https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/83105/coup-means-whatever-the-regime-wants-it-to.html
In the immediate aftermath of the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, many pundits and politicians were eager to describe the events of that day as a coup d’état in which the nation was “this close” to having some sort of junta void the 2020 election and take power in Washington.
The headlines at the time were unambiguous in their assertions that the riot was a coup or attempted coup. For example, the riot was “A Very American Coup,” according to a headline at the New Republic. “This Is a Coup,” insisted a writer at Foreign Policy. The Atlantic presented photos purported to be “Scenes from an American Coup.”
This general tactic has not changed since then. Just this month, for example, Vanity Fair referred to the January 6 riots as “Trump’s Attempted Coup” Last month, Vox called it “Trump’s Cuckoo Coup.” Moreover, anti-Trump politicians have repeatedly referred to the riot as a coup, and “attempted coup” has become the standard the January 6 panel’s standard term of choice.
At the time, it was obvious that if the riot was a coup at all, it failed utterly. Thus, the debate is now over whether or not it was an attempted coup. On January 8, 2021, I argued the riot was not an attempted coup. Now, eighteen months later, after months of “investigation” and testimony before the January 6 committee, we’ve learned new details about the events that occurred that day. And now I can say with even more confidence that the January 6 riot was not an attempted coup.
It was not an attempted coup because it simply wasn’t the sort of event that historians and political scientists—the people who actually study coups—generally define as a coup. Even the Justice Department admits that virtually all of the rioters were, at most, guilty only of crimes such as trespassing and disorderly conduct. And the tiny minority charged with actual conspiracy—eleven people—lacked any sort of institutional backing or the support that is necessary for a coup attempt to take place.