Thread by @tzimmer_history

Immediately after January 6, there was a reasonable - though ultimately unconvincing, to me - case to be made for remaining somewhat skeptical towards the idea that what had happened was adequately described as an attempted “coup.” But now? Now that’s just obfuscation.

https://twitter.com/pbump/status/1444827435346927617

Critique of the “attempted coup” interpretation / terminology did not just come from the Right, but was particularly prevalent on the Left as well. But again, with all the information that’s come out since, it seems increasingly weird to insist that what happened doesn’t qualify.

I certainly get the general argument that we need to be specific and precise with our terms and interpretations. But what’s coming from the “Not a coup!” camp is something else: An unwillingness to acknowledge the seriousness of the events, and the danger to American democracy.

But we have to acknowledge the level of preparation that went into the attempt to block the transfer of power and seize control, the number of people involved, the support from important factions on the Right, and the fact that Republicans remain united behind Trump.

Again, it’s not just the new information about the events leading up to and including January 6 that undermines the “Not a coup, just some Trump ridiculousness” argument - it’s the fact that the American Right has united behind the idea that Democratic governance is illegitimate.

Remember: Within just a year, we went from “Would Republicans really consider blocking the certification of presidential election results?” to “Can anyone envision Republicans certifying a Democratic election win ever again?” That should terrify us!

We must face the fact that the radicalization of the Republican Party has outpaced what even most critical observers imagined, and that what was described as an unlikely worst-case scenario just a while ago has come to pass. We need to adjust our expectations going forward.

“We never grappled with the fact that this could really happen, and so it didn’t” is, unfortunately, not at all how this works. In fact, too many people and institutions clinging to the idea that “It can’t happen here!” is an important ingredient to authoritarianism’s rise.