Though both were military coups, America responded very differently to the ousting of Egypt’s elected president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and the fall of Yingluck Shinawatra’s government a year later.
The US avoided calling events in Egypt a coup, preferring the phrase “military intervention” and maintaining its annual $1.5 billion in military and economic aid to the country. (Under US law, the government must suspend foreign aid to any nation whose elected leader is ousted in a coup.) The elected president Morsi turned out to be a religious hardliner, determined to force Islamic law on the country, leading Washington to believe it was at risk of losing a major North African ally. Despite having been democratically elected, Morsi had to go.
By contrast, Yingluck was always a “good girl” in the eyes of the US. That’s why Washington called the coup here by its proper name, denounced it and suspended military aid to Thailand.
Somsak Pola