President Trump has neither the competency nor ambition to carry out a coup, White House reporter Maggie Haberman said Friday, playing down concerns he could try to remain in office by any means.
Ms. Haberman, who covers Mr. Trump for The New York Times, suggested during the newspaper’s “The Daily” podcast that the president lacks the skills he would need to stage a coup to stay in control.
“I think that the belief that this is a coup both gives this president too much credit for a level of competence in executing that kind of thing, and a level of ambition, candidly, that I don’t think he has,” said Ms. Haberman.
Ms. Haberman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, said Mr. Trump’s handling of his apparent loss to Democratic rival Joseph R. Biden is “not normal” and that Americans have reason to be anxious.
“I think that he is making a bunch of moves at specific agencies like Department of Defense to install loyalists there for specific policy measures, like drawing down troops in Afghanistan, but I don’t think that it’s about trying to mobilize the military against Joe Biden in some way,” said Ms. Haberman.
“I think that this is much more about the end stages of a very, very convulsive presidency,” Mr. Haberman added. “But not about trying to continue it.”
Several news outlets have called the White House race for Mr. Biden, setting the stage for him to become president in January. Mr. Trump has not conceded, however, citing unfounded claims of fraud.
Mr. Trump has no “secret plan” for holding power despite his projected loss, Ms. Haberman said during the podcast. “He is trying to play this out for as long as he can to see what happens,” she said.
Indeed, Mr. Trump’s longtime friend and former adviser Roger Stone argued in an article Friday there is an “absolute metaphysical certainty” the president will not concede.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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