# The American Coup: 11.9.2020 - **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182 "2020-11-09T23:29:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 117
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2324 "2021-01-08T18:52:13Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > The value in convicting post term is to keep him from mucking about in the next election. Yes. But what I am saying is there will not be the _votes_. His no longer being there will give plausible cover to those arguing it’s moot and refusing to vote for it and I have no reason to doubt there would be at least 34 of them. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2325 "2021-01-08T18:55:59Z")
My wife and I were both thinking that it looked so robotic that it almost looked fake, or that Trump had been sedated. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2326 "2021-01-08T18:57:13Z")
The 25th would make pence acting. It doesn’t remove the president, it takes the power from him, and gives it to the vp. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2327 "2021-01-08T18:57:54Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > [@Riemann](#): > > > > > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > > > > This is concerning, but I hope those were just undercover officers embedded in the crowd. > > > > Is this a joke? > > No. It’s SOP for law enforcement to assign undercover officers to mingle with any large crowd. No doubt, but badging the mob past the barriers seems like entrapment. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2328 "2021-01-08T18:59:35Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Is there any procedural reason why the six senators and 134-odd representatives who voted against the electoral college certifications can be refused to be seated by their respective bodies? Yes, there is a SCOTUS dec. They can refuse to let them speak, give them broom closets for offices, cut their budget, but without a 2/3rd vote, they cant refuse to seat them. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2329 "2021-01-08T19:02:33Z")
> [@half-elf](#): > > > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > > > (BTW, what is that around his neck? Cell phone, walkie-talkie?) > > It’s a combination microphone / (tiny) megaphone which is connected to a walkie-talkie. Like a hands-free device. Police use them. It looked to me like something police wear in the TV shows I watch. Does that mean this guy was police? Or did the rioters order them from the military/LEO supply store? ---
**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:** [January 8, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2330 "2021-01-08T19:03:45Z")
You can buy them privately. Again, I’ve been calling these guys LARP militia. They dress for the revolution they imagine themselves to be conducting. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2331 "2021-01-08T19:04:17Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > **John Scalzi** , author of _Old Man’s War_ , _Redshirts_ , etc. has a great blog post up about recent events: Good article. I really love Scalzi’s books. Redshirts was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2332 "2021-01-08T19:04:20Z")
IMVHO, the worst thing about the electoral college as-is is the winner-take-all aspect. If I could change it: 1. The voters of each congressional district would choose one elector (using the same ballot that is used in the general election). 2. The voters of each state as a whole would choose two electors. 3. The electors would each vote for two people for Pres and VP. 4. The person who gets the most votes becomes the pres. 5. The person who gets the second-most votes becomes the VP. Steps 1 and 2 give each state the same number of electors they currently have. Steps 3-5 are, of course, the way the Pres and VP were originally chosen. Ranked-choice voting would be used. The procedure for breaking a possible tie would be established well before the election – a run-off vote, a series of coin flips, whatever. (My choice: All individuals involved in the tie roll 5d20, and high roll wins. The same five dice would be rolled by all candiddates, of course, to prevent accusations of loaded dice.) Alternatively, the two electoral votes from step 2 would both go automatically to the winner of the state’s popular vote. ---
**Author:** ![half-elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@half-elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/half-elf)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2333 "2021-01-08T19:07:59Z")
If you use a walkie talkie there are multiple types of accessories you can use depending on your exact usage. You dont have to be a cop. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2334 "2021-01-08T19:08:34Z")
> Also… > Like I said, a national security nightmare. Impeach Trump. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2335 "2021-01-08T19:10:11Z")
Good to see that the charges and arrests are starting to snowball. I want trump to be boxed in so he can’t pardon any of these people. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2336 "2021-01-08T19:18:39Z")
No, remember the GOP lives in Bizzaroland , whatever they accuse the dems of doing is what they are doing themselves. Honestly, the FBI should be looking for a pizza place run by a MAGA, and dig up the bodies in the basement. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2337 "2021-01-08T19:21:11Z")
Just had to post this quote from GreenWyvern’s link above to the John Scalzi article. I think it hits the nail on the head: > There was a Republican mob at the Capitol yesterday because the GOP _put them there_ . Not just yesterday, or through the course of the election, or the four years of the Trump administration. The storming of the Capitol is the (current) culmination of a decades-long project by Republicans, a project of denial, in which they _didn’t_ recognize the validity of power being shared, or the equality of the other party, or the supremacy or desirability of democracy, if democracy meant a diminishment of _their_ power and goals. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2338 "2021-01-08T19:24:32Z")
Sucks for her she’s in Menlo Park. She could have quietly MAGA’ed and nobody would have cared. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2339 "2021-01-08T19:26:08Z")
It’s entirely possible that there were foreign spies (or traitors working with them) in the crowd. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2340 "2021-01-08T19:27:52Z")
Yes, but Pence would be ACTING prez, and not the 26th prez. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2341 "2021-01-08T19:33:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes, but Pence would be ACTING prez, and not the 26th prez. - You’re right. He looks _nothing_ like Teddy Roosevelt. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2342 "2021-01-08T19:57:21Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > If I could change it: > > 1. The voters of each congressional district would choose one elector (using the same ballot that is used in the general election). Problem with this, it makes gerrymandering of congressional districts even more desirable to the parties. Rather assign the state’s electoral votes proportional to the statewide popular vote. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2021, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2343 "2021-01-08T20:11:48Z")
Fast moving thread… > [@The American Coup: 11.9.2020 -](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/2115): > > Many embassies are within a three mile radius. From the time of Trump’s call to storm the Capitol for his insurrection, it may have taken the slowest agent 15 minutes to get there. But they were probably in the crowd already. Not ‘armed’ to steal state secrets - those in there likely didn’t give that a high chance of happening - but if you are in charge of foreign intel and you saw what happened in MI and you heard what the President was saying/tweeting and you were monitoring US social media n… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182.md?page=116) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182.md?page=118)