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Dear Friends,
Earlier this week a Federal Judge sentenced two leaders of the Proud Boys to federal prison. The Proud Boys are a quasi-militia group who had a significant presence and role in the January 6th, 2021 riot that broke into the Capitol building and halted the certification of Electoral College votes.
It has provoked predictable reactions. Many on the Left are infuriated that in the case of Zachary Rehl, the president of the Philadelphia chapter of the group, the Judge made a downward departure and sentenced him to fifteen years—not even close the thirty years asked by the prosecutors and recommended by the sentencing guidelines. This is a “no mercy” crowd. So offended were their sensibilities on that fateful day that they want the key thrown away forever.
In some sectors of the Right, by contrast, these two men, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl, are “political prisoners.” Locked up because of trumped (heh) up charges, prosecutorial political persecution, and judicial overreach. These are American heroes.
It must be a nice and easy way to live, having a messy world so neatly conform to your political inclinations. But as I sit here in the real world the truth doesn’t align so neatly with these prefab propaganda programs. I believe neither narrative. I was and remain appalled by January 6th. I think it was bad, in the way dislocating a joint is bad. It’s not fatal, by any means, but it means that it is susceptible to easier and worse disjointing in the future. But I also don’t believe that it was “terrorism” or even an “insurrection.” It was a riot in which many were swept up, and in which a few did have evil intentions—like, say, the Proud Boys. In other words, the truth is somewhere in between our polarized options.
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