It was frightening and appalling to see protestors succeed in storming the Capitol building yesterday-- in doing this, they used a tactic of coup-plotters, who frequently seek to capture symbolic seats of political power, such as the presidential palace or legislature 1/x

But for those still asking if this was a coup attempt--those not too weary of definitional debates--a few thoughts on why that term still doesn't fit are in this thread 2/x
The aim, in capturing symbolic targets, is to convince members of the military, who have the power to stop a coup, that it has, in fact, already succeeded, and that opposition is futile. This is what @naunihalpublic calls making the coup "a fact"
https://t.co/WgqbpaNHfD 3/x
If you want to know more about how coups unfold, this excerpt my from @CornellPress book, How to Prevent Coups, pp. 15-16, describes them: 4/x
But at no point did yesterday's protestors attempt to actually seize control of the levers of state power-- nor did anyone watching think these goons were now running the government. 5/x
There is nothing to suggest either Pres. Trump or his supporters had a real plan to translate this protest into a way for him to remain in office. To make a plausible coup attempt, there would need to have been some a serious effort to recruit *within the state apparatus.* 6/x
That's why so many of us who study coups continue to say this wasn't one. As I've said elsewhere, I think the distinction matters because the tactics you use to defeat coups are different from those needed to stop other anti-democratic actions 7/x
https://t.co/OtbJYzIVEo
I'm not trying police the language of those finding it useful to use the term 'coup' to coordinate opposition right now, but if you are interested in understanding what is happening & preventing it from happening again, then it's worth listening to the multiple... 8/x
coup experts, including @naunihalpublic, @prof_powell, @HarknessKristen, & myself telling you that we know what a coup is, and this is not one. /fin

More from Culture

@bellingcat's attempt in their new book, published by
@BloomsburyBooks, to coverup the @OPCW #Douma controversy, promote US and UK gov. war narratives, and whitewash fraudulent conduct within the OPCW, is an exercise in deception through omission. @BloomsburyPub @Tim_Hayward_


1) 2000 words are devoted to the OPCW controversy regarding the alleged chemical weapon attack in #Douma, Syria in 2018 but critical material is omitted from the book. Reading it, one would never know the following:

2) That the controversy started when the original interim report, drafted and agreed by Douma inspection team members, was secretly modified by an unknown OPCW person who had manipulated the findings to suggest an attack had occurred. https://t.co/QtAAyH9WyX… @RobertF40396660


3) This act of attempted deception was only derailed because an inspector discovered the secret changes. The manipulations were reported by @ClarkeMicah
and can be readily observed in documents now available https://t.co/2BUNlD8ZUv….

4) @bellingcat's book also makes no mention of the @couragefoundation panel, attended by the @opcw's first Director General, Jose Bustani, at which an OPCW official detailed key procedural irregularities and scientific flaws with the Final Douma Report:

You May Also Like