...though I do think that Pop was well meaning. He did try to act in Russia’s best interests, via the abdication he regretted when he saw that it did more damage than good to Russia.
By the time he abdicated, it was irrelevant. Nobody paid him any attention anymore, so it didn’t matter whether he clung to the throne or not.
People forget that “leaders” have only the power they get from people who follow them. That’s why those who obsess over a presidential coup are being silly.
For an American president, right or left, to “take over” and dump the Constitution would require at minimum hundreds of thousands and more likely tens of millions of willing followers, appropriately placed in the power structure, especially the military. I don’t see these people out there.