By Judd Garrett
It appears that the biggest mistake Donald Trump has made was that he chose to hold his “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021. He didn’t realize that January 6 is such a sacred day in the United States that any offense committed that day automatically becomes the gravest crime in American history and an existential threat to our country. Looking back over the last two years, we’ve witnessed countless riots and political violence by many people and groups, but by the way the media and the Democrats are reacting, the only day when riots and political violence are illegal and a threat to our country is on January 6.
We have all witnessed the scores of political violence over the last two years, that created no outrage, no ringing of hands, no dire warnings about threats to democracy, that all happened to have occurred on days other than January 6.
- May 29, 2020, a police station in Minneapolis was attacked by rioters and burned to the ground.
- May 31, 2020, rioters attempted to attack the White House while our President was inside.
- June 8, 2020, rioters violently seized control over the Capital Hill neighborhood in downtown Seattle, referred to as the Chop Zone, and held the area in anarchy control for over 6 weeks, allowing murder and rape to occur.
- July 22, 2020, over one thousand rioters Firebombed a federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon.
- April 13, 2021, over 100 rioters descended on a police station in Portland and set it on fire.
These are a few of the many acts of political violence our country has suffered through that very few people seemed to care about, that were barely a blip on the political radar screen because they did not occur on January 6, 2021.
From May to October of 2020, there were over 500 BLM riots throughout the United States, tearing apart many of our major cities, killing over 30 people, sending thousands of police officers to the hospital, burning thousands of buildings to the ground, causing billions of dollars-worth of damage, and nobody seemed concerned about the destruction, the injury, the death those riots caused. There were very few arrests, even fewer prosecutions, and no accountability of the people and groups that planned and financed those riots. George Soros funnels millions of dollars to Antifa to fund their violence and our Intelligence Agencies never give him a second look.
But on January 6, 2021, Donald Trump told his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically” walk over to the Capital to protest, and he has been impeached because of those words, and now is the target of a 1½ year-long investigation claiming he incited the riot.
On June 25, 2018, Maxine Waters told her supporters at the Wilshire Federal Building, “if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” In an interview that same day, she said she has “no sympathy” for members of the Trump administration, and her supporters are “going to absolutely harass them [Trump officials].” There were no hearings, no indictment for inciting violence; she was not even censured by Congress. It was fine because it was not on January 6.
On May 5, 2020, Chuck Schumer made a direct threat to the lives of two sitting Supreme Court Justices when he screamed, "I want to tell you Gorsuch. I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you," Schumer then turned and looked at the Supreme Court building. Again, threatening violence against Supreme Court Justices is acceptable as long as it does not occur in January 6.
On May 2, 2022, a clerk for one of the Supreme Court justices leaked confidential draft of the majority opinion of an upcoming case to the media. It was done as a way to unduly influence and possibly intimidate the court members. The leak was a direct threat to the legitimacy, integrity and the independence of the Supreme Court – one of the three co-equal branches of our government, and nobody batted an eye. Where is the investigation? Who has been held accountable? When will the hearings be held to protect the Supreme Court? Nothing has been done, and nothing will be done because it did not happen on January 6. It appears that is the only date when people are held accountable for political crimes.
On May 4, 2022, far left pro-abortion group, “Ruth Sent Us”, doxed the home addresses of the six Supreme Court Justices who were planning on voting to overturn the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, with the purpose encouraging mobs to swarm their homes, threaten their lives, and use mob violence to intimidate the Justices to vote their way, and no one has done anything about that. Joe Biden has even publicly supported mobs showing up at Justice’s homes, trying to intimidate them. Has the doxer been arrested or charged? Is there an investigation into this attempt to intimidate federal judges? No, apparently because it didn’t happen on January 6.
June 8, 2022, Nicholas John Roske showed up outside the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh with the intent and weapons to assassination the Justice. There was not much outrage, nobody is aghast that a Justice in the United States was almost assassinated. The politicians calling for violence against Supreme Court Justices were not arrested. There were no lectures about how our democracy is being threatened. No steps were put in place to protect the Justices. It is not a big deal, and definitely not a threat to our country probably because it occurred in June not in January.
July 8, 2022, far left group, Shut Down DC, tweeted, “DC Service Industry Workers... If you see Kavanaugh, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Coney Barrett or Roberts DM us with the details! We'll Venmo you $50 for a confirmed sighting and $200 if they're still there 30 mins after your message.” They are encouraging their supporters to swarm them, intimidate, and threaten justices out in public, and nobody is doing anything about it. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez mocked Justice Brett Kavanaugh after he was harassed and forced to leave a restaurant in Washington, DC.
January 6, 2021, is the most sacred day in the history of America where even the slightest infractions are treated like the most serious felonies. People spent months in prison for merely being at the Capital that day without entering the building or committing violence of any kind. Antifa and BLM were smart, they choose to riot, to firebomb courthouses, to seize large sections of cities on days other than January 6, when those acts of extreme violence are treated like misdemeanors, and given a slap on the wrist.
Obviously, the reason why there is a stark difference between the way the Capital riot is being dealt with compared to all the other riots and political violence that we’ve witnessed over the last two years is not because the date of the event, it is because of the political affiliation of those involved. The people who get away with all the political violence are Democrats and the ones that are held to the highest account are Republicans. If you’re a Democrat you can riot, threaten, intimidate, and even attempt to assassinate, and there’s little to no consequences, but if you’re a Republican, if you merely trespass, you’ll spend months in solitary confinement and years in jail.
This is not an attempt to condone or excuse what happened at the Capital on January 6, it is merely a call for equal justice under the law, that all people should be treated equally in the eyes of our justice system regardless of their political affiliation. If people are being treated more severely or more leniently for the same criminal offense based solely on their political leanings, then that is much more of an existential threat to the United States of America and our constitutional republic than anything that happened on January 6. If there needs to be an investigation, we need to have an investigation of the investigators of January 6. They are the ones who are threatening our democracy by using their political power to attack their political opponents. That is not what our country and our political system stands for. In fact, the United States of America stands for the exact opposite of what the January 6 investigation is doing.
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Judd Garrett is a graduate from Princeton University, and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He has been a contributor to the website Real Clear Politics. He has recently published his first novel, No Wind
