It was frightening and appalling to see protestors succeed in storming the Capitol building yesterday-- in doing this, they used a tactic of coup-plotters, who frequently seek to capture symbolic seats of political power, such as the presidential palace or legislature 1/x

But for those still asking if this was a coup attempt--those not too weary of definitional debates--a few thoughts on why that term still doesn't fit are in this thread 2/x

The aim, in capturing symbolic targets, is to convince members of the military, who have the power to stop a coup, that it has, in fact, already succeeded, and that opposition is futile. This is what @naunihalpublic calls making the coup "a fact"
https://t.co/WgqbpaNHfD 3/x

If you want to know more about how coups unfold, this excerpt my from @CornellPress book, How to Prevent Coups, pp. 15-16, describes them: 4/x

But at no point did yesterday's protestors attempt to actually seize control of the levers of state power-- nor did anyone watching think these goons were now running the government. 5/x