A Coup d'État Without an État

 Donald Trump is now trying to accomplish a coup d'État. But he is not the president of a state  so he is trying to make a coup d'État without an État. You need a fully sovereign state to make a coup d'État and no such thing as that exists in the American political system. The coup he has accomplished however is serious and in danger of becoming permanent leading to political disaster. The Federal Government since the Civil War has taken power away from states and gained more power for itself. The 14th amendment, which directly limits state sovereignty, asserts that Americans are subject to the “jurisdiction”  of the United States. “Jurisdiction” is synonymous with “power” and it comes close to being synonymous with “sovereignty”. Washington’s “jurisdiction” has been used wisely and has served as a means to unite the union solidly relying mainly on the state and federal legal systems. Washington’s “jurisdiction” has been strengthened by its leadership in two World Wars and the Cold War which made it a world leader in globalization. Its firm support for business corporations both domestic and foreign is another factor in its strength. But there is a big but. Washington has never directly governed the American people. It has set up for itself a supremely complicated network of federal agencies working in Washington, in the states and in the world. But this complicated, intelligent and subtle system has never seemed connected to the American heart. It seems to us abstract, isolated and even fictitious. Here is where Trump has made his coup. He has acted directly and even savagely against the normal acceptance by Presidents of the Washington political establishment. He has been on his own. He has turned government agencies into his own property by putting his own people in charge of them. His ignorant and fanatical supporters believe both that the country’s government in Washington is a fictional and fake power and at the same time they want it to be the head of their nation. Trump has tried to wipe the Washington government off the face of the earth and this has touched something in the American heart that is producing dangerous disorders in average people. Loyalty to the Constitution and to the powers it grants to the Federal Government are the very foundation of our social, economic and political lives. Can the political system in Washington that Trump’s coup knocked down get up from the floor led by a new president and fight to make America great again?

Daniel McNeill

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