Even Germany confronted its sins.

The Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire warned “Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

That describes the presumptive nominee of the Republican party — an organization to which this blogger has devoted his allegiance these past 34 years. Would that the tranch of resolutions submitted to the caucus of WI Second District Republicans Saturday 04-13-24 have included these:

• The 2020 presidential election was not stolen.

• Donald Trump’s lies were responsible for the assault on the Constitution that occurred January 6, 2021.

• The 750 rioters convicted so far of sedition and other crimes are not “hostages” and must not be given a blanket pardon.

→ ‘Trump promises to free January 6 rioters‘

A seeming majority of my party surrenders common sense in service of the most outlandish absurdities: Jewish space lasers, voting machines jiggered by Hugo Chavez, Pez dispensers. They would rather believe My Pillow Man than the verdicts of 61 courts, state and federal. They believe the Republican governors of Arizona and Georgia and Speaker Vos of Wisconsin are RINOs, in on “the steal.” Thus do they defend the atrocity ofJanuary 6 as being (Pick One): staged by Antifa, undercover FBI agents, Nancy Pelosi. Or, the Tucker Carlson theory: a police-escorted tour of the Capitol, a big nothing burger.

The Werkes revisits the sentencing statement of a Reagan-appointed federal judge, Royce C. Lamberth, for the little good it will do to convince the Trump-syndrome sufferers:

‘Selfish, not patriotic’

… The Court ordered that Mr. Taylor James Johnatakis be committed to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for a term of 87 months. … The Court has received over twenty letters from friends and family of Mr. Johnatakis. … Many say he did nothing criminal on January 6 and is no danger to society. …

A society in which everyone does what is right by his own lights, where adherence to the law is optional, would be a society of vigilantism, lawlessness, and anarchy. As my late friend Justice Antonin Scalia once wrote, “[i]t is the proud boast of our democracy that we have ‘a government of laws and not of men.’” 

A person dissatisfied with the government or the law has various non-violent ways to express his or her views. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech. It also enshrines “the right of the people peaceably”— let me repeat, peaceably — “to assemble.” …

But what the jury found Mr. Johnatakis to have done on January 6 was neither First Amendment-protected activity nor civil disobedience. … It obviously does not give anyone the right to assault the police. Nor was the January 6 riot an act of civil disobedience, because it was violent, not peaceful; opportunistic, not principled; coercive, not persuasive; and selfish, not patriotic …

“January 6 must not become a precedent for further violence against political opponents or governmental institutions. … We as a community, we as a society, we as a country cannot condone the normalization of the January 6 Capitol riot.” — Judge Royce C. Lamberth, a Reagan appointee.

One thing that strikes me about the letters is that few of the authors seem to know what he actually did. … But the Court knows the facts of this case because it has heard from the witnesses and examined the evidence, including police body camera footage and videos filmed by Mr. Johnatakis himself. …

In any angry mob, there are leaders and there are followers. Mr. Johnatakis was a leader. He knew what he was doing that day. On January 5, he posted on social media: “[B]urn the city down. What the British did to DC will be nothing . . .” 
The next day, while marching to the Capitol, he recorded and posted a video in which he proclaimed “we’re walking over to the Capitol right now, and I don’t know, maybe we’ll break down the doors.” … Rioters eventually overwhelmed the police line and forced the officers to retreat up the Capitol’s Southwest stairs, under the scaffolding created for the inauguration. The video played at trial shows that Mr. Johnatakis led the charge up the stairs. … He waved on more people toward the police line, and through his megaphone barked commands to “pack it in!” …

As he announced “one, two, three, GO!” he and his fellow rioters … picked up the metal barricades and slammed them into the police officers. Mr. Johnatakis and the others then raised the barriers higher until they were about head-level with the officers, so that the mob could brawl with the officers without the barriers getting in the way. In the resulting melee, Mr. Johnatakis seized MPD Officer Juan Gonzalez by the arm.  …

As Mr. Johnatakis walked away from the Capitol, he recorded several videos in which he expressed his satisfaction with what had occurred and pride in the role he had played. He crowed that “for the first time since 1817 that Capitol was stormed” and that members of Congress were forced to evacuate. 
He boasted that the crowd was so “irate” that “we probably would have murdered a few of” the Members of Congress “had we seen exactly who they were.” …

At trial, he repeatedly expressed contrition to the Court and the jury. …  Since conviction, [his] message was this: “We did nothing. We touched a gate. We got pepper sprayed, we moved back. That was it.” …

Mr. Johnatakis, unlike many January 6 defendants sentenced by the Court, does not accept responsibility for his actions and does not show true remorse. …

Blaska’s Bottom Line: How is it that defending such atrocities is not absurd? 

Does cheap gasoline Trump the Constitution?