At the beginning of last week, President Trump was valiantly fighting against the Deep State, but in a few hours of Wednesday January 6, 2021, the ruling class executed a coup de main, and it was all over.

You could tell by the way that congressional Republicans collapsed in a heap, all at once, and rubber-stamped the results of the election.

By the way, “coup de main” is a fancy French phrase used by military aficionados meaning “a swift attack that relies on speed and surprise to accomplish its objectives in a single blow.”

I suppose that after a decent interval some liberal historian will write a New York Times bestseller about “The Last Days of Trump” and we will learn all about the brilliant minds in the ruling class that planned and executed their regime-saving coup de main.

I decided to go and look at my brief take on Gaetano Mosca’s The Ruling Class to see if I could learn a lesson or two from last week’s coup de main.

Mosca says that, because of standing armies and their enormous expense, "no government can be overthrown by force unless the men who are in charge of it are themselves irresolute or lose their heads" or shrink from "repression involving bloodshed." Yes, I think I buy that.

Mosca says that to maintain its supremacy a ruling class must maintain energy, practical wisdom, political training in every generation. Otherwise, it declines and submits to another ruling class. Hmm. Could our rulers have a bit of a problem there?

Mosca says that democracy has deeply changed the role of the ruling class. Voting does not lead to the power of the people. Instead, it perfects the power of the ruling class. Ouch.

Mosca says that every ruling class creates a “political formula,” that invents a moral and legal basis for its power. The U.S. formula used to be that government existed to protect “the little guy.” The formula was celebrated in anthems like It’s a Wonderful Life, with the little guy homeowners of Bailey Park protected by St. George Bailey from the rapacious dragon Mr. Potter.

In our day government exists to fight systemic racism, and it is celebrated in anthems like the woke “oppressed peoples, allies, and white oppressors” narrative. If it weren’t for the “allies,” little kiddies are carefully taught from K thru Activism School, the world would collapse into a “literally Hitler” oppression of the oppressed peoples by the white oppressors. Sign here to become an “ally.”

They say, when you have achieved victory in battle, that the important thing is to use the cavalry to turn the enemy’s defeat into a rout. So now the Deep State is calling for impeachment of the President -- maybe after he leaves office.

I’m not sure whether to say “Damn Your Eyes” or “Go Ahead, Make My Day.”

A few weeks ago I said that if Trump won reelection over the fraud he would be a conquering hero, but if he lost he would be a Sacrificial Hero, as in Jung, archetypes, collective unconscious, and the bestest Sacrificial Hero of all time, Jesus Christ.

(I wonder why God keeps putting Sacrificial Heroes into most of the religions that He dictates to His prophets? I wonder what He means by that?)

If I were a Democratic operative with a byline I would be calling for Trump to be treated kindly, Thank You For Your Service, Donny, and send him into honorable retirement. Appoint him to head up a commission.

But if I were Mitch McConnell, I might be persuaded to egg the Democrats on, to impeach him; to convict him in a trial in the Senate; to appoint special prosecutors, one each to investigate each of his children, and one each to investigate each appointee that didn’t resign by Inauguration Day; to prosecute him for tax evasion and bankrupt him: to crucify Trump upon a Cross of Woke. And make Donald Trump into a martyr for the cause of the Great Rebellion of Commoners. For every good cause needs its martyr.

If I were Speaker Nancy, inspecting the “built by slaves” tag sprayed by Florida Man on the wall of my Capitol office -- just kidding! -- and determining never to speak to a Republican again in my life, what would I decide?

The way I look at it, a ruling class at the height of its power does not impose a Carthaginian peace on the Deplorables. Instead, it throws them a bone, something noble and generous like delaying the end of fossil-fueled cars from 2035 to 2040. Or awarding a Harvard professorship to a conservative once every two decades.

But I have a feeling that, while our ruling class executed ruling-class duties flawlessly last week, its leaders are not wise enough -- or powerful enough -- to cool their jets, especially the jets of their Wokey cancel-ologists.

Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also get his American Manifesto and his Road to the Middle Class.

Image: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-299-1805-10 / Scheck / CC-BY-SA 3.0