Treat the Coup Differently

Imagine Trump’s anti democratic efforts being successful, and act accordingly.

Illustration by Peter Ramirez.

We are all guilty.

Not of a crime, no. Of something else. Guilty of permitting an injustice in broad daylight. Blameworthy of allowing history’s dumbest and slowest-moving coup to drip downhill uninhibited.

We have given the president a pass because we know, at the end of the day, his efforts to steal the election will be futile. But the fact that Trump won’t be successful shouldn’t mean his actions are any less deplorable, reprehensible, and frankly, illegal.

What is the current state of the defense of American democracy from the hands of outgoing President Trump? Are we mobilizing, indicting, or protesting? Are we even angry? No. Instead, we collectively poke fun at the president squirming in delusion and drowning in conspiracy, as if we were watching a zoo animal flailing about from the safety of being behind the plexiglass.

Here is my challenge to my readers: treat the president’s attempts to subvert the election as if they could be successful. Not because they are, but because what we are defending — democracy itself — demands it.

If there were some loophole in the constitution, some backdoor, saving-face maneuver Trump could evoke, wouldn’t we be more vigilant? Let’s be more vigilant…