On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump attempted a violent overthrow

[orangecrush]

Of the United States government.

9 months later, there have been zero consequences.

The actual participants have gotten misdemeanor charges, by and large, slaps on the wrist.

WTAF

[C_U_L8R]

1. So many traitors, so few firing squads

We all know what they'd do with liberal insurrectionists.

[Initech]

2. He got a slap on the wrist for it, this should not stand.

[StarfishSaver]

3. There have not been ZERO consequences, just not consequences you wanted to see by now

But do you know for certain that prosecutors are not investigating the insurrection and Trump's role in it, that grand juries are not hearing witnesses, reviewing documents and other evidence, that charges are not being shaped and indictments and prosecutions will not occur when the prosecutors are confident they have put together a case strong enough to survive motions to dismiss and that stand a good chance of resulting in convictions?

If you don't, it is premature to say there have been "zero consequences."

Just yesterday, people were insisting that Merrick Garland and DOJ were doing diddly squat to respond to the new Texas law only to be silenced by the Department's lawsuit today. So it's not a stretch to consider the very likely possibility that plenty is going on behind the scenes to bring Trump to justice even if you can't personally see what's happening in the DOJ building.

[orangecrush]

4. I wan't talking about the Texas law

And what DOJ did is good.

[StarfishSaver]

5. I know you weren't

My point was that just because you can't see what they're doing behind the scenes doesn't mean that DOJ isn't doing exactly what needs to be done in order to prosecute Trump and his allies. Indictments and prosecutions don't spring to life fully formed just because an Attorney General decrees it. A huge amount of work has to go into laying the ground work for them and that work is not done publicly nor is the progress announced to the world in real time. Just as DOJ didn't tip its hand about its plans and preparations to challenge the Texas law, they're not going to tell the world what they're doing to build these cases.

Don't assume there have been or will be "zero consequences." Thee consequences are moving forward and will be revealed when the time is right.

[orangecrush]

6. In the meanwhile

The anger for what these bastards did should only grow into a blazing inferno.

It isn't going to be forgotten and swept under the rug.

We are fed up.

[StarfishSaver]

8. We are all angry

But people will be infinitely angrier if DOJ cuts corners and brings indictments and prosecutions before they're solid and Trump and his cronies walk as a result.

[orangecrush]

9. I get that

But we are lucky, it was almost a mass murder and successful coup.

[StarfishSaver]

11. True

[former9thward]

12. Will you be posting this a year from now?

Two years from now?

[StarfishSaver]

14. I doubt it

And I'll bet once the prosecutions start, many of the same people who are demanding that they begin, will move the goalposts, act like the prosecutions are no big deal and start complaining about something else.

Just like many of them did with impeachment - when they predicted that Pelosi and the Democrats would NEVER impeach (remember all those snarky comments about Dems "keeping their powder dry" and "sending strongly worded letters?) and attacked anyone who tried to explain to them that it was important to lay the right groundwork. And they kept insisting that it didn't matter that the Senate would never convict - it was important, they said, that Trump be impeached anyway.

And then when the Democrats did impeach Trump, not once, but twice, many of those same folks shrugged and acted like it was no big deal and refused to give Pelosi and her team any credit. And then, despite their earlier proclamations that conviction wasn't necessary, we just needed an impeachment, they attacked the Democrats for not conducting the trial in the manner the armchair experts deemed appropriate and then blamed them for not getting a conviction - insisting that had the Democrats done what they demanded they do, somehow the public would rise up and force the Senate to convict.

We saw the same phenomenon just today. After a week of attacking AG Garland for "not doing anything" in response to the Texas law, the naysayers have bowled us over with their abject silence in response to Garland bring action against the state in a manner legal experts are lauding as strong and smart.

So I'm quite sure that I won't be posting the same thing in a year or two because DOJ will by then have brought numerous high profile cases against the perpetrators, including , I believe, Trump himself. But I'm just as sure that many of those who are now attacking DOJ for not yet having prosecuted Trump and claiming they never will will move on to something else to complain about once they've been proven wrong again.

[Progressive Jones]

15. The sentencing so far has been pathetic and laughable.

[StarfishSaver]

16. You may not understand how criminal law and prosecutions work.

You probably aren't familiar with sentencing guidelines for various crimes and are assuming that every crime will result in a sure conviction and long prison sentence. That's not how it works .

Sentences for plea bargains are always more lenient. It's a trade-off and a useful one. Defendants agree to plead guilty In return for lighter sentences. The alternative would be for prosecutors to wait until they can actually bring the case against the defendant to trial, which can take years, and offers no guarantee of a conviction. Bringing a defendant to trial is a role of the dice and there's always a good chance that the defendant could be acquitted and walk free. Plea bargains allow the government to quickly convict a defendant and then move on, focusing their time attention and resources to more important cases that merit a full trial.

Unless you have intimate knowledge of each of these cases, the defendant, and the actual evidence the prosecutors have in each case, And are familiar with how cases are generally handled, it's difficult for you to accurately assess whether the sentences are "pathetic and laughable" or are appropriate under the circumstances.

[Progressive Jones]

17. A) I was stating an opinion.

B) As for what you mentioned here about plea bargains, etc., I understand, but thanks. Something I'm not fully clear on is related to sentencing guidelines. Are Judges bound by law to follow those guidelines vs. the actual min/max sentences written into the statutes covering the crimes being plead guilty to, or is it just "customary"?

C) Are these defendants pleading guilty to the lesser, or greater, of their charges?

[brooklynite]

7. Why don't you initiate a Citizen's Arrest if you know he's guilty?

In the mean time, I’ll trust in the experience of actual prosecutors to determine when indictments come.

[orangecrush]

10. I saw what happened and heard on live tv what Trump said

"It's going.to be a wild time"

He SENT THE MOB TO CONGRESS I THINK IT DOESN'T TAKE PERRY FUCKING MASON TO FIGURE IT OUT

[StarfishSaver]

13. Seeing something on tv does not build a successful prosecution

Perry Mason is a fictional character. This is real life. And in real life, cases take time to investigate and build and the fact that you saw something on tv is pretty much irrelevant to any of that.

FYI, someone saying "It's gonna be a wild time" is not even close to being sufficient evidence of a the commission of a crime.

[orangecrush]

18. And one of Trum'p's former staffers

Is organizing a "rally" on the 18th to protest the jailing of murderous mob members

Nope, Trump has absolutely nothing to do with any of this.

[StarfishSaver]

19. That's not evidence that will prove in court that Trump committed a crime

It probably wouldn't even be admitted into evidence.

What we've seen on television may be enough to convince us that Trump is guilty as sin, but prosecutors need considerably more than that.

[lagomorph777]

20. Fucking infuriating.

Trump and his minions should be in jail for 20-30 years.

[Hotler]

21. Joe has anger towards the vax deniers, where's the anger towards the fascist

that tried a coup on 1/6. Fat ass is still a free man. The Feds locked Tommy Chong up for 9-months because he owned a small company that made and sold bongs. I find it hard to believe that there isn't a single law that can't be used to lock him up even if it is for 72-hrs.

[Leith]

22. I hear ya

I read the news every day, several times a day - and the news about what is going on with the whole Jan 6 debacle is almost nonexistent.

For example:
1. When is the next Congressional hearing? Who will be called in to testify/give their statement/talk to the committee? Will it be televised?

2. Why have the sentences we have heard about been so puny? People who overran the Capitol by breaking windows, breaking down doors, beating and chemically spraying LEOs have been given a few months or ankle bracelets. Quite a contrast to BLM protestors just standing on a sidewalk blocks from the main protest getting whisked away by unidentified paramilitary goons, thrown into unmarked black SUVs, and taken to who-the-hell-knows-where.

3. Are there grand juries? Are there investigations? Have there been subpoenas? I can be patient with the best of them, but FFS, throw us a bone! How the hell can anyone suppose that there are all sorts of serious things going on without hearing or reading about them? How do we tell the difference between (a) all sorts of top notch investigations and (b) just sweeping it all under the rug? Now that the August and Labor Day holidays are over, are we going to be able to see that somebody is getting to the bottom of it all?

Don't just tell me that TPTB are on it - prove it.