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The Coup Attempt Isn’t Over Yet
Voter suppression and power grabs are nothing new in America
The insurrection or coup attempt or mob riot or whatever you want to call what happened at the Capitol building on January 6 is not actually over yet. As Michael Arceneaux writes for LEVEL: “The courts stood up for democracy this time, but my fear is that if next time around Republicans control more state legislations — or both houses of Congress — their second shot at a coup will be a lot more successful than this one.” Arceneaux notes that Republicans have long worked to suppress Black voters, and that Americans need to keep our eyes on the ball:
While Donald Trump may not get to stay in power this week, if he continues to control the Republican Party in the coming years, he will not only become the most powerful ex-president in recent memory, but he’ll remain a threat to democracy as well. Just look to last Saturday, when Trump was caught on tape trying to punk Georgia’s already voter-suppression-loving election officials to “find” him just enough votes to retake the state.
He is a strongman who employs strongman antics. Trump may be too stupid for words, but even that dummy understands how craven and power-hungry most politicians are. All they need is a little push, along with their own self-serving delusions, to follow his lead — even if that means the end of American democracy as most know it. And if he or his offspring find their way atop the national ticket in four years, they’re going to try this all over again.
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