On the 6th of January, 2021, and in the United States, it appears that we were in the midst of an armed insurrection that reached beyond the Capitol steps during sessions, penetrating even to chambers... an action which may have been encouraged tacitly in tweets by a sitting lame-duck US president .
Shots were heard. The Senators were advised to hide under desks and wear gas masks..
That seems to be an attempted self-coup.
Definition of self-coup
A self-coup, or autocoup (from the Spanish autogolpe), is a form of putsch or coup d'état in which a nation's leader, despite having come to power through legal means, dissolves or renders powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assumes extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances.
A little background...
When German President Hindenburg died in 1933, Chancellor Hitler assumed the title of president, outlawed all other parties and became a dictator. He did this out of his long-declared personal sense of cultural victimization, and said he was ‘saving’ the country.
He was already in a position of power, but affected a type of take-over from within; this had become his avowed purpose after the failed putsch of 1923 and subsequent imprisonment for insurrection.
In 1991, President Serrano of Guatemala overthrew his own government in a move which was later termed Serranazo i.e. where azo indicates a blow (coup) or strike. I remember waking up early on May 25th to the sounds of APCs and tanks taking up position in the streets in front of my house...
In Latin-America, we call this type of political move an auto-golpe, similar to an auto-gol in football (soccer for Americans)
As far as I know, and with the possible exception of the turbulent times after US Civil War, there has never been any attempt at declaring martial law to counter a free and fair election in the United States.
It would seem to fly in the face of the face of American democracy...
Right now in the United States, citizens are wondering if there is a possible coup d’état occurring in the country.
…former national security adviser Michael Flynn had shared a petition that called for martial law. He then retweeted the same account which suggested that Trump should declare martial law. "I don't know who needs to hear this," the account said, "But calling for martial law is not a bad idea when there is an attempted coup against the president and this country happening right now."
Martial law to counter politically unacceptable election results is essentially a...
Most usages of the terms go to reports of politics in Latin America, and so seem to be calques.
Some political rags still call it a coup d’état and do not seem to use the other more descriptive terminology.
I have no doubt that most Americans recognize coup d’état...
...but is the concept behind auto-coup, or self-coup dealt with in American publications? Is it a recognizable term in US politics?
