American journalist John Heilemann has expressed fears over the likelihood of another coup by supporters of Donald Trump on NBC's 'Meet the Press'. During a discussion about a piece in The Atlantic titled "Trump's Next Coup Has Already Begun, by Barton Gellman, Heilemann said over 30 million people might be ready to take up arms against President Joe Biden.
According to Heilemann, Trump will be in a stronger position to launch a coup in 2024 than he was in 2020 as 8-12% of Americans, which is somewhere between 20 and 30 million people, say Joe Biden was illegitimate and that violence is an appropriate tool to removing him and restoring the former president, reports RealClear Politics.
The journalist also stated that this kind of mass movement was new to America, even though there has been political violence before.
He warned that the actions being taken by Trump and his allies in the political realm or statehouses, signal at the makings of a possible coup if put together, where the former president will be in a stronger position to pull it off.
On Friday, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had turned over a PowerPoint recommending Trump to declare a national security emergency in order to return himself to the presidency, to a House select committee investigating the 6 January attack.
The PowerPoint was titled "Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 Jan" and had made recommendations for Trump to retain the presidency on the basis of lies and debunked conspiracies about widespread election fraud. Meadows having access to the powerpoint, just a day before the coup, showed that he was somewhat aware of Trump's plans to stop Biden's certification from taking place, as per the Guardian.
Meadows had also handed over to the committee, text messages and emails, that made it evident Donald Trump was "exchanging with a wide range of individuals while the attack was underway".
The documents had led to Trump losing his legal battle seeking to block information from the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
