A flashback to 2017

When violent anti-Trump inauguration day riots sent police officers to the hospital

Not a single person arrested in DC was convicted of any crime

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors on Friday moved to drop charges against the last 39 people accused of participating in a violent protest on the day of President Donald Trump's inauguration.

The motion to dismiss charges by the U.S. attorney's office seemingly ends an 18-month saga that started with the Justice Department attempting to convict more than 190 people.

That effort saw the government facing off against an intensely coordinated grassroots political opposition network that made Washington the focus of a nationwide support campaign — offering free lodging for defendants, legal coordination and other support.

So 217 people were arrested in DC alone and that was just those they arrested who were caught red-handed rioting, attacking police officers, and destroying property. This does not include all of the rest of the arrest made nationally as riots broke out all over the country, including here in Seattle and in my old stomping ground Minneapolis.

The reason they could arrest them, btw, was because they had 8000 officers all set up for riot control, vs the few hundred that they had in 2021.

Neither the DOJ, the Capital police, the FBI or anyone made attempts to identify anyone else not arrested that day. They only attempted to charge those they arrested that day. Considering that the nearly all of those arrested for participating in the Jan 6th rally were hunted down after the fact, this makes the comparison even more dangerously unfair.

How many of those 217 faced any justice at all? The answer is zero.

This past week a man was sentenced to 14 years for his participation in the Jan 6th riot. His crimes were having bear spray (but not accused of actually spraying it on any police officers) and throwing a folding chair that bounced off a riot shield that the police was carrying.

So to recap. The violent riots who sent several police to the hospital in 2017 because Trump stole the election was countered with exactly zero convictions and zero jail time for those who participated. For the 2021 riot, you have 14 years for throwing chair, 3 years for stealing a gavel, and 41 months for peacefully wearing a funny outfit. This is on top of of all of the people who were sent to jail for 30-60 days who did nothing violent at all or those charged for misdemeanors (and now have criminal records) for doing nothing more than carrying a sign.

Liberal upset with Donald Trump being elected? Throw a brick, hit a cop on the head, send him to the hospital, and face no charges. Conservative upset with Joe Biden being elected? Throw a chair and get 14 years. Carry a sign and you are now a person with a criminal record.

So what was similar? Both situations involved the losing candidate demanding that the election was stolen from them. Both situations involved the losing candidates pushing their supporters to rally (or protest). Both situations ended up with their supporters (led to believe that the election was unfair) ending up resorting to violence.

Interestingly, nobody ever once suggested that Hillary Clinton or any Democrats who fed the fake Russian collusion lie and called for demonstrations should be blamed for the actions of the followers. In fact, the more people protested and the more people got violence, the more the media played it all out to be justified. To the degree that anyone should be blamed, it should be Trump... you know, for colluding with Russia and stealing an election.

You can't make this shit up because nobody would believe it.