Yeah I don’t have a good objectively measurable definition right now, this is the kind of thing you’d usually hold a whole trial for.
Generally speaking what I’d look for is:
A clear communication from the people accused of plotting the coup, showing they knew about it and intended for it to be a violent overthrow of power. Not “this could be interpreted that way” but something unambiguous.
The attempt needs to be organized, not a disorganized mob of people.
A lack of disconfirmatory evidence like, for example, how Trump was pushing for additional National Guard/police presence at Jan 6th which was denied, him tweeting out in the middle of everything “please remain peaceful” and “respect law enforcement”, and then later telling the mob to “go home”.
There’s a lot of reasons why I’m skeptical about Jan 6th but the main one was that if I imagine an attempt at a coup by a sitting president of the United States, it looks a lot more serious and organized than this.
There were plenty of people in the Capitol, and afaik they mostly just walked around an empty building and took photos. If this is an organized coup why aren’t they moving towards some goal, to actually achieve something? Say they did get into the room where Congress was supposed to be meeting, then what? Everybody had already been evacuated so what exactly was the plan to overturn the election? Am I supposed to believe that the people who organized the coup just failed to anticipate this, when it’s the most obvious reaction on-site security could have made?
To me this looks far more like a disorganized mob of people just doing dumb stuff with no clear goal or plan. If I was going to bet money, I’d want a “coup” to at least look like a clear and organized attempt.
Yeah I don’t have a good objectively measurable definition right now, this is the kind of thing you’d usually hold a whole trial for.
Generally speaking what I’d look for is:
A clear communication from the people accused of plotting the coup, showing they knew about it and intended for it to be a violent overthrow of power. Not “this could be interpreted that way” but something unambiguous.
The attempt needs to be organized, not a disorganized mob of people.
A lack of disconfirmatory evidence like, for example, how Trump was pushing for additional National Guard/police presence at Jan 6th which was denied, him tweeting out in the middle of everything “please remain peaceful” and “respect law enforcement”, and then later telling the mob to “go home”.
There’s a lot of reasons why I’m skeptical about Jan 6th but the main one was that if I imagine an attempt at a coup by a sitting president of the United States, it looks a lot more serious and organized than this.
There were plenty of people in the Capitol, and afaik they mostly just walked around an empty building and took photos. If this is an organized coup why aren’t they moving towards some goal, to actually achieve something? Say they did get into the room where Congress was supposed to be meeting, then what? Everybody had already been evacuated so what exactly was the plan to overturn the election? Am I supposed to believe that the people who organized the coup just failed to anticipate this, when it’s the most obvious reaction on-site security could have made?
To me this looks far more like a disorganized mob of people just doing dumb stuff with no clear goal or plan. If I was going to bet money, I’d want a “coup” to at least look like a clear and organized attempt.