Trump and the Committee

 

The subject of the house’s January 6^th committee is serious. Whether the committee is also serious is a matter of controversy. Many Democrats say the committee’s hearings are necessary to create an official record of all the wrong and/or criminal things Donald Trump did in trying to remain in power. Many Republicans say they are a partisan effort by Democrats to smear Republicans in a probably futile attempt to make the beating facing them in the coming mid-term elections less severe. Few people have noticed that these are not mutually exclusive opinions. Both can be right.

It is clear that the Democrats and their public relations people in the traditional media have exaggerated some things to the point of silliness. The riot at the capitol was not an armed insurrection. The rioters were not armed. The seemingly goofy Proud Boys were nothing like Ernst Rohm’s sturmabteilung. The rioters violent crimes were fewer and far less serious than the actions of leftist rioters in any of several cities. There was no chance the poor, disturbed, misled guy in the buffalo horns and his buddies were going to overthrow the government.

However all of this is completely irrelevant to the main issue. From at least December 14^th on, Donald Trump was an enemy of the republic. He and some of his associates plotted to cancel the results of a national election and illegally and unconstitutionally remain in power. The evidence is plain and easy to understand. Liz Cheney summarized some of it very well. The fact that he called his supporters to Washington on January 6^th and said what he said to them makes it obvious that he had not given up and was still trying to stay in power. He sent the rioters to the capitol. He ordered Mike Pence to overthrow the government of the United States and place him in power through a coup d’etat.

What he did was criminal. The members of the committee, the US attorney general, and legal authorities in places such as Georgia need to decide if some of it was also illegal. If so he should be indicted and convicted. That would keep him from seeking elected office again. He should have been impeached and convicted for the orders he gave Pence alone. That would have stopped him too, but it did not happen. I don’t think the Republicans will be foolish enough to nominate him for president in 2024. That would turn what is looking like a probable walk over win into a likely loss. But it would not hurt to make it impossible for him to run, just in case. Besides, apart from any pragmatic reasons, justice should be served for a man who turned against the republic as surely as did Jefferson Davis.

Trump's Coup

 A lot is being written about the riot at the Capitol last January 6^th, and I think a lot of it misses the point. The real attack on the republic was the stuff Trump did after December 14^th  to try to stay in office. The real attempted coup on January  6^th was not anything the poor, deluded people he sent over the Capitol did. It was Trump’s order to Pence block the final certification of the results of the election. The house impeached him for the wrong thing.  He should have been impeached and convicted in the days after January 6^th and before he left office for trying to overthrow the government and constitution of the United States. From December 14^th on and especially on January 6^th, he was an enemy of the republic.

He’s also to blame for the riot. A reasonable person with some experience in life would have been able to see  that if the president of the United States stirred up a mob of his ardent, angry, frightened  followers with talk about his reelection having been illegally overturned by his criminal opponents and then told them to go over to the Capitol and do something about it, things would get out of hand. His remark about staying peaceful might protect him legally, but it does not change his guilt.  

The suckers who broke into the Capitol are guilty too, but, unlike him, they deserve some compassion. They had been duped by a vicious con man. They should be punished, but theirs should be condign punishment. Their crimes were trespass, vandalism, petty larceny, and perhaps brawling with some cops. Probably most are first offenders. They should have been treated in the same way as others committing similar offenses instead of being locked up for a year without bail or trial and in some cases receiving long, unjustified sentences. They are getting politically motived excessive punishment. That is both wrong and foolish. The Dems should not want to help Trump and his gang by manufacturing martyrs for them.  

Meanwhile Trump has had no consequences at all.  Officials  should  be thinking about correcting that. His behavior was criminal. Garland and company should spend some time deciding if it was also illegal. 

Condign Punishment

Trump should have been impeached and speedily convicted after  January 6^th,2021 and before the inauguration, solely for his illegal and unconstitutional order to Vice President Pence to block certification of the election of Biden. That was the real attempted coup d’état that day. (There is a good case that some of his other actions after December 14^th also amounted to an impeachable attempted coup.) He is also guilty of stirring up his deluded followers to break into the Capitol -  though his probably insincere stipulation about staying peaceful probably would get him off the hook on charges of criminal incitement to riot. Regardless of that technical point, he is to blame for what happened. He should never have held the rally in Washington on that day, and he surely should not have sent large numbers of overwrought people over the Capitol to stop the “steal”.

Of course the rioters themselves, as distinct from the people who attended the rally but did not break into the Capitol, are also to blame. They should be punished for their crimes, but it should be condign punishment, not politically motivated excessive punishment. Their crimes were forced trespass, vandalism, petty larceny, and perhaps brawling with some cops.  There was no arson, systematic looting, murder, or massive destruction of property. Yet many of them are being denied bail, held in solitary, and generally treated more harshly than rioters in politically approved riots that did have arson, systematic looting, murder, and massive destruction of property and far more harshly than is usual for the crimes they committed.

This is wrong as a matter of equal justice. It is also stupid as a matter of politics.  It gives clear evidence supporting the claims by conservatives that the country now has a two tiered system of justice, with one set of rules for Democrats and their followers and one for everyone else. It also could lead to the rioters being seen as martyrs rather than ridiculous, unadmirable chumps who had been fooled by the man who is most guilty for what happened. The riot was outrageous, and he is the appropriate target for most of the outrage.