Capitol building coup attempt in US: Reasons behind launch and failures

Capitol building coup attempt in US: Reasons behind launch and failures

The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was stormed on January 6, 2021, during a riot and violent attack against the U.S. Congress.

About the riot

A mob of supporters of President Donald Trump attempted to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election by disrupting the joint session of Congress assembled to count electoral votes to formalize Joe Biden's victory.

The Capitol complex was locked down and lawmakers and staff were evacuated while rioters occupied and vandalized the building for several hours.

More than 140 people were injured in the storming. Five people died either shortly before, during, or after the event - one was shot, one died of a drug overdose, and three succumbed to natural causes.

It was not a usual Military led coup, but a coup led by executive i.e. an executive coup led by President Donald Trump himself. It was aimed at forcing two Houses of Congress to overturn the presidential election results, lost by Trump.

US presidential election 2020

Democratic candidate Joe Biden defeated the incumbent Republican president Donald Trump in the November 2020 presidential election, in both the popular vote and the electoral college vote.

The results became clear four days after Election Day, after the vote had been tallied. Before, during, and after the counting of votes, Trump and other Republicans attempted to overturn the election, falsely claiming that there was widespread voter fraud in five swing states that Biden won: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Election system in US

Election system in US are held for government officials at the federal, state, and local levels.

At the federal level, the nation's head of state, the president, is elected indirectly by the people of each state, through an Electoral College.

States form an electoral college to certify the final outcome of the election process after people have cast their votes.

At the final stage, the outcome certified by the states is finally accepted by US legislators. This was the stage ongoing on January 6.

The vice-president presides over the process in US legislators. Mike pence (vice-president) refused to overturn the election on demand of Trump.

At the completion of the process, the victory of Biden was ratified and he is set to take oath on Jan. 20th.

Reasons behind coup attempt in the US

Despite the obvious fact that the coup attempt was organized and planned by the military-security complex, and was fully prepared months before it took place, there are still many unanswered questions. There are two main hypothesis are formulized to understand possible reasons for Trump behind this coup attempt:

1. First is the ideological reason, his commitment to restoring white supremacy was visible in his policies. Many rioters in the mob were carrying Confederate flags, which represent pre-civil war southern states, which stood to preserve slavery.
2. Second is a personal reason, Trump fears persecution for tax frauds, corruption, abuse of power and the latest one is for Abetting an insurrection.