[PhasmaFelis]

I've read that he had cronies in the military. My only guess is that he was hoping they'd back him hard enough to suppress the opposition. (Either by ignoring the vote, or by preventing them from voting in the first place--which it seems came close to happening.)

[petre]

It wouldn't have worked anyway. The ROK has a history of right wing patries abusing power and violent student protests clashing with riot control police. That is hard earned democracy. If he thought the people wouldn't be out in the streets backing up the Assembly, he was so wrong. They're out in the streets protesting peacefully with k-pop light sticks as we speak.

[throw4321]

Just for reference, in the US there were protests after protests in late 2016 and early 2017. The only difference they made is tiring out the participants.

[yongjik]

Korea also saw almost nonstop protests since Yoon came to power - TBH I think there was always some part of Korea protesting the government, since forever. But you can't just kick out a president for being hugely unpopular - they must do something so drastically and flagrantly unconstitutional that the majority of citizens must say "Yep that's unconstitutional, we have to drag him down because our Republic is at danger."

Whether you like Trump or not (I don't), Trump of 2016/2017 did not meet the threshold. (Half of America had just elected him, what would you expect?) I think Jan 6th clearly met the threshold, and Biden should have seen that Trump ends up in prison. He somehow didn't - I get that precedents are important in politics and America had never seen an ex-president in prison, so would have been very controversial - but I think it was a wrong decision and America is now paying the price.

[throw4321]

In 2016/2017 there was much more awareness of Russian interference than there is now. The protests were more about legitimacy than about disagreement or dislike.

By 2021 the Putin/MAGA forces had accreted so much power that it was safer for Republican senators to bend the knee and acquit in the impeachement trial.

[petre]

Putin is playing with fire manipulating elections that put borderline fascists in power. Especially in the US. He might be in for a dissapointing surprise. We shall see.

The only way to win against the US is to divide it from within and/or obtain its non-involvement. By the time they send a carrier strike group, or worse, troops, it's game over. So that's what the Kremlin is doing: the thing that wouldn't have worked during the Cold War because the commie agitators would have either ended up in prison or being constantly harassed.