The missing man. - by Joshua Trevio - Armas

Let us reflect for a moment on the exceeding strangeness, the un-normalcy, of all this. - by Joshua Trevio - Armas 

• It is extremely strange for a President of the United States to end his reelection candidacy — and therefore to de facto end his Presidency — with a mere memorandum posted on social media. 
• It is extremely strange for that President to issue a followup social-media post designating a successor, who immediately sets in motion the process of amassing the funds and power previously accrued to her predecessor. 
• It is extremely strange for the President’s calendar to be concurrently cleared, including the cancellation of meetings with foreign leaders who are traveling to the United States specifically to meet with the President.
• It is extremely strange for all this to happen without a single personal appearance, without even a video, without even a recording of his voice, without even a photograph, in an era where producing and sharing those things has never been easier. 

Why do we have nothing?...
One note on the rhetoric here: there is pushback online from certain corners against the use of coup d’état to describe events.

This is a tell, and ought to signal that we should use it often. 

We should use it because it leads ineluctably to three assertions they wish to avoid. 

• One is that the plotters ought to face public accountability. 
• Another is that a President unfit to run is unfit to remain in office. 
• Still another is that the regime is illegitimate.

And there is one other reason to use it: because it is true.