Remember when we all thought we knew what a coup was? “A sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government,” as defined by Google’s Oxford dictionary. From the French coup d’etat, literally “blow of state.”

That’s what it was then, but now a coup is when legal means are used to counter a perceived attempt to seize power through subterfuge and electoral manipulation. Huh? That doesn’t make any sense.

No it doesn’t, but it’s the narrative being pushed by the far-left media and the inbred governing elites, who have essentially turned language into a weapon against those who would challenge their power. Thus, anyone who sought an investigation into the 2020 presidential election is now a danger to society, a threat to democracy, a domestic terrorist who ought to be thrown in prison.

It starts with Donald Trump, of course, who apparently engaged in what Rep. Jamie Raskin has identified peculiarly as a “self-coup.” And it continues with the protesters who foolishly fought with police on Jan. 6 because they thought that a real coup was taking place inside the Capitol and that they could do something about it. But in the past few weeks, we have been coached to accept the idea that anyone was part of the so-called “Trump coup” if they doubted the official election results. Never mind the First Amendment. Never mind the rule of law. If you took any steps, even though entirely legal, to contest the election, you are an enemy of the state.

Which brings me to my confession. I have to admit that both before and after the Nov. 3, 2020 election, I suspected that the Democrats would rig the election and said so publicly. I encouraged President Trump to fight the election results in the Electoral College, in the courts, in peaceful rallies, and in Congress. It seemed to me that no step short of violence should be omitted in the effort to prove that the election was stolen.