Boys Will Be Boys

The Proud Boys might not be as proud today as they were. 

As most people likely know by now, partial verdicts were announced yesterday for the five Proud Boys defendants for involvement with the January 6 Insurrection.  These included four guilty verdicts on seditious conspiracy, the hardest case to prove and rarely even charged – including guilty against Enrique Tarrio, the group’s former leader, who most analysts thought it would be the hardest to prove since he wasn’t in D.C.  When that verdict came down, you knew they were all in for a difficult day.

And so they were.  Because additionally, the four men were found guilty of conspiring to obstruct the certification of the election. And all five of the defendants were convicted of a third conspiracy charge, interfering with the duties of members of Congress that day. 

Furthermore, they were all convicted of a range of other felonies.  These included obstructing Congress, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging duties,  aiding and abetting and destruction of government property, and obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder. 

How devastating was all this?  The conspiracy charges alone could conceivably bring each felon up to 50 years in prison.

There are so many wonderful things about this.  For starters, it makes it near-impossible for Republican officials (and others) to claim that January 6 was just a peaceful protest by tourists.  No doubt some will try to keep making that claim, but when you have seditious conspiracy convictions unanimously voted by a jury – not to mention all the other convictions – the argument wears so thin it makes cheesecloth look substantial.

No doubt, too, there will be some on the right who will rail against the verdicts -- weirdly unhappy that a group trying to overthrow the government was convicted.  I've already received several on social media (of course…) who ranted that it was a corrupt trial, and communist (the default, go-to claim of Republicans) and a kangaroo court.

Alas, this misses that the head of the FBI which lead the investigations was appointed by Trump.  And misses, too, that merely presenting a case doesn’t mean the government will win it, but needs to present enough irrefutable evidence against a vigorous defense for a jury to vote unanimously beyond a reasonable doubt to convict.  And convict.  And convict.

Whining about the trial and communism and kangaroos and whatever other marsupials they choose to embrace in desperation only serves to speak loudly about their own view of the U.S. justice system, not the facts, not the legal arguments, not to anything else.  Because in the end, the response to such railing boils down to simply – “Okay, that is your opinion.  And this is a jury's sworn, unanimous guilty verdict after hearing all the evidence and arguments.”

Another great benefit of the verdicts is that they have to strike utter terror in the hearts of defendants and even just targets in other cases, who now might be willing to cooperate.  When you see four people convicted unanimously of seditious conspiracy alone – one of the rarest charges that the government ever files because it’s one of the most difficult to prove – and you’re under investigation for far, far, far lesser crimes (though still major felonies), swaggering confidence has to take a major hit.

Moreover, seeing the major convictions in this trial and others, along with the 1,200 arrests thus far, is likely a major damper against future riots protesting indictments.  But there’s another factor, as well – many of the leaders of the January 6 Insurrection are in jail and aren’t available to organize anything.  And the most aggressive of the rioters are in prison, as well, and won’t be showing up at the next reunion.  Thinking such a violent protest won’t have consequences has long-since gone out the window.

And in the end, seeing Proud Boys  leadership convicted of seditious conspiracy, conspiring to obstruct the certification of the election, conspiracy to interfere with the duties of members of Congress, obstructing Congress; and more felonies brings just one phrase to mind --

“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”

-- Trump, Sept. 29, 2020

That seems a wee bit problematic right now…