![The Chickens Come Home to the Coup](https://stephenkinzer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Riot_police_and_protester_outside_United_States_Capitol_at_evening_20210106-194x120.jpg)
The Chickens Come Home to the Coup
By fomenting a violent uprising against democratic rule last week, President Trump did something unique in American history. He unleashed terror in his own country. Previous presidents have only done that abroad.
![A billboard in Managua shows Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, and his wife, Rosario Murillo, the vice president. Ortega reclaimed the presidency in 2007 and has held it since; his family controls much of the country's media.INTI OCÓN/NYT](https://stephenkinzer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/unnamed-2-194x120.jpg)
This is how other democracies have died
With American democracy pushed to the breaking point, the fate of other formerly free countries could soon be ours, too.