It’s not really a coup, but it isn’t entirely a putsch, either.
Along with watching and reading the events, I’ve been muddling through this. In doing so, I went back to the earlier post I wrote about this, deriving accurate descriptions of both political actions from Perplexity. So, to return to yesteryear…(feels that way, doesn’t it?)…
Let’s review what a coup is.
Coup implies a well-executed, successful takeover.
Uh, no. Trump slumping in his White House chair while Elon dances around and emits easily refuted falsehoods about what he’s doing?…nah. And the mess our media expose every day (weird emails, demands, recalls, clumsy lying)?
And what did they take over? Maybe the Oval Office but not a lot more than that. (Mar-a-Lago was already taken over so that doesn’t count.)
A Coup: is usually conducted by those already close to power, such as military forces or political elites.
Pete Hegseth, military force? Pete Hegseth, political elite? They’re firing veterans in a crazed purge which will undoubtedly win the hearts and minds of our military, so I don’t think so. And have you located — by drone, if necessary — any creature there who could be defined as politically elite? RFK Jr., maybe?
A Coup: often occurs quickly, within a few hours.
Something did occur within a few hours but no one is clear as to what.
A Coup: requires broader cooperation from various sectors of society to consolidate power.
The only sector of society this coup has attracted is MAGAts, formerly known as the GOP. Not cooperating are the Democratic Party, the AGs in the blue states, women, universities, lawyers, judges…and pretty much every other sector of society.
Now let’s do putsch.
A Putsch is often associated with unsuccessful, clumsily executed attempts to seize power.
Well, I don’t know what you’d call what we’re witnessing, but “successful” and “adept” are hardly words I’d use to describe this crap. Infuriating, disturbing, surreal — yeah.
A Putsch typically involves a minority reactionary group.
Yes, that’s what they are.
A Putsch usually implies a sudden, violent action with less sophisticated planning.
Sudden, yep, violent, yep and there is only one group of people who’d term the Project 2025 manifesto “sophisticated,” and that’s the group who wrote it, i.e., a minority reactionary group.
A Putsch may involve paramilitary groups or armed militias rather than the official military.
I assume that’s what the pardons given to the January 6 attackers are supposed to create: an armed militia, at Trump’s command, ever so déja vu. I mean, it worked so brilliantly the first time, why should we think it won’t work similarly this time?
So what have we got here? I’m calling it a CouPutsch (pronounced “kooputsch”). And because I’d regret losing the modifier “putz,” I’ll toss it in. Apply it where you choose.