The truth about January 6

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

I hadn’t planned to write today, but I found that I couldn’t let the third anniversary of January 6 pass without speaking out. Social media is full of apologists with misinformation about the insurrection so I want to underscore the truth about what happened that day.

January 6 defendants are not political prisoners. The people who have been charged and convicted of crimes stemming from their actions on January 6 are not being persecuted for their political beliefs. They are being prosecuted for criminal acts that range from trespassing to sedition. Note that conservatives, Trump supporters, and Republicans who did not attack the Capitol are not being prosecuted.

Insurrectionists replacing the American flag with the Trump flag is all you need to know about MAGA patriotism. (Screenshot from the platform formerly known as Twitter: Hat tip to Dave Thul)

It was not Antifa. The mob was not led by leftist moles as part of a red flag operation. The mob was assembled by Donald Trump, who then directed it toward the Capitol and set it in motion. The attack was one of the most well-documented crimes in history with clueless Trump supporters posting their own photos of themselves breaking the law on social media.

There was no entrapment. No one in law enforcement except Donald Trump encouraged the Stop the Steal attendees to attack the Capitol. If there was any entrapment, it was by Donald Trump. Keep in mind that the federal government on January 6 was headed by Donald Trump and his appointees. Any entrapment or instigation of the crowd was by Trump and his people. Failure to prepare the Capitol also rests with the Trump Administration, not Nancy Pelosi, who did not refuse or control the National Guard or Capitol Police. This argument is an attempt to shift the blame from the criminals. It’s personal accountability for thee but not for me.

Ray Epps was convicted. Ray Epps, a MAGA insurrectionist believed by many to be an FBI agent who incited the crowd, was not an FBI agent and pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of “disorderly or disruptive conduct on restricted grounds.” He is one of the few people to be convicted on January 6 charges despite never having entered the Capitol. Epps is scheduled to be sentenced next week and prosecutors are seeking six months in jail. Epps says that conspiracy theories have ruined his life, presumably referring to both the stolen election conspiracies that brought him to Washington three years ago as well as the baseless accusations since. Epps has filed a defamation suit against Fox News.

Democrats did not give BLM rioters preferential treatment. Some complain that January 6 rioters were prosecuted while BLM rioters were set free, but records indicate that this claim is only partly true. The Associated Press pointed out that BLM riot prosecutions continued after Biden became president with some receiving harsher sentences than most January 6 insurrectionists. Many BLM charges were dropped but Newsweek points out that this was often for minor offenses and was due to lack of evidence rather than due to political sympathies.

There was an insurrection even though rioters have not been charged with the crime of insurrection. Federal law does prohibit insurrection, but the applicable statute does not define the term. For that reason, prosecutors likely took the path of least resistance and charged insurrectionists with crimes that are better defined and have more firm precedents. The struggle over whether Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and is subject to the 14th Amendment is a good example of why prosecutors took the more conservative route in charging most insurrectionists. Some leaders of the plot have been convicted of seditious conspiracy.

Weapons are not required for an insurrection. Some apologists argue that January 6 was not an insurrection because the crowd wasn’t armed. This is wrong on two counts. First, the crowd was armed, both with guns and other weapons such as clubs, knives, and bear spray. One rioter even used an American flag as a weapon to attack police.

Second, an insurrection does not require weapons. At its most basic, “insurrection” is simply defined as “a violent act of revolt or rebellion against a government or authority.” The applicable federal insurrection statute also does not specify that weapons must be present.

There was no massive election fraud. Donald Trump had many days in court. He and his lawyers repeatedly failed to bring proof of any widespread election fraud. Some lawsuits were dismissed for lack of standing but in many cases, Trump lost on the merits. Trump’s own appointees, including members of the Supreme Court, ruled against him because his claims were baseless and frivolous.

There was another recent chance to prove election fraud in Rudy Giuliani’s defense against defamation charges by two election workers. Instead, Giuliani “did not contest” that his election claims were lies. Likewise, Sidney Powell has admitted that her statements were not meant to be taken seriously, i.e. she was lying.

Donald Trump incited and protected the insurrectionists. The January 6 insurrection was the culmination of a months-long plot to overturn the election results. Trump considered shooting BLM rioters but delayed calling out the National Guard as his supporters overran the Capitol. If the mob had truly been composed of Antifa members, is there any real doubt that Trump would have acted swiftly and harshly?

Don’t believe Trump’s crocodile tears. When Trump drums up sympathy for the insurrectionists languishing in prison for their crimes, don’t forget that he had weeks to pardon them and yet did not. Trump thinks only of himself. He cares about the prisoners only as a means to return to power.

The truth is easy to see if you look for it. Donald Trump and MAGA were behind an attempted coup that would have overturned the results of the 2020 presidential election. Those who minimize and rationalize the unique and vicious attack on the Capitol on January 6 should not be trusted and the 14th Amendment should be invoked to keep such seditious traitors out of power.

As a conservative and constitutionalist, I have no use for the people who corrupted the Republican Party and led it down the path of violent rebellion or the spineless partisans who were too afraid to stand up to Trump and his MAGA minions and call them what they are.

Never forget January 6 and never let it be repeated.