Lock ‘Em Up!
…and don’t make Weimar Germany’s mistake
Proud Boys Going to Jail. Last week four members of the Proud Boys[1] were sentenced to lengthy prison time for their actions on January 6, 2021.
On Friday, Ethan Nordean, who reports identify as the “ground commander” for the Proud Boys’ actions on that day, was sentenced to 18 years. Dominic Pezzola, a former Marine identified as the man who set off the initial breach of the building by smashing a window with a riot shield, got 10 years. Earlier in the week Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl to 17 years and 15 years respectively, for their roles in leading the riot and violent actions.
These Proud Boys – told by Trump in a Presidential debate to “Stand Back and Stand By” – will join six members of the Oath Keepers, another far-right militia, with lengthy prison sentences. Their leader Enrique Tarrio will be sentenced this week.
Judge is Trump appointee. It should be noted that the sentencing judge is a Trump appointee, a fact that MAGAworld has somehow not said anything about. Jim Jordan hasn’t accused the judge of “weaponizing the court system,” nor has Matt Gaetz or MTG complained about the judge “cancelling” conservative culture. Not even the cult leader has criticized the judge.
I found it noteworthy that in addressing the court, Rehl said:
"I'm done with all of it. I'm done with peddling lies for other people that don't care about me. I'm sorry for everything that happened. January 6 was a despicable day. I did things I regret. I made my family suffer because of it."
Rehl’s words may have been a play for sympathy and leniency from the judge, but still, contrast his statement with GA congressman Andrew Clyde’s characterizing the riot as “a normal tourist visit.” Or the Republican National Committee’s describing the riot as “legitimate pollical discourse” in their censure of then - Republican congresspersons Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney for participating on the January 6 Committee. Or that party’s ongoing characterization of any January 6 prosecutions as being “political persecution” and their wailing and gnashing of teeth over the poor insurrectionists’ plight in jail.
Historical analogy - Weimar Germany let the Nazi thugs off easy.….These reckonings led me to look into how another right-wing political insurrection was (mis)handled almost 100 years ago, with extremely tragic consequences.
I have long been noting with alarm the parallels between what’s going on in our politics since Trump and MAGA entered the scene, and what occurred in Germany in the 1930’s. From that perspective, it was only natural to compare the Nazi’s attempt to seize power by force (“the Beer Hall Putsch”) – and how the justice system handled it – with the insurrection Trump fomented on January 6, and how the American system of justice treats these insurrectionists.
(Did Trump have Hitler’s example in mind when – according to Cassidy Hutchinson’s J-6 Committee testimony – he wanted the Secret Service to whisk him to the Capitol to lead his stormtroopers, and was furious when they refused?)
The Beer Hall Putsch. As summarized in The Holocaust Encyclopedia of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:
On November 8–9, 1923, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party led a coalition group in an attempt to overthrow the German government. The plotters hoped to march on Berlin to launch a national revolution. But the insurrection failed miserably. Units of the Munich police force clashed with Nazi stormtroopers as they marched into the city center. The police killed more than a dozen of Hitler’s supporters. This attempted coup d'état came to be known as the Beer Hall Putsch.
In 1923, the Nazi Party was a small, right-wing extremist group. In November of that year, they conspired to overthrow the democratic government of Germany by launching an ill-fated insurrection.
The Beer Hall Putsch was put down by the Munich police. Its ringleaders, including Adolf Hitler, were arrested. Hitler was convicted of high treason and sentenced to five years in prison. He served only eight months of his sentence.
In the aftermath of the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler decided on a "legal path" to revolution: the ballot box.
…The Nazis capitalized on the economic and social disruption in the aftermath of WW I and the worldwide recession that started in 1929. But they would not have been an enduring force after the putsch attempt if not for judicial leniency. We need to learn from that.
Nazi Glorification of the Putsch – and Republican defense of J-6ers. Most spooky was this closing passage to the Encyclopedia piece:
Hitler and the Nazi Party leadership cultivated the memory of the putsch. They gave it a special place in the narrative of the Nazi movement, and eventually in that of the German state. After Hitler consolidated power, Nazi Germany celebrated November 9 as Reich Day of Mourning. The Odeonsplatz, the city square where the conspirators had clashed with police, became an important memorial for the Nazi Party.
Only after World War II did authorities of the German Federal Republic dedicate a plaque memorializing the four police officers killed on duty in defense of the Weimar Republic.
…NOTE THE PARALLELS. Trump’s recorded message on January 6 told the rioters they were “very special”; a later tweet told them to: “remember this day forever.”
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[1] The Proud Boys are a right-wing extremist group with a violent agenda. They are primarily misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and anti-immigration. Some members espouse white supremacist and antisemitic ideologies and/or engage with white supremacist groups. There are 119 active Proud Boys chapters across 46 states recognized by the national Proud Boys organization with international chapters in Canada, Britain, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Australia and the Philippines. Membership is controlled by local chapter leadership and subject to initiation rituals. They engage in public rallies and protests. Members have been known to engage in violent tactics; several members have been convicted of violent crimes. Proud Boys members accounted for one of the highest number of extremist arrestees in relation to the Jan 6 insurrection. In 2021, Proud Boys latched on to anti-mask and anti-vaccine activism, showing up at school board meetings as well as related protests and rallies. -Anti Defamation League, https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/proud-boys-0