The Ongoing Coup

Trump and his supporters are trying to overthrow the election results. That is a coup, which would destroy our democracy and have unforeseeable results. Christians must not support it.

December 11, 2020

When a revolution begins, you never know how it will end. The French Revolution began in 1787, when French aristocrats, objecting to new taxes levied on them to pay for France’s debt (much of it from helping the United States achieve independence), forced King Louis XVI to convene the Estates-General. In 1789, the Third Estate, which represented the commoners (including the new middle class of business owners and professions), insisted on a National Constituent Assembly to write a constitution for the country. Events took their turn, and soon the king was deposed and executed, and the aristocrats scattered.

After almost three years of bloody and fruitless war, liberals in the Russian Duma launched the February Revolution of 1917. But this was followed eight months later by the October Revolution, in which the Bolsheviks took over the reigns of power. They won the ensuing civil war and established a Communist dictatorship, which lasted until Gorbachev began his reforms in the 1980s. As for Gorbachev, when he launched his liberalization measures (Glasnost and Perestroika), little did he know that these modest reform measures would culminate in the end of the Soviet Union.   

The United States is a constitutional republic, a representative democracy. The guiding philosophy is rule by the majority, with minority rights protected. We have often failed to live up to these principles, as American Indians and African Americans can confirm, but over the years we have become more inclusive and have righted many of the most egregious wrongs, such as slavery and Jim Crow. Majority rule is based on elections, and elections have consequences, as Republicans have frequently reminded us. Minority rights are based on the rule of law, which most Americans claim to support.

Events since the presidential election of November 3, 2020, have been frightening. Donald Trump has ceaselessly complained that systematic voter fraud has stolen a “landslide victory” from him. For three weeks, he prevented the General Services Administration from assisting with the transition. Even today, his administration’s cooperation with the president-elect, Joe Biden, has been lacking. Refusing to succeed, Trump has directed his lawyers to launch lawsuits in all the swing states, alleging voter fraud and asking the courts to overturn the election. But the evidence they have supplied has been unconvincing, and the courts have rejected virtually all Trump’s claims.

Now Trump is following another strategy: He is trying to convince Republican-dominated legislatures in these states to overturn the election results and send Trump electors to vote for him when the Electoral College meets. In all of these states, this would violate state law, which awards electors to the winner of the popular vote. Since most Republican legislators are loyal Americans and committed to the rule of law, it is hard to imagine they would do this.

But what if Trump succeeded and these legislatures nullified the election? That would be a coup d’état. It would be a revolution that ends the American republic. And as in many revolutions, the ultimate outcome would be unpredictable. The only thing that we could predict with certainty is chaos. Civil war would be likely.  

In Romans 13, Paul tells us that we should be subject to the governing authorities, which have been instituted by God to let us live a peaceful life, protected from wrongdoers. Some Christians have taken this to mean that we should be unshakably loyal to Donald Trump. They are mistaken. If God put Trump in his position, he also put Obama in the same position. But did Trump supporters say we should be subject to President Obama?

The governing authorities in the United States are those who faithfully execute their duties under the Constitution of the United States as well as federal and state laws. Those in authority who break the laws and undermine the Constitution are not legitimate authorities: They have broken their oath. If Donald Trump somehow pulls off his attempted coup, he is no longer the legitimate president, but a lawbreaker and an enemy of the Constitution.

What I find especially painful is the many evangelical Christians who STILL support Trump, even though he is clearly trying to overthrow the Constitution. Not only are they failing as American citizens to support and defend the Constitution; they are aiding a politician who is trying to destroy the republic. They are helping to overturn the true governing authorities, instituted by God, who may be Republican or Democrat, but who uphold the rule of law.

Most evangelicals support Trump because he does what they ask him to: oppose abortion, support religious liberty, and appoint conservative judges. But that hardly justifies a coup. And from a pragmatic perspective: If the revolution really takes place, can they predict where it will end?

A liberal democracy, in which the majority rules and minority rights are protected, is the system most likely to protect our rights over the long term. For Christians, religious liberty is an important good, to be cherished and defended. But if a dictator promises to uphold religious liberty, can you be confident he will keep his word? Unconstrained by the rule of law or the voice of the voters, what dictators give you today, they can take away tomorrow.

Evangelicals, repent of your devotion to Trump.