Trump, The FBI And 25th Amendment, And The Politics Of Pre-emptive Coups

President Donald Trump called it an “illegal and treasonous” plot. Rush Limbaugh, a conservative commentator on talk radio, likened it to “a silent coup,” adding that those involved ought to be jailed. The televised media outlet FOX News pushed the narrative that what the three planned was a “coup d’etat.” They were all talking about how FBI Directors James Comey and Andrew McCabe, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, had discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove Donald Trump from office. It included wearing a wire into the White House.

Whatever you think about coups, political experts agree that they don’t always have to be spectacular or bloody. Nor do they have to consist of tanks surrounding presidential palaces, with military troops arresting and disposing of a leader. The same goes for coups that are quick and decisive, taking their victims by surprise. Since a coup is based on the idea that to govern is to secure control of the machinery of the state, it doesn’t have to be “all” of the machinery at once either. It can be the removal of a key individual or group of individuals in an organization which may appear to threaten the path to absolute power.

No Immunity From Coups
Considering this, democracies aren’t immune from coups. They can even take the form of election-day voting fraud, where the electoral process is manipulated or fixed to produce a particular result. Or they can consist of when those already in power begin to chip away at democratic institutions without ever overturning them. The same is true for officials have the power to appoint certain individuals that will shield them from an inquiry or any kind of investigation that’s pursued through the legal system. Like Eduardo Galeano said: Most military coups are done in the name of democracy, and against democracy.

This might explain why Trump supporters were alarmed over Andrew McCabe’s claim that Rod Rosenstein had offered to wear a wire into the White House. Especially since the first aim of every power grab is to put on the garment of legitimacy. Just as shocking were the two cabinet officials who supported a bid to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump. The amendment, signed right after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, wrestled with this very question. How to turn over the reigns of power if a president is disabled or incapacitated. But did it include erratic and irrational behavior?

Others think it was actually Donald Trump and his cabal who staged the real coup, a pre-emptive one against the FBI and his former Attorney General. Pointing to the relentless attacks against both James Comey and Andrew McCabe, including Rod Rosenstein and the Saturday Night Firing of then acting Attorney General Jeff Sessions, they add it was not only pre-emptive but incremental. They note too that it was driven by a fear of Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel. An investigation that’s scrutinizing whether the president conspired with Russia to cause chaos in the elections, and then obstructed justice.

It’s All In The Definition
Other than death, assassination, or some obvious ailment and disability that prevents the president from fulfilling his/her duty, how to define other disabilities isn’t very clear. Does it include erratic and irrational behavior? Is it a mental health condition? Or is it someone who by their very decisions is endangering the nation. Whatever the definition, the amendment allows the president to contest a decision of disability made by the vice president and members of the cabinet. Congress will then decide the issue by a two-thirds vote. That is if the vice president and the cabinet continues to make such a claim.

Considering that Congress has not proved as biddable as it is supposed to in keeping the executive powers in check, this doesn’t seem likely. Where vacancies have risen, President Trump has been relatively successful in filling them with judges sympathetic to his cause and the GOP’s-such as they are. But since there are too many courts and too many judges for such a strategy to be decisive in the short term, the effects of their impact on the judiciary are only likely to be felt long after he is gone. Except for the Supreme Court. Some therefore think this has been another incremental coup by the president.

Donald Trump and his supporters disagree. They’ve always seen the real danger as the Deep State. It has not only set out to undermine his presidency from the first day in office, but the betrayal is all happening behind the scenes-the FBI, Democratic Party, the Federal Reserve, and Republicans In Name Only (RINO). On this account, democracy ceased to work a long time ago. Especially since no president who set out to challenge the authority of the political establishment would be allowed to get away with it. No president until Donald Trump showed up. He’s been sent to Washington to slay the Deep State.

Dressing Up Democracy
Others still claim Donald Trump staged a pre pre-emptive coup by winning the election. They believe his campaign conspired with Russian officials and oligarchs to rig the election against Hillary Clinton. Like Andrew McCabe, they suspect he’s a Russian asset. It’s why the FBI launched an investigation, one in which high ranking Senators had been kept in the loop. In “The Threat,” Andrew McCabe moreover warned that the president believed Russia’s Vladimir Putin instead of his own intelligence agencies over N. Korea. It included other foreign matters. And then there’s always the question of his mental state.

Accordingly, two cabinet members believed Donald Trump was undermining the role of law enforcement and intelligence infrastructure, harmfully impacting the men and women of the FBI. The same was being done to the intelligence agencies and their ability to protect the country. They had no doubt the president was endangering the effectiveness and strength of government institutions, which included erratic and irrational behaviors. Was this then enough to invoke the 25th Amendment? Some thought so, especially since they believed they were defending America and practicing their amendment rights.

As for Robert Mueller’s final report, no one knows when it will be released. This goes for Donald Trump’s new Attorney General. He may not release any of it, or just certain parts. Either way, political experts agree that coups need to pretend that democracy is still intact in order to succeed, versus that democracy has ended. The same is true of governments which produce the most banal of electoral victories. Like those produced by the most brutal coups d’etats, so called democratic governments will always feel obligated to dress themselves up in some way to pose as legitimate. America is no different.

Our Long National Nightmare
Right after Watergate and Richard Nixon’s resignation, President Gerald Ford said: “Our long national nightmare is over.” He may have misspoken. Democracy, to be sure, is a two edged sword. People are not only free to believe their own opinions and experiences-real or imaginary, but they are free to reject evidence and the actual truth. The same goes for the failure to imagine coups. They can also choose to live in the shadowy world of conspiracy theories and alternative facts. Most of all, they can decide to ignore a major coup that’s already happened, or is in the process of happening right before their eyes.

Its the kind of democracy that turns people into bystanders instead of active participants. In considering this, the long national nightmare of the state of America’s democracy, and the debate over pre-emptive and actual coups, may just be starting.

(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.)