Trump: The GOP’s Pied Piper
Former President Donald Trump “deserves life in prison if my father is in prison for this long,” Peyton Reffitt, 18, told the Washington Post. Her father, Guy, was sentenced to seven years behind bars for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. While Trump was living large on social media, Guy Reffitt was found guilty on five felony charges stemming from criminal efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Washington Post‘s Aaron Blake estimates that the 350 or so individuals have been sentenced to some 700 years behind bars for their role in the Jan. 6 riot. (READ MORE from Debra Saunders: Impeachment Math Doesn’t Add Up)
Trump’s fate — he’s been indicted on multiple charges in four distinct locales — is unclear.
Maybe he’ll be acquitted. Maybe he’ll be convicted on some counts. Maybe not.
They really believe that the former president is standing up for them. Even from their prison cells.
In the meantime, hundreds of Trump supporters are behind bars or facing hard time for doing what they believed Trump wanted them to do, while Trump is free and leading substantially in polls of GOP primary voters.
If the polls are correct, it’s not even close between Trump and his closest challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Guy Reffitt never made it into the Capitol building, but he showed up at the Capitol Grounds wearing body armor and a helmet and carrying a gun, flex cuffs, and radio. He helped plan the march, and boasted, “I started the fire.”
Other Jan. 6 warriors are talking out of both sides of their mouths, as Trump often does.
Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola was found not guilty of seditious conspiracy, but guilty of stealing an officer’s police shield, which he used to break into the Capitol, and other felony counts.
Prosecutors urged U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly to sentence Pezzola to 20 years. Ahead of sentencing, Pezzola told Kelly he would stay out of politics; he sobbed as he begged for leniency. Kelly sentenced Pezzola to 10 years.
After the judge exited the courtroom, Pezzola raised a fist and proclaimed, “Trump won.”
An analysis by the George Washington University’s Program on Extremism estimates that some 15 percent of the 968 activists charged for Jan. 6 crimes were turned in by family members or acquaintances. Those families have suffered, not that Trump seems particularly disturbed by that. (READ MORE: If Your Kid Can’t Read This, Thank a Teachers Union)
Last month, the one-term president announced he would hold a press conference at which he would present a “large, complex, detailed but irrefutable” report that would prove the 2020 election was stolen.
Then he canceled the event.
Trump has mastered the art of short-attention span misinformation — with a series of rumors of election fraud that, unlike Jan. 6 prison terms, melt away.
If Trump has a superpower, it is that he has been able to persuade conservatives that his woes are their woes. They really believe that the former president is standing up for them. Even from their prison cells.
Debra J. Saunders is a fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. Contact her at dsaunders@discovery.org.
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