yes, it was a coup

The Executive Editor of Defense One tried to argue that yesterday's national embarrassment was not an attempted coup. He made a reasoned, logical argument in his favor, and the conclusion is supported also by Foreign Policy.  He starts with the basic dictionary definition.

There’s a lot of debate over this word on social media today. How much opposition to an existing government is enough to qualify as a coup?  Britannica says: “Coup d’état, also called coup, the sudden, violent overthrow of an existing government by a small group. The chief prerequisite for a coup is control of all or part of the armed forces, the police, and other military elements.”  Merriam-Webster says a coup is much less: “a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics — especially: the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group.”
- https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2021/01/not-coup/171229/

He makes repeated arguments that the military wasn't there. That's exactly true at the beginning. He implies that they therefore were not involved, so the definition is not satisfied. On that point, he is exactly wrong.

Recent months showed us military involvement with military vehicles in the streets during protests; surveillance drones, helicopters, and planes flying overhead; and troops lined up for public display.  That use helped to suppress one of the political movements within the nation. Those same tactics were then suddenly withheld. That unequal mobilization keeps our military very much involved in this instance. The District of Columbia requested National Guard assistance. The military instead stood by for half an hour while armed insurrectionists answering the call for "trial by combat" overwhelmed a Congress in session, a supposedly co-equal branch of our government, after the President tried to browbeat his own party members (including the Vice President) into cooperation with him.  Apparently failing to get authorization from the President, the military abided that dereliction until the Vice President stepped in to countermand the absent President.  Don't demand an explicit trail of accountability from a liar who is skilled in bankrupting corporations and walking away freely.

Withheld defense is not the same as active offense, sure, but it's still a dangerous and calculated use of the military. The military didn't raise its weapons at the President's order, but it did keep them lowered when needed.  Additionally, it seems like some police on site were allowing the swarm to proceed, sometimes even taking selfies with them. They were complicit with the President's wishes.  They aren't the national military, but they are the executive power of local government, and they clearly were not doing their job fairly by suppressing this group like they did elsewhere... which benefited the outgoing President who has courted police favor.

President Trump manipulated the military and police, and they performed on January 6th in a way useful to his corrupt intent.  He didn't command; he manipulated.  They were manipulated by the President, thereby satisfying the definition.  The stark difference in response is now historical fact, and it will influence future plans by the next crop of self-styled freedom fighters who follow him.  He created a situation where he would gain something useful to him, no matter how it turned out.

Institutional racism is not the same thing as individual racism, but it's still racism.  What happened yesterday was not a typical coup, but it was still an attempted coup.  These individuals weren't trying to install themselves into office, merely prevent the installation/consolidation of a different political party and retain their current leader.  The potential beneficiaries already had political authority, but they were hoping to retain it by destroying the usual mechanisms of transition and representation.

It might be accurate to call it "stochastic terrorism on a legislative body within a corrupt political environment", but that's indistinguishable from "a ridiculously uncoordinated coup perpetrated by useful morons inside and outside government office who were manipulated by their political leader".  Same effect, different specifics. It's all under the same umbrella. The single word is still appropriate. Call it racism, even if it's a different kind of racism. Call it a coup, even if it's a different kind of coup.

Thankfully, it failed.  And it failed so spectacularly that even some of its potential beneficiaries finally acted against the effort's leader.