Politics
The True Danger of Trump’s Bottomless Coup
It ain’t over ’til it’s really over
The biggest problem with Donald Trump’s ongoing coup is that it’s been so wonderfully entertaining. From the Four Seasons Total Landscaping debacle to the sight of Rudy Giuliani dissolving into a puddle of Just For Men and shame, to…whatever this is, it’s been the kind of reality TV spectacular that Trump could only have dreamed of whilst firing people on The Apprentice.
In fact, it’s been so entertaining, that it feels melodramatic to describe it as a coup at all. Coups are violent, bloody affairs that happen in failed states half a world away or in the grim, authoritarian past. They’re ghost stories designed to scare the weak-minded. Depending on where you sit politically, what we’re witnessing now, is either the last, vain attempt of an egomaniac to avoid admitting defeat or a righteous campaign to stand up for those who voted for him. And whichever it is, it’ll be over in a few months, right?
Well, yes and no. It’s true that this particular clown show will be over in a few months. But whether or not Trump succeeds in overturning the election result — all signs thankfully suggest he won’t — the damage he’s doing to America will have consequences far beyond the 20th of January 2021. But before we look forward to what…
