence and policy inside the Pentagon with political apparatchiks, while a fourth Republican political operative, Michael Ellis, was installed as general counsel of the national security agency. A further move by Trump to fire the FBI director was also reportedly under consideration.
'That is dangerous,' said Corey Brettschneider, a professor at Brown University specializing in constitutional law and politics, of the 11th-hour personnel changes. 'We have other checks, and I don’t believe that the military would go along with a coup, but we need to have people at the top of those departments willing to say what democracy demands.' ..."
He has now additionally moved to fire a senior US cybersecurity official, Bryan Ware, in charge of stamping out election misinformation. And he is only one of a number of officials who have left national security roles in the wake of Mr Trump’s election loss to Joe Biden
Look at all these firings (and replacement with Trump ultra-loyalists) - in positions to do with defence, intelligence and security. Look at the rally he's encouraging this weekend in Washington DC - to be attended by numerous armed militia. Look at how the DoJ under Barr is aggressively onside with all the alleged electoral 'fraud' investigations. Look at how he's blocking Biden from getting intelligence briefings. Look at how House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has said, about Biden, that he doesn't know if "he'll be President January 20". Look at Pompeo's "jokey" remarks about a “smooth transition to a second Trump administration”. Look at Trump's instruction to the Proud Boys to "stand by".
Trump must know that his legal actions will fail - so why is he pursuing them? Trump must know that firing officials at this stage in pointless - so why is he is doing it? Some will answer that it's all just because he's stupid and vindictive. But maybe there's another, more sinister explanation, one unfolding as most observers are all looking in the other direction at election counts and court cases.
Trump has been setting up this narrative of massive fraud (if he lost) for months and months. Has he been priming the scene for a possible declaration of national emergency based on this premise of a stolen election? I wouldn't at all rule it out. And who in the GoP would have the spine to resist? Hardly any would be my bet. They'd rationalise it all away.
It's easy to scoff at the notion that he might be planning a coup, but we've seen many times before that Trump is crazy, breaks all norms and conventions, and cares not all about democracy. For him, staying power and not being seen to lose is everything.
Consider this article in The Guardian - ‘It must be made to fail’: Trump's desperate bid to cling to power - of which this is an extract:
"[The] continued leaks about the Trump team’s long-shot strategies for overturning the election result, and references such as one by the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, on Tuesday to a “smooth transition to a second Trump administration”, fed a sense of alarm that America was witnessing more than just hardball politics, cynical fundraising or Trumpian sour grapes.
'What Donald Trump is attempting to do has a name: coup d’état,' said Timothy Snyder, a history professor at Yale University specializing in authoritarianism, on Twitter. 'Poorly organized though it might seem, it is not bound to fail. It must be made to fail.
'Coups are defeated quickly or not at all. While they take place we are meant to look away, as many of us are doing. When they are complete we are powerless.'
... Simultaneous to the Trump campaign’s move against election results in six key states, Trump was installing loyalists in the defense department and in other key security-related government posts. That was activity that might have prompted a warning from the United States about an authoritarian takeover if it happened in Turkey or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Trump fired the defense secretary, Mark Esper, by tweet on Monday and appointed as chief of staff Kashyap Patel, a key Republican operative during the Russia investigation. Trump also replaced the heads of intelligence and policy inside the Pentagon with political apparatchiks, while a fourth Republican political operative, Michael Ellis, was installed as general counsel of the national security agency. A further move by Trump to fire the FBI director was also reportedly under consideration.
'That is dangerous,' said Corey Brettschneider, a professor at Brown University specializing in constitutional law and politics, of the 11th-hour personnel changes. 'We have other checks, and I don’t believe that the military would go along with a coup, but we need to have people at the top of those departments willing to say what democracy demands.' ..."
He has now additionally moved to fire a senior US cybersecurity official, Bryan Ware, in charge of stamping out election misinformation. And he is only one of a number of officials who have left national security roles in the wake of Mr Trump’s election loss to Joe Biden
Look at all these firings (and replacement with Trump ultra-loyalists) - in positions to do with defence, intelligence and security. Look at the rally he's encouraging this weekend in Washington DC - to be attended by numerous armed militia. Look at how the DoJ under Barr is aggressively onside with all the alleged electoral 'fraud' investigations. Look at how he's blocking Biden from getting intelligence briefings. Look at how House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has said, about Biden, that he doesn't know if "he'll be President January 20". Look at Pompeo's "jokey" remarks about a “smooth transition to a second Trump administration”. Look at Trump's instruction to the Proud Boys to "stand by".
Trump must know that his legal actions will fail - so why is he pursuing them? Trump must know that firing officials at this stage in pointless - so why is he is doing it? Some will answer that it's all just because he's stupid and vindictive. But maybe there's another, more sinister explanation, one unfolding as most observers are all looking in the other direction at election counts and court cases.
Trump has been setting up this narrative of massive fraud (if he lost) for months and months. Has he been priming the scene for a possible declaration of national emergency based on this premise of a stolen election? I wouldn't at all rule it out. And who in the GoP would have the spine to resist? Hardly any would be my bet. They'd rationalise it all away.
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