When we hear the word “coup,” many of us think of South American dictators and military takeovers and point to our Second Amendment right as to why it can never happen here. What we fail to notice, however, is that silent coups, sometimes called “soft” coups, don’t require any bloodshed and can be accomplished through legal means.
We appear to be experiencing a soft coup in 2020, which really shouldn’t surprise anyone, given what the year has already thrown at us.
As we move closer to Inauguration Day, much of the country is still split over who they believe should be sworn in and what they think actually occurred during the election process. Additionally, Republican lawmakers have asked the courts to overturn the presidential election results (but not their own); block the electors pledged to the Democrats in four states with majority Republican state legislators; and then have those same states appoint Republican electors to replace the Democratic ones so Donald Trump would win. Once the formal vote occurred and this was no longer an option, their attention turned to the 130-year-old Electoral Count Act with plans to object to multiple slates of electors and a reversal of results.
It sounds like a failed low-budget movie that’s already had a few crazy plot twists and is unlikely to yield a happy ending. Many of us are watching this play out in real time with a feeling of horror that we haven’t experienced since Stephen King left us with a lifelong fear of clowns, red balloons and street gutters.
A few of us are also arguing with others who insist, “this is fine, It’s happened before.” It’s not a coup, they insist.
For those who are not amateur historians or who don’t want to rush to Wikipedia to look up “Compromise of 1877,” allow me boil the long story down to size so you can decide for yourself if we have, in fact, been here before.
Back in 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican governor of Ohio, was running for President against the Democratic governor of New York, Samuel Tilden. Ulysses S. Grant, also a native of Ohio, was in his second term of office as a Republican president and had decided not to seek a third term. When the general election was held, Tilden won the popular votes by a substantial margin and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes’ 165. (In 1876, 185 votes were needed to win.) Florida (four electoral votes), Louisiana (eight) and South Carolina (seven) submitted two different sets of vote tallies, with both parties claiming victories in those states. All three states had known incidents of voter intimidation and voter fraud committed by both parties, and the laws and technology of the era did not offer an obvious answer to the question, “Who won?”
Neither side was willing to yield; so Congress stepped in to establish an electoral commission, and political leaders negotiated a deal called the “Compromise of 1877.”
Many Trump supporters are hoping for something similar that will keep Trump in office, but they would be wise to remember that old saying, “Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.”
Attempting to overturn the 2020 election without evidence of voter fraud or intimidation by resorting to a claim of “indetectable voter fraud” takes this well past the situation in 1877, and the courts have been wise to reject (thus far) all efforts to overturn this election. We are now in “soft coup” territory, and it is shocking that so many elected officials indicated their willingness to challenge states’ electors.
Back in 2016, I listened in horror to Democratic friends talking about ways the election could still be flipped and then listening to the far wiser voices of reason that carefully explained why it would be a disaster for our country to do any of the things suggested and why Hillary Clinton was right to concede.
Now, I’m listening to Republican friends attempt to justify their efforts, and those voices of reason from 2016 are nowhere to be found. This president not only didn’t concede; he claimed to have won, and now many of his supporters are intent on disenfranchising millions of voters.
There’s only one word to describe this activity, and putting “soft” in front of “coup” really doesn’t make it any more acceptable. At this point, we need to stop and ask ourselves if the desired goal is worth the damage this will do to our country.
A lifelong resident of Hancock County, Linda Dunn is an author and retired Department of Defense employee. Send comments to dr-editorial@green fieldreporter.com.
