Departures With Robert Amsterdam

This week we are pleased to welcome to the podcast Erica De Bruin, an Assistant Professor of Government at Hamilton College and the author of the new book, "How to Prevent Coups d'État: Counterbalancing and Regime Survival." At the time of this conversation with Robert Amsterdam, the Michigan Republican Party board of electors had refused to certify election results from one of the most populous counties, then certified, then sought to rescind their votes after receiving phone calls from President Donald Trump. Later that same afternoon, President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, gave a disturbing press conference chock full of unproven allegations and evidence-free conspiracy theories. So is this truly a coup attempt? Not so fast, says Prof. De Bruin, who literally wrote the book on coups. "Scholars that study coups across the globe understand them to be illegal, overt attempts to seize executive power within a country, backed by the use of force," De Bruin says. "I think that thus far, the actions taken within