# It wasn’t a coup **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 13, 2021, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407 "2021-01-13T05:29:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 43
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/842 "2022-12-20T17:04:56Z")
I’ll repeat what I said at the start of this thread: > [@Atamasama](#): > > People wanted to stop the legal process of certifying the next leader, who was democratically elected per the Constitution, and maintain the leadership of a person who had failed the election, thus stealing power through force and instilling a leader they support. > > How the hell is that not a coup attempt? I stand by every word almost 2 years later. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/843 "2022-12-20T17:09:48Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Coup: there it is. ISWYDT ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/844 "2022-12-20T17:13:55Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I agree, this was a motley bunch of disorganized rabble storming the Capitol but most not knowing what to do once inside. Many of them even obeyed the velvet ropes, like tourists - they probably hadn’t even expected they’d be able to breach the Capitol in the first place. Like what the Joker says about a dog chasing a car; what’s he going to do if he caught one? > > A _ **real** _ coup is well-planned and involves generals, assassinations, pre-planned announcements to the populace about the new government, etc. Shit, @Velocity, I guess my question applies to you too: Given that Trump was referred to the DOJ for Insurrection, have you changed your mind? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/845 "2022-12-20T17:18:27Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I stand by every word almost 2 years later. Well, maybe not ‘instilling’ 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/846 "2022-12-20T17:18:29Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s only a “coup” if it takes place in the Coup D’etat region of France. Otherwise it’s just sparkling domestic terrorism. Reposting this because I liked it so much last year. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/847 "2022-12-20T18:02:04Z")
Okay I don’t stand by the typo. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/848 "2022-12-20T18:25:53Z")
Wow the OP sure showed me up on the NFT thing, so we can all just go home now. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/849 "2022-12-20T22:47:44Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Lol, I love it when the experts take 2 years to state what was obvious to us Dopers on November 9th, 2020: Actually, non-sarcastically, I do love the painstaking deliberation on the part of “the experts” in this regard. Because I want the folks who are officially classifying this stuff to take the time to get the facts and weigh the evidence, even if they end up only confirming what some more shoot-from-the-hip political analysts opined about it long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/850 "2022-12-20T23:04:18Z")
And speaking of people it would be interesting to hear from about whether they’ve subsequently altered their views on the seriousness of the Jan. 6 events: [Sam\_Stone in March 2021:](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-grievance-is-not-a-governing-agenda/937288/73) > [@](#): > > Despite the immediate story of Jan 6 being a ‘right wing extremist armed insurrection’ where a cop was clubbed to death woth a fire extinguisher, it actually turns out that the only person killed was an unarmed woman shot by Capitol police. > > And it also turns out that the group was not a bunch of organized right wing extremists. Only about 10% were affiliated with the Proud Boys. The rest had no ties to extremist groups, and most were normal people pushed to the edge by financial trouble. Many were small business owners. > > Oh, and it’s a strange ‘armed insurrection’ where not one single weapons charge was filed against anyone. And just recently the DOJ or FBI said they can find no credible threats against the government from the right, going all the way back to before the election. > > That hasn’t stopped Democrats from putting a standing army in Washington and surrounding themselves with fences and razor wire. Either they are engaging in a cynical attempt to paint the right as dangerous, or they’ve lost their freaking minds. […] > > […] they weren’t some right-wing militia rabble being caught up in an ‘insurrection’. They were just normal people hit hard by the times, angry and frustrated. You know, like pretty much any other protest-turned-riot. > > Given that there is still a standing army in Washington over two minths later with no known threats, I believe this is all just theater to smear Republicans in general to justify more surveillance, IRS shenanigans, ‘Operation Chokepoint’ style nonsense, etc. [Sam\_Stone in July 2021:](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-january-6-insurrection-had-been-more-successful/945442/6) > [@](#): > > Those yahoos in the Capital had no plan. They weren’t trying to start an insurrection - they were just a bunch of angry people trying to ‘have their voices heard’. Once they broke into the actual Senate chambers they basically just milled around acting like tourists, taking selfies, sitting in the speaker’s chair, etc. None of them were armed with firearms. Enough of them were old and out of shape that several deaths occurred just because of exertion and stress - including the capitol pooice officer who died of natural causes. > > The idea that you came close to having government toppled is absolutely ridiculous. Real insurrectionists don’t show up unarmed wearing cosplay gear and taking selfies while committing felonies. […] > > No self-respecting insurrection can be carried out with Viking helmets and selfie sticks. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/851 "2022-12-20T23:11:16Z")
Well, maybe, but Sam\_Stone is a moron. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/852 "2022-12-20T23:25:14Z")
He’s also a piece of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/853 "2022-12-21T02:32:05Z")
He’s turned into a caricature of a moron. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/854 "2022-12-21T03:34:47Z")
Well, he’s kinda right. His final line is gold: > No self-respecting insurrection can be carried out with Viking helmets and selfie sticks. There was nothing self-respecting or indeed anything-respecting about what those morons did. It was treason by idiot. And meanwhile Trump had been trying like mad for 6 weeks, and pretty darn hard for the previous 4 years to suborn enough of the government to put some real muscle behind the rabble. On the day of, the rest of the government could not stop Trump bleating his public demand for a coup. But they sure as hell made sure that nothing that looked like an order to perform the coup using Federal forces ever went anywhere. Instead Trump was shouting into Twitter and only the twits showed up. Rest assured those twits could have killed a couple hundred members of Congress before they ran out of ideas, beer, and Slim Jims. And that in turn could well have destabilized the rest of the political establishment enough that who knows where we’d be today. They were dangerous. And would have been far more so with just a little more help from the Feds. Help which was not, thank goodness, forthcoming. Much. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/855 "2022-12-21T05:31:06Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It was treason by idiot. _I like your description! To expand:_ It was treason: a. instigated by an idiot, b. carried out by idiots, c. excused by other idiots, d. supported by even more idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/856 "2022-12-21T05:53:46Z")
It’s well known in legal circles, that if a bank robbery is carried out by complete idiots who fail to get any money… Then it was all good, and we need to just let it go. Particularly we need not even do a cursory investigation of the main idiot who planned it all. Because he was an idiot, he gets a pass on criminal acts. Any decent mall lawyer or pillow salesman could tell you that. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/857 "2022-12-21T14:58:20Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > > [@Sitnam](#): > > > > Let’s be real, MAGA fans are stupid, but this NFT bullshit is just a a way for some shady fucker to pay Trump for some shady shit he did. > > You are correct about the NFT’s. But what about the referral to the DOJ about the Jan 6 insurrection? > > > Given that Trump was referred to the DOJ for Insurrection, have you changed your mind? No one expects The Hindsight Bandwagon Inquisition! Actually, we do because this is The Straight Dope. If you dudes are looking for a retraction or affirmation of grave error, fine, the conclusion I drew as the title of this thread was incorrect. It has been a long time, but I think I said that way up top shortly after the OP as well. To be fair to me, much has come to light since this thread started that no one here knew at the time, I can comfort my imagined bruised ego with that I guess. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/858 "2022-12-21T15:04:43Z")
Yes. But, as noted, _even 2 months prior_ to January 6th, the signs were there. We literally tracked them here in real time, man. > [@The American Coup: 11.9.2020 -](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182): > > thinking Trump fired his Secretary of Defense, replaced Esper with Chris Miller. This is a totally normal thing for an outgoing President to prioritize. Esper then says, in an interview in Military Times, that for the George Floyd protests he (Esper) would not support Trump’s desire to invoke the Insurrection Act against the Floyd protesters: [[Google Photos] ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/9xqbCpACp8jJAxHG6) We know if you’re Donald Trump and you want troops on the streets for a Portland police stat… ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/859 "2022-12-21T17:05:52Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > If you dudes are looking for a retraction or affirmation of grave error, fine, the conclusion I drew as the title of this thread was incorrect. It has been a long time, but I think I said that way up top shortly after the OP as well. Yay! A mug of your favorite beverage is virtually coming your way! (not valid on earth) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/860 "2022-12-21T17:10:58Z")
Just send him a NFT. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407/861 "2022-12-21T17:18:55Z")
Thanks for that, Sitnam. Man, it’s been a long thread. I could use an NFT of a beer… By the way, every time I saw this thread title (for almost two years now), my brain chimed in with "It wasn’t a _coop-de-doop"._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407.md?page=42) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wasn-t-a-coup/930407.md?page=44)