The Atlantic: America's Second Worst Scenario

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

The next time an insurgent mob arrives to sack the Capitol, if one happens to try between now and Inauguration Day, mere strength of numbers will not overwhelm the defenses. In the 10 days since the January 6 assault on Congress, the Secret Service has overseen the establishment of an instant “green zone,” fortified by eight-foot steel barriers and patrolled by some 20,000 National Guardsmen. Those are real bullets in the magazines of their Army-issued M-4 assault rifles, not at all the standard gear for maintaining civic order.

A healthy democracy does not need a division-size force to safeguard the incoming president in its capital. Generals and admirals in a thriving republic do not have to enjoin the troops against “violence, sedition and insurrection” or reaffirm that “there’s no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election.” A nation secure in the peaceful transfer of power does not require 10 former defense secretaries to remind their successor that he is “bound by oath, law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration.”
.............
Here is the nub of our predicament. Donald Trump attempted democracide, and he had help. The victim survived but suffered grievous wounds. American democracy now faces a long convalescence in an environment of ongoing attacks. Trump has not exhausted his malignant powers, and co-conspirators remain at large.

I do not mean to be taken figuratively. The president of the United States lost an election and really did try with all his might to keep the winner from replacing him. He did his level best to overthrow our system of government, and tens of millions of Americans marched behind him. But a coup d’état in America had seemed so unlikely a thing, and it was so buffoonishly attempted, that the political establishment had trouble taking it seriously. That was a big mistake.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/how-close-did-us-come-successful-coup/617709/

[genxlib]

1. Kick

The Atlantic has been doing some of the best writing in this election cycle. It is a great blend of facts and commentary that is a very useful, readable and informative hybrid between straight news and opinion.

Thanks

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Agree about Atlantic. Thanks to OP. . . . . nt

[erronis]

6. Totally agree. Very in depth and from many perspectives. A bit more from the article:

In late September, six weeks before Election Day, The Atlantic published my cover story, “The Election That Could Break America.” In it, I made two categorical predictions. One was that Trump would not concede under any circumstance. He would insist, against all evidence, that he had prevailed. The other was a corollary:

Trump’s invincible commitment to this stance will be the most important fact about the coming Interregnum. It will deform the proceedings from beginning to end. We have not experienced anything like it before.

And so it was. Even under maximum pressure, after the Capitol insurrection, his bow to reality (“I will not be going to the Inauguration”) was wrapped in rejection: The transfer of power, his refusal implied, would not be legitimate.

Three banks, two real-estate brokers, and a law firm have withdrawn from any further business with Trump. He has lost valuable contracts to operate two New York City ice rinks and the carousel in Central Park.

Cruz and Hawley have lost key backers after leading the election denialists in the Senate. Numerous businesses and political-action committees have suspended contributions to any Republican who voted to overturn the Electoral College.

In Georgia this week, two Republican state senators lost their committee chairmanships after joining in Trump’s attempt to overturn the state’s election results. Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, an ally of Raffensperger, stripped them of their seniority.

These are useful starting points. Our democracy can begin to heal itself if it rewards and honors people who did the right thing and punishes those who wrought the worst damage upon it. Republicans who want to make amends for election denial can speak the truth now and speak it loudly. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy put a down payment on that on Wednesday afternoon, merely by admitting that Biden won. He has a long way to go.

History is not finished with Trump, Cruz, or Hawley. If we value our democracy, they will face justice now. The reckoning has only begun.

[niyad]

3. KNR and bookmarking.

[Laelth]

4. Excellent article. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[paleotn]

5. Very good article. We are not a healthy democracy...

And our condition has been deteriorating since at least Newt Gingrich. Maybe before that. We're a cancer patient. I think that's the best analogy. And treatment is going to be tough. Our chances of survival are difficult to calculate, but potentially not good.

[jalan48]

7. From the article.

Aaron Van Langevelde

The man in rimless glasses and a paisley tie clutched a pen as if in self-defense. Van Langevelde, a boyish-looking 40-year-old, held a part-time position in a quiet cul-de-sac of Michigan’s election bureaucracy. By great misfortune he had attracted the attention of Donald Trump, who was three weeks into a desperate struggle to erase his defeat at the ballot box. Trump wanted him, lawlessly, to block the certification of Michigan’s presidential vote.

The monstrous pressure that descended upon Van Langevelde is not easy to convey. He was one of two Republicans on the four-person board of state canvassers. Trump needed them both to sabotage the certification, and one had already signed on. State and national party leaders were broadcasting lies about fraud. The president and a parade of prominent Republicans had sent the message that Van Langevelde must follow along. He ducked their calls. He went off the grid. Observers in Lansing expected him to resign.

He did not. On the afternoon of November 23, Van Langevelde showed up, pen in hand, for a public hearing. All 83 county authorities reported valid election results. Van Langevelde leaned forward to toggle on his mike, pulling down his face mask to speak. “The board’s duty today is very clear,” he said calmly. “We have a duty to certify this election based on the returns.”

[FailureToCommunicate]

8. K n R

[barbtries]

9. thank you.

I finally pulled the trigger and subscribed, and it's already worth it.

[BComplex]

19. I pulled the trigger in December. I gave myself and my God Son a subscription for Christmas.

I'm really glad I did.

[barbtries]

20. yeah, I'm mulling over

who gets the gift subscription, because I bought the deluxe package!

[halfulglas]

10. My DIL gave me a subscription for Christmas present.

I only intermittently read it before but it's an awesome gift to have access all the time and the daily emails. Sure beats something to wear, since clothing I have plenty of.

[Jon King]

11. Hawley really messed up his life...

Handed everything in life, best education, young lecturer at Oxford, could have used his privilege to have a ton. Instead he made the calculated decision to appeal to the bottom of the barrel to gain power. Thinking he would be a younger and better version of Trump. He can't stand being stuck in MO politics.

Instead he will now be lucky to have a political future in MO, probably in the House, stuck forever among the very deplorables he completely hates. No one in business or the society he wants to be a part of will touch him with a 10000 foot pole.

[leighbythesea2]

15. I read somewhere

That an intern, coming after Hawley, somewhere was asked "you're not a fascist like Hawley are you?". Seems he's had it in him from the beginning.

[yaesu]

12. The real threat was the train military types who used the tRump humpers as a trojan horse to get

in and assassinate, harm, destroy probably on the orders of Russia.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. Where was the Deep State

I thought they had our backs.

[Blue Owl]

14. K&R

[uponit7771]

16. K&R

[Hekate]

17. KnR

[Stuart G]

18. k and r.... Thank You for Posting This Article...

[roamer65]

21. There cannot be a successful coup in the United States.

States would attempt secession and it would end up in a bloody civil conflict.

It would end up like Yugoslavia or Syria.

If the federal government falls apart, the country will tear itself apart.

[Captain Zero]

23. Yugoslavia or Syria in the US - Putin's Wet Dream

nt

[roamer65]

24. A world wide economic disaster of truly epic proportions.

Imagine the implosion of the world’s reserve currency and its effect on the other fiat currencies.



Putin and Russia would be wiped out as well.

[Initech]

22. As the old saying goes: the beatings will continue until morale improves.