Accountability for sedition

Nicole Wallace and others reporting at CNN have stopped calling former Pr*sident Trump by name, instead referring to him as “former guy.”

“The former guy” is the nickname President Joe Biden used to refer to his predecessor at a recent town hall with Anderson Cooper.

“I’m tired of talking about Donald Trump,” he said. “For four years, all that’s been in the news is Trump. The next four years, I want to make sure all the news is the American people.”

Since the former guy was banned on Twitter, Facebook and other social media, he effectively is deprived of a platform to communicate his big lie about the “stolen” election. Along with his new status as private citizen, he no longer dominates the news cycle.

Although PTSD is perhaps the wrong label to describe the effect former guy has had on the American psyche, I suggest that nonstop news coverage of his outrages e.g. family separation policy, abandoning the Kurds, plus the accompanying “shiny objects,” false claims designed to distract attention from his controversial policies, plus his craving to be the center of attention, plus his refusal to cooperate with congressional oversight, has cumulatively inured the public to his serial violations of the norms of presidential behavior. Arguably, four years of relentless dishonesty and self-aggrandizement has taken a toll on the body politic?

Under former guy, the balance of competing power centers of government, as designed by the founders of the Constitution, was tilted (some more) in favor of the Executive branch, largely by a supine Senate, which failed to hold him accountable for presidential abuses of power.

When you weigh the stress of this past year under covid, including the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and an economy on the brink of depression as former guy left office, it’s no wonder that the American public had reached the nadir of pessimism about the future of the country?

His departing middle finger to Americans was the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, which demolished a hallmark of democratic governance, namely the smooth transition of power to a newly elected administration in a democracy.

That betrayal, a coup attempt, will be a lasting stain on American democracy, surpassing the 911 attack in consequence, because it was a domestic attack on government by home grown violent extremists, abbetted by other Americans, some of whom were elected representatives in Congress. Simply put, attempting to deny the results of a duly elected government by force, is as undemocratic as it gets?

The FBI investigation into the events of Jan. 6 is one of the largest in the agency’s history.

Processing the thousands of social media posts by the insurrectionists, and tips by investigative journalists and the public to identify the proud culprits has strained the agency. Many of those tipsters are disappointed that they haven’t received an FBI response weeks after submitting leads to the agency, an indication of the enormity of the task of compiling evidence and charging rioters.

Building prosecution cases against hundreds of insurrectionists and their co-conspirators is an immense task.

Many of the demonstrators are initially charged with trespass or other misdemeanors. As the FBI investigators work their way up the command structures of white supremacist organizations, they will offer plea deals to lower level insurrectionists as inducement to provide evidence against their leaders. That takes time, because this is how investigations work to hold leadership accountable.

Plus, it’s unknown how far up the leadership chain the investigation will go, with possible conspiracy charges for former guy’s advisers and administration officials? Under Merrick Garland, we may rest assured that the Justice Department will follow the evidence wherever it leads, even into the Oval Office?

I don’t know how the public will react to the sentencing of some of the conspirators, who likely will claim that they are the true patriots?

Some individuals may receive sentences mandating years long incarceration under federal statutes, especially those who violently assaulted Capitol police? Assault that results in personal injury carries a federal penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment. Should they lie under oath about their role in the insurrection, the general perjury statute under federal law classifies perjury as a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to five years.

Be prepared to hear cries of injustice at the harsh sentences, by those convicted felons and former guy’s sycophants on right wing media platforms.

Despite dismissal by republicans, the nation is threatened by right wing extremists, who seek to undermine the rule of law by any means, including violence. Their Jan. 6 riot was supposed to be a means to achieve an end that reversed the election, which they justified by misplaced patriotism.

That means was to ransack the Capitol, and in the end five people were dead. Sedition threatens our democracy, the government likely will seek to discourage subsequent insurrection by imposing lengthy sentences on the riot leaders.

It would seem that, lately, the Department of Justice takes domestic terrorism seriously?

Aspiring white supremacists may have to think twice, before believing the next demagogue, who promises to march to the Capitol with them?