An American Coup?

This morning I woke up pondering the chances that many of us who have not been in the streets since the sixties and seventies will have to once again take to the streets to stop an illegitimate power grab by our current President. Between the pandemic and the sense of a new generation taking to the streets up the struggle against injustice, I have tried to support Black Live Matter and other protests against systemic racism from a safe distance. Coming into this election in which our President is consistently trying to undermine the legitimacy of our electoral process and has refused to pledge to a peaceful transfer of power, I am preparing to be more actively engaged.

For many of us, the idea of a ‘coup’ in America has always seemed far-fetched if not impossible. But in four short years, with the support of his Republican colleagues in Congress, Trump has undermined the powerful system of checks and balances that have allowed our country to survive through good leaders and bad. His increasing calls of ‘voter fraud’ have no correspondence in reality. His efforts, and the efforts of the Republican hierarchy, seem to be to restrict the vote as much as possible and to preserve their power at any cost.

Trump has been consistently trailing in the polls. He was four years ago as well. He lost the popular vote four years ago too. But he was, through the unreasonable and legitimate machinations of the Electoral College, legitimately elected as the President of our nation. Though we howled and protested, we went along.

A landslide vote for Joe Biden may make all of these worries seem overblown and I will be happy for that. But the potential for Trump to be declaring victory before all the votes are counted is real. He will say, as all coup leaders do, that he is acting in the interests of ‘democracy’ and that due to widespread fraud, he is taking action in the interests of ‘the people.’ He has created a loyal and insulated group of followers who will believe him and the media empire that supports him, rather than the facts on the ground.

ChooseDemocracy has an informative and encouraging web site with many resources as we head into the election and beyond. In the essay Ten Things You Need to Know to Stop a Coup they say a coup would be in process if the government:

• Stops counting votes;
• Declares someone a winner who didn’t get the most votes; or
• Allows someone to stay in power who didn’t win the election.

Given the actual rules of our democratic process, I would have to disagree with the second point. We have agreed together that the President is elected by the Electoral College. So I would say that if the delegates to the Electoral College reflect the popular vote of that state, then we would have a legitimately elected President, even if (as with Hillary Clinton and Al Gore) that person has not received the most actual votes.

The first three of the Ten Things You Need to Know to Stop a Coup are:
1. Don’t expect results Election night. — Everyone I know and trust is urging patience in the weeks ahead. Don’t believe everything you hear and read. There will be outrageous claims on both sides. Don’t react to the terrible affront that is reported until you have that actually verified. Keeping cool and acting strategically is essential.

2. Do call it a coup. – ‘People who do power grabs always claim they’re doing it to save democracy or claim they know the “real” election results. This doesn’t have to look like a military coup with one leader ordering the opposition to be arrested’.

3. Know that coups have been stopped by regular folks. – This was the most heartening reminder to me. Even if Trump and his allies stop the voting process and even if the recently politically re-jiggered Supreme Court rules in their favor, an illegitimate government can only govern with the consent of those governed. A number of attempted coups around the world have been thwarted by citizens who refused to go along, who actively and publicly resisted. Coups are especially vulnerable as they are trying to consolidate power, this is why we need to be prepared to act quickly and in large.

My hope is that Trump’s outrageous behaviors and irresponsible leadership have mobilized enough of us, that the vote will be so clear and the will of the people so evident that he will be removed from office through normal channels. But we should all be prepared to exercise our responsibility to preserve the rule of law and democratic values through the power of non-violent actions.