Since Sinclair Lewis wrote “It Can’t Happen Here” in 1935, many authors have raised the question: Is Democracy so fragile that the U.S. could become an “ism” nation? Fortunately, all the writers have been wrong about the U.S. becoming a dystopian nation. They have been right, however, about Democracy being fragile. This article will examine the actions of the federal government, its spy, propaganda, and law enforcement machines (collectively “the Federal Syndicate”) against former President Trump and his supporters over the last few years. It asks the question – is the federal government run by stupid people doing stupid things, or are its leaders subverting the Constitution to control the government?

But for the political advantage to the Democrats, the events of January 6^th would have been defined as a riot, “a violent disturbance of the peace by a group of people.” Unfortunately, Democratic leadership deemed it an insurrection, an attempt by an organized group of people to defeat their government and take control of it. As part of its narrative, the federal government, which has a $944 billion annual military machine and describes its military as a fearsome and gargantuan beast, exhibits existential fear of destruction by the fact “several rioters had firearms and dozens more wielded knives, bats and other real makeshift weapons.” The Federal Syndicate’s reactions to the January 6^th riot are best characterized by the hilarious movie “The Mouse that Roared.”

The crowd so paralyzed the Speaker of the House, the D.C. mayor, and the Capitol Police that they could not respond to President Trump’s offer to send the National Guard. These political elites seemed confident the FBI infiltrators planted in the crowd to incite legal demonstrators to break the law would prove the truth of their insurrection narrative. Two thousand demonstrators entered the Capitol, and 1100 were arrested. Many were sent to D.C. Gitmo without their right to counsel or a speedy trial. The DOJ/FBI’s dragnet is the largest in the history of the U.S. DC Gitmo is similar to the Guantanamo military prison in Cuba, also referred to as Gitmo, but without the sunshine.

If January 6^th were a riot and not an insurrection, then the systematic actions by the Federal Syndicate would be what academics define as a self-coup d’état. It is a form of coup in which the nation’s power structure comes to power legally but seeks to stay in power through illegal means.

Did The Federal Syndicate label January 6^th an insurrection as an excuse to prosecute 1100 Trump supporters and organize the entire Democrat political machinery to indict former president Trump? Unfortunately, many citizens arrested were unknowing and loyal Americans who simply trespassed inside the Capitol. Many even believed the police were waiving them in.

Since the opinion pages are full of articles talking about the coordination of the four Trump prosecutions to inflict destruction, perhaps even death, on him, the Durham report decimating the alleged Russian cover-up by the FBI and CIA, and the Biden administration’s manipulation of Big Tech to shut down the truth in America, this article will focus on the most recent effort to ensuring Trump is “finally taken out.”

Specifically, a few members of the Federalists Society and a retired “conservative” circuit judge, disgruntled over not being appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, asserted that Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment (“Section 3”), a Civil War Amendment, forbids President Trump from ever again holding office since he somehow participated in an undefined, not judicially established, insurrection.

More disconcerting is that January 6^th may have been a camouflage for covert activities. Is the Federal Syndicate pretending to protect the Constitution while secretly plotting to destroy Donald Trump and conservative Americans?

The relevant parts of Section 3 read:

No person shall…hold any office…under the United States or any state, who having previously taken an oath…as an officer of the United States…to support the Constitution… [if such person] engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

The proponents for disqualifying Trump under Section 3 claim:

• Section 3 is not limited to the Civil War.
• It operates independently of criminal proceedings or an impeachment.
• It is self-executing by any state election official.
• It is an immediate disqualification from office.
• “…public officials don’t need special permission from lawmakers to disqualify Trump from the ballot: if they believe their argument valid, they can disqualify potential candidates on their own” and on any ballot within their jurisdiction.
• Finally, “[T]he election officials are legally required to do so.

Further, they argue to the extent Section 3 conflicts with prior constitutional protections, “Section 3 repeals, supersedes, or simply satisfies them. This includes the rules against bills of attainder or ex post facto fact laws, the Due Process Clause, and even the free speech protections of the First Amendment.”

According to the mainstream press, New Hampshire already has activity to disqualify Trump. Several progressive advocacy groups are lobbying state election officials to disqualify Trump from being listed on their state ballots.

The flaws in the proponents’ arguments are legion. The term “insurrection” is not defined in the 14^th Amendment or anywhere in our Constitution or laws; as such, it cannot be applied since it would be unconstitutionally vague. Moreover, the two federal cases addressing Section 3 rejected its use to disqualify government officials from holding office. In, In re Griffin (1869), Justice Chase rejected the application of Section 3 for several reasons. Its application would cause legal chaos, and it was not self-executing. Most importantly, the application of Section 3, as claimed, denies defendants due process and several other constitutional guarantees. In U.S. v. Powell (1871), the court ruled there must be findings of fact before rendering any decision.

Crazily, the authors assert Section 3 is so broad it rewrites the U.S. Constitution by repealing numerous constitutional protections for government officials without involving Congress, the states, the process for amending the Constitution, judicial determinations of fact and law, due process, or even the people of the nation.

The authors again crazily pronounce election officials are empowered to disqualify Trump. According to the National Council of State Legislators, there are more than 10,000 election administration jurisdictions in the U.S. There are likely tens or even hundreds of thousands of election officials. Can each of them disqualify President Trump because they believe he is an insurrectionist?

Under existing circumstances, could the facts establish a self- coup d’état?

1. Before Trump became president, there were systematic actions by the Federal Syndicate to circulate false information to make the public believe the Russians compromised him.
2. The lies about Trump led to two impeachments in the House. While the Senate acquitted Trump, the actions of the Federal Syndicate had the intended negative impact on Trump.
3. As far back as 2019, the Federal Syndicate protected Biden by denying the evidence that Hunter’s “Laptop from Hell” was real. It also hid that there were 5400 Biden emails in which Joe Biden used the pseudonyms “Robert L. Peters” and “JRB Ware” to conceal the Biden money laundering activities with Ukraine, Russia, and Romania.
4. The Secret Service, in violation of federal law, tipped off Hunter Biden that his storage units were to be raided, thereby allowing Hunter to remove all incriminating evidence.
5. The circulation by the Federal Syndicate of false information about Trump continued while he was in office, as evidenced by the Durham and Horowitz Reports.
6. As to the January 6^th riots, the Federal Syndicate still refuses to release the information requested by Congress.
7. The special January 6^th committee formed by the House Democrats prohibited Republicans from naming their members to the Committee, thereby preventing the cross-examination of witnesses and a fair hearing on the day’s events.
8. After President Trump left office, the Democrats waited until the 2024 primary election season started to indict him in four separate jurisdictions. The Democrats, using public resources, are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to go after one person. There is no record in the world of such a massive use of public resources to prosecute one political opponent. Even the famous Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals focused the government’s prosecution in one court.
9. All the prosecution trials are scheduled during campaign season to ensure Trump cannot compete against Biden. The Federal Syndicate appears to be interfering with the 2024 election under the pretense of saving the Constitution.
10. Now, the Democrats seek to disqualify Trump from holding office by advocating that any election official in any state can disqualify the former president from office. All to be accomplished by a process that is self-executing by any state executioner who somehow personally believes, without a public inquiry, legislative definition, or judicial determination, that Trump is an insurrectionist.

Since Americans can vote for Congress every two years, a coup d’état is highly unlikely. But Americans would be fools to believe a coup d’état can’t happen here. Self-coups come in many forms, and all use legal means. Leaders could assume special emergency powers as a permanent means of governing. We all experienced these emergency powers during the COVID pandemic with lockdowns, masks, school cancellations, and restrictions on free speech if it related to the truth of the federal government’s pronouncements on health matters. Moreover, 136 federal emergency laws in the U.S. grant the Executive the power to be a dictator at the time of his choosing.

Between 1946 and 2022, an estimated 148 self-coup attempts occurred, of which 110 were in dictatorships and 38 in democracies. Based on the actions of the Federal Syndicate, one could argue it is implementing a self-coup d’état. If that is not the goal of the Biden administration and its Federal Syndicate, then these groups need to renounce the activities that give the impression of a coup taking place. Continuing with its illegal actions to over-prosecute objectionable individuals, restrict constitutionally protected free speech, withhold evidence of criminal activity from Congress, and give the appearance of interfering with elections only leads the public to believe “It is happening here.”

William L. Kovacs has served as senior vice president for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, chief counsel to a congressional committee, and a partner in law D.C. law firms. His book Reform the Kakistocracy is the winner of the 2021 Independent Press Award for Political/Social Change. He can be contacted at [email protected]