Illustration by Tim Czerniakowski
Trump getting hit with gavel illustration
For four years, Donald Trump and Senate leader Mitch McConnell appointed extreme rightwing judges as fast as they could to federal courts and appeals courts and created a supermajority on the U.S. Supreme Court. A fat lot of good that’s doing Trump now.
With major federal and state trials already underway against Trump and his criminally indicted co-conspirators for their violent insurrection to overthrow President Biden’s election, not a single one of those judges has lifted a gavel to protect Trump.
Trump, his closest advisors and strongest supporters are being treated like common criminals in the courts because they are. That’s not just coming from “Trump-hating judges,” Trump’s term for any judge he didn’t appoint.
The crimes America watched on Jan. 6, 2021, and on video later were so horrific—injuring 140 police officers including many with brain damage from savage beatings and sending Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate fleeing for their lives—few judges want to permanently destroy their legal reputations by defending the indefensible.
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Federal and state prosecutors are required to prove their criminal indictments in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt, but anyone who expects even today’s Trumped-up Supreme Court to prevent those behind the most violent attempt to overthrow American democracy since the Civil War from being brought to justice is living in Trump’s fantasy world.
Most Republicans appointed as federal judges have built their reputations as conservative advocates of law-and-order by handing down harsh sentences to those convicted of violent crimes. There’s never been any exception for violent crimes committed in support of a Republican president who lost an election.
Few Americans have even heard the name of Trump-appointed D.C. Federal Judge Timothy Kelly. But it was Kelly who sentenced the leaders of the Proud Boys to two decades in prison. They were the longest sentences for the violent supporters answering Trump’s call to “fight like hell” to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s election.
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Kelly’s 22-year sentence for Proud Boys chairman “Enrique” Tarrio was only four years longer than the 18-year sentence for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes issued by D.C. Judge Amit Mehta, appointed by President Obama. Unlike Republican politicians, judges appointed by Republicans agree with judges appointed by Democrats those convicted of attempting to violently overthrow democracy deserve long prison sentences.
Legal Consequences
That has immediately raised the potential legal consequences for Trump and his co-defendants in their upcoming trials before judges in Washington and Atlanta, Ga. Judges base their sentencing on the punishment others have received when convicted for the same crimes.
Both Kelly and Mehta cited actions by Tarrio and Rhodes on January 6 that are identical to those attributed to Trump in his indictment. Kelly said Tarrio “was the ultimate leader, the ultimate person who organized, who was motivated by revolutionary zeal” and “had an outsized impact on the events of the day.”
Mehta told Rhodes: “You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country, to the republic and the very fabric of our democracy.” He said Rhodes continued to spread false claims about election fraud and violent rhetoric while awaiting trial and would become a danger to democracy again “the moment you are released.”
“Tip of the Spear”
Trump’s creation of the Proud Boys as “the tip of spear” breaking into the Capitol allowing Trump’s riotous mob inside to disrupt a joint session of Congress was televised in advance. It originated during Trump’s most obnoxious presidential debate in September 2020 when he repeatedly shouted over both Biden and then Fox News moderator Chris Wallace.
When Wallace asked Trump whether he condemned the white supremacists and violent militias supporting him, Trump asked: “Who would you like me to condemn?” “The Proud Boys,” Biden suggested. Trump used the opportunity to publicly endorse the violent street gang and alerted them to prepare for action. “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Trump declared.
That same night, the Proud Boys began marketing Trump “merch” including T-shirts, coffee cups and beer cozies bearing his promotional slogan along with their logo. Trump’s national recruitment tripled membership. They eagerly responded to Trump’s call to storm the Capitol.
The Proud Boys were so proud of their role in the insurrection, they had a documentary filmmaker shoot video of their meeting with the Oath Keepers the night of January 5 in a darkened parking garage coordinating the Capitol break-in to usher inside the rampaging mob they knew Trump would be sending to attack Congress.
With multiple trials of Trump underway, we’re well past all the wasted media blather about how “unprecedented” it would be to criminally indict a former president. Trump’s criminal presidency was unprecedented from beginning to end. Its unprecedented ending was the worst crime in American history being broadcast live on national television.
Now the courts are doing their jobs and mopping up. There’s nothing Trump can do to stop them. Democracy must hold.
