There's a coup happening in DC. There's no other way to describe it.
The president is nominating and the Senate is approving candidates whose basic qualifications are loyalty to the president.
He's illegally firing employees and shutting down federal funding to the states.
He's implemented 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
The Republicans in the Senate are approving his nominees.
He's fired all the heads of agencies that deal with airline travel and safety, then blamed two crashes on Biden, women, and people of color. The new N word is DEI.
He's fired a large number of federal attorneys and FBI agents.
He's wiping out all traces of programs that work for justice for people who aren't white hetero males.
His unelected, unapproved, honorary vice president (some argue the true president) Elon Musk has slipped into key agencies and people are worried he's collecting data for his own business uses and other nefarious purposes.
Gutting important health and other websites.
He's released water from a dam in California that was being saved up for when it's needed in the summer.
This is just a tiny fraction of the acts he's taken.
Even if Congress stood up to Trump, he would simply ignore them and do what he wants. Who is to stop him? (I'll try to address this question in another post.)
What seems to drive his decisions? There seem to be four key factors, though readers can probably think of others:
- Getting everyone to focus on Trump. He just can't deal with being ignored or criticized
- Punish those who don't kowtow to his whims
- Whip up the fear and anger of his supporters
- Reward his wealthy supporters
No mainstream media mention coup yet
While the main media outlets might mention his actions, none that I've seen have put it all together and called it a coup. When I google Trump coup - everything that comes up is about January 6, 2021. Cyber coups are as easy to convey visually as military coups.
But on social media, people are starting to call this what it is. Here are just a couple of examples:
From Bluesky/ was bustling with coup references today.
"But the longer we fail to recognize the current situation for what it is—a slow-rolling coup attempt—the longer it will take for us to recover."
A privatization coup of the US government?
— David Corn (@davidcorn.bsky.social) February 1, 2025 at 3:25 PM
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Not just a coup but a coup by a corrupt Putin- and Nazi-aligned foreigner. Too bad we no longer have a real DOJ.
— Andrew Wallingford (@andrewwallingford.bsky.social) February 1, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Another step in the coup & Trump still doesn’t realize Musk has taken charge.
— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) February 1, 2025 at 10:00 AM
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https://spoutible.com/. didn't offer as many examples when I searched for 'coup'
Even on Musk's own Twitter people are calling it a coup
We are in the middle of a fast moving putsch, a right wing authoritarian coup, a five alarm fire, and our media are treating it as if it were a little backyard bonfire.
— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) February 1, 2025
If this isn’t a coup d’etat, I don’t know what is. Someone not elected to office is methodically taking full control of the United States government. pic.twitter.com/zxUMcsFv8G
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) February 2, 2025
Elon Musk is staging a coup. Was that not clear? https://t.co/AcCNI1caNK
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) February 1, 2025
Democrats are still talking about winning the 2026 Congressional races, as if there will be free and fair elections. But Trump's team has studied all the possible ways to disenfranchise opposition voters and ways to game the electoral process, I can't imagine that the next elections will be conducted with a fat thumb on the scales.
At the moment, most people are living pretty much the way they were six months ago. Except for dark skinned immigrants, pregnant women with complications, LGBTQ folks, people are still going about their lives relatively normally.
They haven't grasped that soon they will be affected. Maybe when disaster funds are withheld, or people they work with disappear, or their health care or social security are sharply reduced or disappear.
But most authoritarian governments in world history end. Some faster than others. Find ways to resist in your community - whether it's joining a group, contacting your federal representatives on a regular basis, confronting disinformation when you hear it, and many other ways. Here's Robert Reich's list of ten things to do to resist.
I'd note Reich reminds people to find joy in their lives - get out and appreciate the beauty of nature, of art, music, a meal with family and friends, play with your pets.
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