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What Exactly is a Coup?
There is some disagreement.
In the wake of the incidents at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6th, 2021, there has been some debate whether it was an attempted coup or “merely” a protest/election related violence. To prevent such incidents in the future and address the issues that caused it; it is important to understand fully and correctly categorize what happened.
So was it an attempted coup or not?
The first most basic definition of a coup is the “ sudden seizure of power”. Were those in attendance all just protesting, or was this an attempt at taking power? The timing was no accident. They entered the building with the purpose of stopping Vice-President Pence from counting and officially certifying the results of the election.
How do we know this? At least some of the perpetrators have proudly told us this was their intention. The were there to stop the handover of power from their chosen politician to the next duly elected politician.
Clear attempted coup.
Some have argued they had no chance of success, so it was not a coup. However, the likeliness of success has no bearing on the issue. Was there intent or not when they went into the Capitol building? Yes, there was.
