While it might seem glib to compare the thwarted coup attempt in South Korea to the United States, columnist and editor James Downie warned that the two countries share "eerie" similarities.
Writing for MSNBC, Downie walked through President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law and attempt to shut down all media and political speech. It took just five hours for the legislature to overturn his decree. Since then, lawmakers have passed articles of impeachment.
"The parallels between the two countries’ political situations are beyond eerie," Downie said.
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For example, Yoon barely won his election in 2022, and analysts think that the election had more to do with his predecessor than his opponent.
Even the BBC compared Yoon to President-elect Donald Trump after being "prone to gaffes throughout the campaign."
“He had to walk back a comment that the authoritarian president Chun Doo-hwan, who was responsible for massacring protestors in 1980, was ‘good at politics,'" the report said.
In the U.S. however, it was a different kind of "coup." While it took six hours for South Koreans to block the president, it took five days for Congress to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump after the Jan. 6 attack. The trial didn't happen for five weeks, and only after Trump left office.
"The delay gave conservatives time to consolidate a defense of Trump, once the initial shock had worn off," said Downie. "And once Trump was no longer president, Republicans like Sen. Mitch McConnell had an additional excuse to acquit."
Republicans claimed that since Trump was no longer president, he couldn't be impeached or blocked from any future presidency, and they'd let the courts handle the matter, McConnell said.
"Now, Trump will return to the White House — and, thanks to the Supreme Court, with sweeping new protections from criminal prosecution," wrote Downie. "It turns out, in other words, that a united opposition swiftly and decisively rebutting would-be authoritarians works better than taking a couple weeks and hoping it works out for the best."
Another difference he pointed to is that South Koreans are aware of how fragile democracy can be with past dictatorships still in the minds of those who experienced them.
For Americans, the reality of an authoritarian regime is too far removed.
The lesson he hopes anti-Trump people learn "is that the next time Trump transgresses the boundaries of the democratic system, and Democrats have a chance to hold him accountable, they must proceed as quickly as possible. Holding Congress open, demanding votes, keeping legislators in town — whatever is necessary must be done rapidly, lest Republicans misplace their briefly recovered senses."
He expects Trump and his allies to attack democracy again simply because "they cannot help themselves." He hopes Democrats are ready to act.
