Please, journalists. Use the correct words. It’s not a “reinstatement.” It’s a coup attempt.

I’m trying to be charitable about this. I really am. I want to give journalists the benefit of simply reporting, because I know all my journalist friends try to remain unbiased. But I need y’all to level with me here, because you can’t keep giving Donald Trump the benefit of his own messaging.

Recently, Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported that Donald Trump has been telling people he will be reinstated as President by August of 2021. Simply put, there is no mechanism in our whole democratic process, defined in our constitution, or in any of our laws that would allow this to happen.

Trump has been telling a number of people he’s in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August (no that isn’t how it works but simply sharing the information). https://t.co/kaXSXKnpF0

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 1, 2021

I’m going to put a finer point on that, because it needs to be said: What Donald Trump and his flunkies are suggesting is well outside the bounds of any law or process within the Constitution. Journalists picked up this story, because the click machine demands to be fed. People are now repeating this story, without the context that this story demands, because… you know… fuck if I know? Why the fuck do we keep feeding Trump’s base exactly what he wants to feed them?

Anyway…

Depending on what poll you pick, it’s not a good picture for American right now. In the Monmouth Poll, 32% of Americans believe that Joe Biden is President because of voter fraud. Among Republicans, 65% believe there was voter fraud, and 32% will never accept Joe Biden as the President.

So let’s get back to that “reinstatement” thing I was just covering. This isn’t someone simply tossing around the idea of a reinstatement. This is the former President trying to rally support for a coup, and the overthrow of our democracy. That’s what you call it when someone who loses a fair election attempts to rally his supporters around the idea that he will re-take power through an undemocratic process. Now, you may be thinking, “That’s too far, Shane.” Fuck no, it’s not. We have seen that Trump’s supporters are willing to go to jail for him. They’re willing to kill cops for him. They mounted an insurrection at our nation’s seat of government on January 6th, 2021.

Donald Trump isn’t giving up, and many members of the GOP are willing to lie about things we all saw with our own eyes. I mean, fuck — Congressman Clyde from Georgia said the insurrection was like a tourist visit, for fuck’s sake. You know why they’re saying things like that? Because staying in power is more important to them than free and fair elections. You know what makes a democracy work? If you guessed free and fair elections, you’re correct. Retired General Michael Flynn (and former National Security Advisor under President Trump) recently supported the idea that the United States should have a military coup — like in Myanmar. Voice of fucking reason Liz Cheney (holy shit I just typed that, what a weird fucking year) had to push back against that idea, because Liz Cheney has somehow become a sympathetic figure recently.

I think people just assumed at some point that Donald Trump would move on, and find a new message. I’m not one of those people. Once the insurrection happened, I realized this was going to be an ongoing thing until Donald Trump was finally held accountable. Last night, at a rally in North Carolina, Donald Trump stayed “on message” — which is to say that he continued supporting the idea that the 2020 election was stolen from him. He was supposed to be helping 2022 candidates, but that’s not what his base wants, and it’s not the message that the majority of GOP voters want to hear.

This is not a politician who is acting within the bounds of our laws. Despite being removed from social media, Donald Trump’s supporters are not going anywhere. They believe in a conspiracy theory, and they are dangerous. This isn’t some tiny fringe group that can be reasoned with. If Donald Trump tells them to act, they will do it. We know this, because it literally already happened once. Why is this so hard to understand? Why do we keep allowing him to operate like this, when it’s clear as day he’s trying to build support for a coup?

Fucking hell.