A hard coup is acute and kinetic. Everyone is rapidly aware of the battle lines and the timeline. If there is a viable path of resistance people respond to the events as the existential crisis that is apparent.
A soft coup is insidious and diabolical. It is the choice of recent new autocrats.
If you focus the entire force of the country on one target at a time, the target usually has no choice but to yield. Most citizens are glad it’s not them and it’s tolerated with a distant fear.
It takes very little research to see the fate of those who engaged in capitulation and appeasement. The coup occurs in the background with little notice and alarm. This is the method the current administration is engaged in.
Donald Trump has four goals. He is trying to take revenge on everyone who slighted him since high school, he looks for all opportunities to glorify himself, he as found ways to monetize the presidency in the billions and is determinedly pro racist.
We are at stage three of four in this soft coup, my opinion. The enforcement branches, the Defense Department, Justice Department, Homeland Security, the FBI and CIA are all firmly in control by the administration. Congress has seceded all their authority and guidance.
The Supreme court seems to be rooting for this takeover, abolishing one by one all the judicial safeguards that have been established over the decades. They seem to be blissfully unaware that they are sealing their own fate. They will inevitably try to resurrect some boundaries in the future, but it will be too late and seen as an intolerable interference.
Possibly the only weakness is that Trump in becoming king is doing what kings inevitably do. He is banishing all advisors that provoke disfavor and acting on his own convoluted and irrational view of the world. His goals are contradictory to the wellbeing of most of the population.
The administration is already testing all means at fixing, delaying or cancelling the next midterm election. This goes beyond expecting a political party to be our saviors.
Ordinary citizens can only vote and protest. Collectively those who wield power, the extremely wealthy, managers of institutions, lawyers, judges, academics, educators, scientists, veterans and the business community need to coalesce into a private resistance.
If five members of Congress or three members of the Supreme Court could somehow become aware that our democracy is being extinguished right as we approach our 250th anniversary, we could put an end to this.
It is hard to believe that there are no true patriots left on the right. Time to act is rapidly dwindling.
Walter Meltzer lives in New Milford.