LETTER: Donald Trump’s failed coup
I was not surprised to hear our ex-president say he was never in favor of a coup.
On Jan. 6, after ranting that the election had been stolen, he told the crowd “to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue … and take back our country.” The crowd walked down the street, invaded the congressional building and attempted to prevent the election of a new president.
In the 12th century, an English king upset with the archbishop asked, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest.” Four knights then executed Thomas Becket. Words matter.
President Donald Trump did not order that the election be overturned, and Henry II did not order the martyring of Becket. Important is what followed. The king went into mourning. Hours after the riot began, President Trump told the insurrectionists that they were special and “to go home in love and peace and to remember this day forever.”
Whereas the king displayed sorrow for the assassination, the soon-to-be ex-president exhibited displeasure that the coup had failed.