Trump’s claim to have thwarted a coup is perhaps his most dangerous and undemocratic rhetoric to date, and that is really saying something.
On Sunday, May 12, 2019, Trump sent a three-part tweet quoting Tom Fitton, president of the right-wing conservative foundation Judicial Watch, accusing the FBI and Democrats of “an illegal coup” to overthrow the president. Sadly, this is not the first time Trump has invoked the idea of a failed “coup” to characterize the legitimate and legal investigations being conducted into his abuses of power and potential criminal behavior.
To understand why Trump’s rhetoric of a failed coup is so dangerous, let me say a few words about rhetoric and how it works. Contrary to popular perception, rhetoric is not empty. At its core, rhetoric carries and conveys both meanings and emotions. Consider, first, the meaning of the word “coup.” A coup, by definition, is a violent, illegal, and sudden overthrow of a government by a political faction, military, or dictator. Nothing of this sort is happening in the U.S. So, in invoking this term, Trump is asking Americans to view the Mueller investigation and now congressional investigations as illegal attempts to violently overthrow the government.
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