Good things come to those who wait, and we’d waited long enough.
The two most beautiful words in the English language are, “It’s benign.” But given the traumatic times we’re condemned to live in, “seditious conspiracy” may well rank second. I’ve long written that Jan. 6 violations of the federal criminal code – 18 U.S. 2384 – seemed like a no-brainer. The seditious conspiracy statute reads like this (I’ve bold-faced the key passages):
If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
And lo and behold, finally, the Department of Justice has leveled that felony charge. Yesterday, the DOJ unsealed a 48-page indictment of the key loons, goons, and grassroots fascists who call themselves Oath Keepers, starting with eye-patched leader Stewart Rhodes. It’s a chilling read that I heartily recommend, if only to buttress our hopes that the feds will flip enough Oathers to follow fresh leads higher up the rancid food chain. With whom in MAGA-world did Rhodes and his sidekicks communicate before, during, and after Treason Day?
It’s clear that some of these insurrectionists have already flipped, because the DOJ indictment quotes from their encrypted communications. On Dec. 11, for instance, Rhodes sent word that Joe Biden’s victory must be opposed at all costs: “It will be a bloody and desperate fight.” On Dec. 22, Rhodes told a fellow Oather, “It will be a bloody, massively bloody revolution against them. That’s what’s going to have to happen.” On Dec. 25, he messaged: “We need to make those senators very uncomfortable (about certifying Biden’s win)…The only chance (Trump) has is if we scare the shit out of them and convince them it will be torches and pitchforks time.” On Dec. 31, he messaged: “There is no standard political or legal way out of this.”
They stockpiled an arsenal of military-grade firearms at a hotel across the river in Virginia, with plans to distribute the weapons once the Capitol building was presumably in their control; they spoke of “armed conflict” and “guerilla war.” Seditous conspiracy defendant Joshua James sent word that “we have a shitload of QRF on standby with an arsenal.” (QRF was the acronym for Quick Reaction Force.)
Does any of this idiocy lead to Trump? That’s what we all want to know. It’s clear, from what the DOJ already knows, that key Oathers were confident they were doing his bidding. Several weeks before the insurrection, seditious conspiracy defendant Jessica Watkins told her comrades: “Unless the POTUS himself activates us, it’s not legit. The POTUS has the right to activate units too. If Trump asks me to come, I will.” She came.
It’s imperative, of course, that we not view these historic indictments in isolation. The attempted fascist coup had many facets, ranging from Trump’s 60 failed election lawsuits to what we’ve learned this week about the forged election certification documents filed at the National Archives by Trump flunkies in seven swing states, including Pennsylvania. The latter development is inextricably linked to the insurrection; the fake documents of fake Trump victories in those states were designed to persuade Mike Pence that the election was still in dispute and, therefore, that Biden’s national win should not be certified.
But the seditious conspiracy indictments do demonstrate that the Merrick Garland’s DOJ is playing hardball. If nothing else, the department has erased one of the main MAGA talking points. Just last week, Steve Bannon declared in a podcast that Jan. 6 was no big deal because “nobody’s been charged with sedition.” Also last week, Fox propagandist Laura Ingraham said on the air, “How many times do words like ‘insurrection,’ ‘sedition’…appear in Biden’s own DOJ indictments against the January 6 rioters? The answer: zero.”
In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, “D’OH!”