> what do you think would have happened if the rioters captured every single congressperson?
Well, what indeed? Suppose that they killed the ones who were opposed to them politically. Suppose the vote went on, with a different result.
The person who won would surely not repudiate those results. The Supreme Court might consider it, but I honestly don't know what they'd say. The Constitution doesn't have any provision for it, and the majority of the Supreme Court might well decide that the "original intent" was that the vote was the vote.
These were, indeed, just political rioters rather than an organized coup. They didn't have any idea what they were doing, and even if it fell out the way I suggested it wouldn't really have been because they plotted it out that way.
Still... it doesn't seem impossible. And if they achieved their aims, by violence, it seems like splitting hairs not to call that a "coup".
Well, what indeed? Suppose that they killed the ones who were opposed to them politically. Suppose the vote went on, with a different result.
The person who won would surely not repudiate those results. The Supreme Court might consider it, but I honestly don't know what they'd say. The Constitution doesn't have any provision for it, and the majority of the Supreme Court might well decide that the "original intent" was that the vote was the vote.
These were, indeed, just political rioters rather than an organized coup. They didn't have any idea what they were doing, and even if it fell out the way I suggested it wouldn't really have been because they plotted it out that way.
Still... it doesn't seem impossible. And if they achieved their aims, by violence, it seems like splitting hairs not to call that a "coup".