I've seen numerous people, on this and other forums, saying that the people who are pulling the attempted coup we're experiencing need to be arrested. And they're right --- though I doubt it will occur.
But it MUST unless we want our elections to devolve into what we're going through now every time a Republican loses. And who knows how long before the Democrats take it up, as well? After all, if government officials can upend the government and threaten to destroy it without consequence of any sort, what's to stop them next time? And the time after that? Ad infinitum?
But it's even worse than that:
First let's take a look at where we are: Those who are trying to overthrow the Constitution won’t succeed this time, thank goodness --- not with this gang that can't shoot straight.
Trump? Can you see the Golfer in Chief pulling it off? He' just sending out his minions to bluster and bray at the moon and doing nothing himself. That's his par for the course -- and yes, the pun is intended.
Giuliani? Um, no.
How about Gohmert? Don't make me laugh.
Gaetz or Gym Jordan? Notice that neither of these even deserves a “no.” It’s just a given.
McConnell and Lindsey might be able to pull it off — if they could rally some other competent people around them but most of those have already congratulated Biden. [As did McConnell hisownself when he discovered that he doesn’t actually have a spine after all. He would have loved to have installed Trump again — but he didn’t have the stomach for it. (One wonders how he has managed to survive so long without so many necessary organs.)]
So, no, it's not going to happen in 2021.
But in the future? With this precedent just sitting there hanging its a** out the window? Someone, some day, will give it another try. And if they're even somewhat more competent than this gaggle of ineffectual asshats it's buh-bye democratic republic. So, yeah, these folks have to be impeached, tried and sent to prison. They have to be.
Because here's what would happen next time:
It's not just a matter of overturning the election. Would that be the end of it? Not by a long shot. The opposing party would rise up in arms. They just would. So that has to be stopped before it starts.
First, the president-elect and vice president-elect would be arrested, taken out at dawn the next morning and summarily shot. Because they are the natural center around which any opposition would arise.
Second, all high members of the opposing party would have to be rounded up and jailed. IOW all Democratic members of the House and the Senate. Kangaroo courts would be set up, the inevitable "convictions" gathered and they, too would be executed.
Then, on down the line --- any opposing governors must be arrested. And state legislators. Mayors. City Councils. Etc. Etc. Etc.
If a coup were to happen, it would not just be a matter of overturning the top of the ticket but rather the setting up a police state. An outcome which has obviously not occurred to Gohmert and Gaetz and Paxton and Rubio and Jordan and and and . . . . Because if it had, they would know that, after all the Democrats had been disposed of, the new government would start going after its own weakest links who might be enticed to switch sides or who might be incompetent or too squeamish to shoot dissenters no questions asked. The idjits who had helped to bring about the coup would be next on the chopping block — because they’re idjits.
IOW, the Night of the Long Knives would very quickly follow any coup. It would have to.
However, speaking of squeamishness, can you see Pelosi and Schumer holding impeachment trials of the people who have been so quick to overturn the Constitution? Me neither.
They will go right ahead with business as usual — swear in all the traitors who have sued the states in Biden’s column along with those who, like McConnell, acted as if withholding support from the president- and vice president-elect is the most natural thing in the world.
The heads of the Democratic party will make no distinction between the traitors and those who upheld the Constitution thus ensuring that it WILL happen again. After all, precedent is the byword of Congress. And precedent is being set right this minute.