So if they cornered the btc market, afterwards the btc price could only go up, factor with this a few btc friendly directives, and a massive coup would have been achieved.
What is the downside?
That's possible, you can control what you already have, they have the capability to do this maybe they are already doing this and they are not yet exposed, but what if they are exposed, how will the international community react to this, supporting something that they are against with
the scenario will be very bad if they are exposed, they rather make it hard for Cryptocurrency than being part or getting a hold of it, they can build a good reputation, because we all know Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency is till has conflict on the system of government
I'd probably estimate that a lot of the people who are in bitcoin due to decentralization would pull out when the US is able to manipulate the markets, and the US wouldn't do this anyway. Don't think they even have the money to do so.