People Who Are Fearing That Trump Will Try To Stay In Power Illegally Are Sharing A Memo Of 10 Things You Should Know On How To Stop A Coup

Joe Biden has won the US presidential election—you go, Joe—but Trump isn't here for it. The fact that Trump and other Republicans refuse to acknowledge the results of the election is worrying for some people.

There are concerns that the current POTUS, along with other Republicans, will do anything in order to stay in power. For quite a while now, Trump has been warning Americans that he won't be accepting the loss of the election. For this reason, various organizations have begun publishing pieces explaining ways the President and his allies might turn a loss into a win. People are fearing a slide into authoritarianism if the current people in power decide to stop counting votes or allow Trump to stay in power when he didn't win the election.

However (fortunately!), experts are saying that the coup is not likely to happen for various reasons. Still, a memo explaining 10 things everyone needs to know to stop a coup is being shared and reshared on different social media platforms. Scroll down below to read it.

More info: Choose Democracy

"Choose Democracy has one mission: prepare Americans in how to prevent and, if necessary, stop an undemocratic power grab or coup," the official website for the Choose Democracy project reads. "Our work involves psychological preparation, lessons from history, and strategic sensibility."

The memo covering 10 things people need to know to stop a coup has been shared on various platforms. "Anyone running for office can say whatever they want to, but it’s the will of the voters that decides," Van Jones—news commentator, author, and lawyer—wrote to his 1M followers on Facebook upon sharing the message.

"Democracy is fragile. We have reason to worry that this fall we may see an undemocratic power grab—a coup. We also know that the people can defend our democracy. Nonviolent mass protests have stopped coups in other places, and we may have to do the same in this country," the people behind the project write on Choose Democracy's website.

However, as per recent events, experts don't think there's a high chance of a coup.

Talking to The Guardian via email, Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, who specializes in elections, said: "If the country continues to follow the rule of law, I see no plausible constitutional path forward for Trump to remain as president barring new evidence of some massive failure of the election system in multiple states. It would be a naked, antidemocratic power grab to try to use state legislatures to get around the voters’ choice and I don’t expect it to happen."

The latest update, written on November 11 on the Choose Democracy website, reads: "Months ago we urged people to prepare in case of a coup. We told people to act decisively if a coup begins—because coups are often decided in days or weeks.
This scenario has unfolded differently. What we have seen has been slow, poorly rolled out, and has none of the surprise elements associated with a traditional coup."

"The media continues to treat Biden as the president-elect. Secretaries of State are standing by the election process. World leaders, Democrats, and many Republicans have congratulated Biden on his win," the people behind the project write in the update section of Choose Democracy's webpage.