Subject: Re: Selective prosecution
By themselves, no. But they weren't by themselves. They had people in government trying to move some levers. Trump himself called state officials (most famously in GA) saying "find me 11000 votes". In this particular instance, he had no chance.

Which is the point.

No one is saying that the U.S. is immune from coups. We have a very strong democracy, and one where a coup is unlikely - but given that humans are fallible, it can never be ruled out.

But in order for a coup to work, you need to do a lot more than just "people in government trying to move some levers." Trump never did that.

And he wasn't ever going to do that, TBH. In order to stage a coup, you have to be willing to risk everything - because if you try and fail, you're going to jail for the rest of your life (or are going to be shot for treason). Trump wasn't going to do that. He wasn't going to take the real risk between power and dying in a cell.

Now, he was too clever by half. He thought that he could let other people take that risk for him - that he could sit back and say, "Well, if you people are certain that I'm still supposed to be President, go out there and bring me that crown!" But he cut it too close, so now he's in the hotseat for conspiracy

So no, we weren't in any danger of Trump remaining in office on January 6th. There was nothing in play that could have prevented Biden from taking office.

Does a failed effort to retain power unlawfully (whether by the Proud Boys alone or including Trump) damage democratic institutions? Of course. But I don't think it's fair to say that we were in any danger of Trump remaining in power.