The slow coup: Today So Far

• While speaking with KUOW's "Soundside," Washington Gov. Jay Inslee comments on the "continuing coup effort" following Jan. 6.
• Washington's proposed carbon pollution plan is garnering some criticism because not everybody would have to follow the new rules.

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 29, 2022.

The congressional hearings into the January 6 riot continue to reveal more and more about that day, and provide further evidence that it was indeed an insurrection (as I've said before in this newsletter, just because they were bad at it, doesn't mean it wasn't an insurrection).

If you ask Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, it was a coup — an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power by someone who lost an election. It was deterred by Americans who not only did their jobs, they stood their ground as patriots. People like Vice President Mike Pence, who kept America's process on track.

"This is a continuing coup effort. It is not finished," Inslee told KUOW, shortly after hearing Tuesday's testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aid to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

"I think the most important thing of this testimony is to understand the depravity, number one, of Donald Trump," Inslee said. "But number two, to understand how democracy is continuing under a threat. Now it's under threat from multiple sources — the filibuster, gerrymandering, the court packing that gave us these (recent Supreme Court) decisions."

It's also under threat from people who have taken their ideology to the ballot, whether because of misinformation, a dedication to a culture war, or other (take your pick). Here in Washington, conspiracy theory-driven candidates have run for office, and have been elected to office. And more are coming in November's election. Candidates like Washington's Loren Culp and Joe Kent, and a handful of hopefuls in smaller races, have promoted the unproven, and disproven, notion that the 2020 election was stolen.

Such ideological camps have always existed in our region. But there has been a modern movement to achieve legitimacy and influence through the ballot. And perhaps now, this movement is a slow coup in the wake of Jan. 6, 2021. Gov. Inslee's conversation with KUOW's "Soundside" covered a lot more than Jan. 6, such as removing local dams, and abortion rights. Hear/read more of that discussion here.

AS SEEN ON KUOW

Estella gets her first Covid-19 vaccine at a Seattle Children's clinic for children under five on June 21, 2022. (Kate Walters / KUOW)

DID YOU KNOW?

Coyotes can mate with domestic dogs. Just like wolves, they are all closely related. I recently found this out because Nina and I got a new puppy. It's a mutt, but looking at it has me wondering what the heck is going on with its genes. There are plenty of guesses, but nobody can quite figure it out.

A coydog is a mix between a male coyote and a female domestic dog. A dogyote is a result of a female coyote and a male domestic dog. The reason for this parental distinction is that coyotes have seasonal mating cycles, generally in the spring. So they mate and give birth, generally, at the same times of of year. It's therefore not too common that coyotes and domestic dogs interbreed. However, it sometimes happens and the genes have gotten around. For example, people in pre-Columbian Mexico intentionally bred coyotes, wolves, and domestic dogs. Indigenous peoples in Canada also bred coyotes and wolves with their sled dogs.

ALSO ON OUR MINDS

Trump's legal exposure may be growing – and 4 other takeaways from the Jan. 6 hearing

Explosive firsthand testimony was delivered Tuesday before the Jan. 6 committee from a former Trump White House aide about the former president's conduct on the day of the insurrection and leading up to it.

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