He's attempting to wrest power in almost the exact way that a toddler attempts to arrest power when it decides to hold its breath until it gets its way. The people panicking about a coup are essentially 1) petrified with worry that the kid will actually get its way by holding its breath and 2) yelling at the parents because they looked at the kid and said "okay, you go ahead and hold your breath for as long as you can, I know, it's so unfair!" and 3) berating everyone in the kid's family including distant cousins for not beating the kid black and blue in response to it holding its breath.