Trump Calls Impeachment Effort A 'Coup' As Combative Aides Take On Democrats

Amid the lack of a coherent legal response to the impeachment effort against him, President Donald Trump seems to be playing the victim card to take on the congressional Democrats. On Tuesday, he branded the official impeachment inquiry against him as a "coup."

“As I learn more and more each day, I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP, intended to take away the Power of the People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!” Trump tweeted late Tuesday night.

Trump labeled the impeachment a coup, calling it an attempt to take away the vote and power of the people. He essentially branded the whole process illegal, sending out a message about how he and his administration intended to fight it.

The President seems to have forgotten that the transcript of his call shows him pressing foreign powers to help him with dirt on his political rivals and that, coupled with the whistleblower’s complaint on how the White House has tried to conceal transcripts, has given the Democrats enough reason to launch an official impeachment inquiry.

A coup, by definition involves overthrowing a leader of a country with the help of security forces without any investigations or hearings. It is highly contrasting to the legal process that the House has initiated, which is in line with the power the constitution has vested in them.

Trump’s claim instead is eerily akin to the rhetoric which he employed during the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, calling the investigation by former special counsel Robert Mueller a "witch hunt" and a "coup." Coupling Trump’s claim with his accusations against Rep. Adam Schiff, it is clear that the President is trying to stonewall the investigations once again.

His aides too have adopted a similar narrative, rebuking and disrupting the Democrats’ attempt to carry out a proper inquiry. In a letter to the Democrats on Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused them of intimidating and bullying state officials to gather information about Trump’s solicitation of foreign help.

Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani went one step ahead and said he wants to sue the people who are behind the probe into the president.

"They are doing extraordinary things. For example, they are violating — they’re interfering with the president in exercising his rights under Article II: The president United States conducts the foreign policy of the United States," Giuliani said, trying to point out how the probe was a violation of President Trump’s constitutional rights.

While Trump is known to tweet ridiculous things at times, the message that his latest tweet sends is one of concern. He for once sounded like a petty dictator, when he quoted Pastor Rober Jeffress in his tweet on Monday, saying impeaching him would cause a "Civil War like fracture" in the nation.

While some speculate that this could be an attempt to whip his supporters into a frenzy, it is also seen by many as an inability of the White House to mount a coherent and solid legal response to the allegations against the President.

It needs to be seen how the President will build on this narrative as the inquiry moves ahead.