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Yes, it was a coup attempt

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Yes, it was a coup attempt.

That’s the major shift in reporting now on 2020 Presidential election’s aftermath, when Trump refused to conceed, falsely claimed the election was stolen and rigged, and encouraged his followers to go to Washington and march on Congress which became known as the January 6 insurrection. It took a media whose standards are still influenced by 20th century standards awhile before writers and broadcasters could use the word “lie” when it came to Trump. “Lie” is now commonly used in reporting on the twice-impeached Trump. As details about this dark chapter in American history continue to trickle out the words “attempted coup” will commonly be used by journalists — and with historians.

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus sums. She writes:

What happened on Jan. 6 was horrifying: an attempted coup, inflamed by social media, incited by the defeated president and televised in real time. What happened before Jan. 6, we are coming to learn, was equally horrifying: a slow-motion attempted coup, plotted in secret at the pinnacle of government and foiled by the resistance of a few officials who would not accede to Donald Trump’s deluded view of the election outcome.

That is the unnerving picture that is only beginning to fully emerge of what was happening behind the scenes as Trump, enraged by his loss, schemed to overturn clear election results with the connivance of not only top White House aides but also senior officials at the Justice Department who were maneuvering around their chain of command to bolster Trump’s efforts.

Which raises the most disturbing question: What if? What if the senior Trump-installed officials at the Justice Department, notably acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen, had been more willing to put loyalty to Trump over the rule of law? What happens, God forbid, next time, when the outcome may be further muddied thanks to changed state laws shifting power from election officials to partisan legislators?

She expresses alarm and writes:

Now we are getting accounts of what happened in those frenzied final days from Rosen himself. Over the weekend, he hastened to testify to the Justice Department inspector general and the Senate Judiciary Committee before Trump could seek to interpose assertions of executive privilege. Rosen’s former deputy, Donoghue, also appeared before the Senate panel. The testimony was behind closed doors, but as we learn more of what was said, I suspect there will be even more reason to be concerned about what might have been.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told CNN on Sunday that he was “struck by how close the country came to total catastrophe.”

“What was going on in the Department of Justice was frightening,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said on CNN’s State of the Union. “I think it’s a good thing for America that we had a person like Rosen in that position, who … withstood the pressure.”

Will that always be the case? Will the country be able to dodge future bullets, from Trump or his successors? I would like to think so. But if there is anything the past five years have shown, it is the disappointing fecklessness of too many of those in power in the face of the Trumpist onslaught.

Go the link and read it in its entirety.

This post on CNN notes that the rule of law is catching up with Trump’s Big Lie.


Of related interest:
—Yes, It Was a Coup Attempt. Here’s Why.
—Trump Nearly Enlisted the Justice Department in His Coup Scheme

A must read: