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I have the feeling that these words were more or less the same reasoning offered for all coups. That is were it gets dangerous. When no viable alternative leads

I have the feeling that these words were more or less the same reasoning offered for all coups. That is were it gets dangerous. When no viable alternative leads to undemocratic processes that set the precedent for a lot of undemocratic stuff after. Lots of countries that forcibly removed presidents from office developed a tradition of doing it regularly (once a decade or two). I think there is an alternative in this case. Argue it out. If the president ends up getting removed by legal means, it should be clear enough reasoning and support by legislators that his arguments are clearly too weak to defend him. Be transparent and follow due process. And make clear that riots wont be tolerated. Alternatively, isolate him, disobey him if he orders against oaths and laws, but dont remove him. This way at least it is clearly not a coup. Since the president is isolated now from his followers (as it looks), and also his term is going to end in less two weeks, I think it is worth considering strongly to hold off with removing him from office before his term ends. Preparations have to be taken though to be able to remove him from office if he stays any longer than his term in office. Removing him forcibly then wont be a coup, because he is not POTUS anymore.

archagon 6y ago
For the record, I doubt that he will actually be removed from office before his term expires. I also don’t necessarily disagree about the optics, from the perspective of his supporters. However, there is absolutely nothing undemocratic about the process of impeachment. It is an expressly democratic escape valve for exactly this kind of situation. And it is unquestionably dangerous to have a mentally unstable president in charge of the military and nuclear arsenal, however short his term might be, and however much we might hope that his cabinet will disobey unlawful orders. (It is unlikely that the 25th would be able to remove him, even if there was overwhelming internal support for it, which there doesn’t seem to be.)

archagon 6y ago

For the record, I doubt that he will actually be removed from office before his term expires. I also don’t necessarily disagree about the optics, from the perspective of his supporters. However, there is absolutely nothing undemocratic about the process of impeachment. It is an expressly democratic escape valve for exactly this kind of situation. And it is unquestionably dangerous to have a mentally unstable president in charge of the military and nuclear arsenal, however short his term might be, and however much we might hope that his cabinet will disobey unlawful orders. (It is unlikely that the 25th would be able to remove him, even if there was overwhelming internal support for it, which there doesn’t seem to be.)