Donald Trump, in one of his recent tweet storms, called the U.S. House impeachment investigation “a coup.” Pretty clearly, our President is confused. WC is willing to help him understand.
Coup
The term comes from the French coup d’ état, literally meaning a “stroke of state” or “blow against the state”. A coup is an unlawful, sudden change in government, often imposed by violence. The U.S. sponsored overthrow of Salvador Allende, the lawfully elected President of Chile, by a Chilean Army general, Augusto Pinochet, was a coup.1 A coup is an extra-legal attempt to overthrow the government. The result of a coup is a new, unelected government in place of the former government.
Impeachment
Impeachment is a lawful process by which a legislative body charges an elected official with offenses. It’s a legal process. In the U.S., it’s a process provided for and described in the Constitution. Impeachment does not remove the elected official; that happens only after a trial and conviction in the U.S. Senate. It’s all a protracted process, not sudden at all.
Just so we’re all clear about this, there has not been a coup, nor is one threatened by the U.S. House.2 The House is doing its constitutional duty. Again, the exact opposite of a coup. The rule of law; not the absence of law. Trump is wrong. Again.
Of course, Donald Trump is also the same guy who said, “These are just words. A bunch of words. It doesn’t mean anything.” This from a man who has sent thousands of tweets since being elected. WC wonders if those tweets don’t mean anything either. If so, he might have told us earlier.
Hyperbole
The use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally ‘growth’). Lying for effect. “This suitcase weighs a ton.”
If Trump intended his multiple claims of a “coup” to be hyperbole – if he even knows what hyperbole is – it was seriously ill-considered. This is the President of the United States, claiming that a constitutional process, a check and balance included in our governing document, is a “coup.” He’s also called the impeachment effort, free speech, whistle-blowing and the Democrats “treason.” Trying to correct the fire hose of untruth that spews from Donald Trump is nearly impossible. But it’s important we all keep trying.
Because truth still matters. Whatever Trump and his lickspittle lackeys may claim.
Wickersham's Conscience 
You use the term “seriously ill-considered.”
I would use the term “seriously ill.”
slipstream
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