Veteran political journalist Pablo Hiriart, currently general director of political and social information of the Mexican newspaper “El Financiero,” in his column “Uso de Razón,” writes an interesting editorial about the danger represented by a possible coup d’état by Donal Trump and the Republicans.
MIAMI, Fl. (El Financiero) – Trump says that he has other data on the election results. Since he is the president, he has the resources to carry out a coup d’état and stay in power.
Those mechanisms for staying in office have been activated, and the coup will be attempted tomorrow when the full Congress meets for the formal counting of electoral votes.
Today is the election for senators in Georgia, and if the Republicans lose both seats, they will also lose control of the Upper House. By winning just one, they ensure a Senate majority and will put the brakes on Joe Biden’s reform plan from there.
What happens today is critical for the Republicans. But an irresponsible man like Trump only cares about his own: If he ruins his party, he’ll make another one.
Trump is focused on the coup d’état that is intended to take place tomorrow.
Nothing about Covid, which has killed over 350,000 citizens in the U.S. Nor does he care about destroying the democratic history of the United States, which has had a peaceful transmission of power since 1789, with the parenthesis of the civil war.
The coup (which, in my opinion, is destined to fail) has three fronts: Vice President Pence, the legislators in tomorrow’s congressional session, and the Army.
So real is the possibility that Trump will use the Army to keep himself in power that ten former U.S. secretaries of defense drafted a document to make public and prevent the Armed Forces from preventing the transfer of command over the weekend.
Among those ten, there are four Republicans who were true “warlords,” but never against the United States: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, James Mattis, and Marc Esper.
They say: “Efforts to involve the U.S. military in resolving election disputes will take us into the dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional territory. Civilian and military officials who direct or execute such measures will be held accountable, including facing possible criminal penalties, for their actions’ grave consequences in our republic”.
In tomorrow’s session, 12 Republican senators (that is, a third of their party), headed by the Texan Ted Cruz, and 140 congress people from that party (more than half), are going to reject the vote of the Electoral College “until the allegations of fraud are thoroughly investigated”.
They don’t have enough votes in Congress to blow up the election (and democracy), but here comes the other “leg” of the coup: the one who carries out the formal count of the 538 votes sent to the Electoral College – with which Biden triumphs – is Vice President Mike Pence.
According to a factional thesis of the radicals of Trumpism, the Electoral Count Act (of 1877) is unconstitutional. Pence is empowered to reject the 75 electoral votes from five states that the president’s legal team is contesting.
Thus, Vice President Pence could discard those votes tomorrow, and the winner would be Donald Trump. That is the bet.
There would be street uprisings in much of the country against the assault on democracy, no doubt. Although that is what the third “leg” of Trump’s conspiracy is for: the Army would go out to quell the rebellion, and the coup d’état would be consummated.
I think that this situation is not going to happen, but the ten former Secretaries of Defense believe that it can happen and that the machinery is in motion.
A leading newspapers say, in all its letters, that it is a coup d’état. And whoever is leading the pressure against the authorities to reverse the vote is – no less than – the United States president.
On Sunday, The Washington Post published a one-hour conversation between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, accompanied by him.
“I need you to find 11,780 votes” to reverse the defeat in Georgia, Trump tells the state government secretary, who is from the same party.
The official replies: “The problem, Mr. President, is that the data you have is incorrect”.
Trump: “Your numbers are not correct. They’re wrong really bad, Brad. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes…”
Raffensperger: “The figures we present are precise” (three times the votes were counted)
Trump: “So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. I need 11 thousand votes, give me a break… There’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, you’ve recalculated”.
Raffensperger’s response was the same: “Our figures are correct, Mr. President.
In the end, Trump, who is president, moved on to the threat: “If you don’t find those ballots, it’s a crime, and you can’t let that happen. It’s a big risk for you and your lawyer”.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, how will Trump have pushed Pence? If Pence discards those votes from the five contested states, the winner will be Trump. The uprising will be inevitable and unstoppable. “There goes the Army,” warn the former Secretaries of Defense.
If Pence discards those votes from the five contested states, the winner will be Trump. The uprising will be inevitable and unstoppable. “There goes the Army,” warn the former Secretaries of Defense.
All of this caused by a sore loser, clinging to power.
Pablo Hiriart
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Journalist graduated from the FCPyS. Founding reporter of La Jornada and founding director of La Crónica de Hoy. Former director of La Razón. Currently General Director of Political and Social Information at El Financiero.