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The South Korean people prevented a coup. We can too.
On January 6, 2021, the United States of America survived an attempted coup d’etat.
On November 5, 2024, the United States of America chose to return to power the president who nearly pulled off that coup.
That is after he threatened, if re-elected, to invoke the 1792 Insurrection Act that would authorize martial law, deploying American soldiers into American cities to tamp down perceived rebellions or domestic violence.
As Michael Waldman wrote for the Brennan Center for Justice last year:
This time, the thought goes, if he is displeased by protests, he will use the law as a way to crack down and grab more power. Think of the “Reichstag moment” reportedly feared by General Mark Milley three years ago.
As liberal democracies all over the world start to devolve into authoritarian regimes, the fear that the oldest constitutionally limited democratic republic, the original archetype for republics that followed — namely, us — joining them is sending a chill through the global community.
But there was hope last week in South Korea.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday attempted to seize total control of the country by declaring a state of emergency and martial law under the pretext that some…
