On March 17, a federal judge sentenced Larry Rendall Brock, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, to two years’ imprisonment for joining a mob that tried to overturn a legitimate Presidential election. 

It was a decision that would have appalled Niccolo Machiavelli, the father of modern political science.        

U.S. District Judge John Bates had convicted Brock after a bench trial in November, 2022, of one felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding and four misdemeanor counts for his role in the January 6, 2021 coup attempt. 

Larry Brock (in helmet) on the floor of the Senate 

Prosecutors asked Bates to sentence Brock to five years in prison, owing to his calls for violence on Facebook before the coup attempt: 

• “When we get to the bottom of this conspiracy we need to execute the traitors that are trying to steal the election, and that includes the leaders of the media and social media aiding and abetting the coup plotters.”
• “I bought myself body armor and a helmet for a civil war that is coming.”
• “Do not kill LEO [law enforcement officers] unless necessary. Gas would assist in this if we can get it.”

But Bates rejected a significant enhancement against Brock for threatening bodily injury. Bates’ decision reduced his sentencing guideline range to 24-30 months. 

U.S. District Judge John Bates

Brock’s defense attorney, Charles Burnham, tried to put the best spin possible on Brock’s behavior: “It is inconceivable that he was motivated by anything other than genuine concern for democracy.

“If Mr. Brock was sincerely motivated by high ideals, it significantly reduces his culpability even if the Court should privately disagree with his view.” 

Brock, 55, of Grapevine, Texas, graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1989. He was on active duty until 1998 and served in the reserves until 2014.

Bates credited Brock’s distinguished military service, which included five Air Medals and multiple deployments during the War on Terror, as well as his community involvement and his lack of any criminal history. 

And that is where—according to Niccolo Machiavelli, the father of modern political science—-Bates went dangerously wrong.

Niccolo Machiavelli

In his masterwork, The Discourses, Machiavelli provides clear instructions on how to preserve liberty within a republic. In Book 1, Chapter 24, he advises: “Well-Ordered Republics Establish Punishments and Rewards for Their Citizens, But Never Set Off One Against the Other.”

Specifically: 

“The services of Horatius had been of the highest importance to Rome, for by his bravery he had conquered the Curatii. But the crime of killing his sister was atrocious, and the Romans were so outraged….that he was put upon trial for his life.

“…It may seem like an instance of popular ingratitude, but a more careful examination…will show that the people were to blame rather for the acquittal than for having him tried.

“And the reason for this is, that no well-ordered republic should ever cancel the crimes of its citizens by their merits. But having established rewards for good actions and penalties for evil ones, and having rewarded a citizen for conduct who afterwards commits a wrong, he should be chastised for that without regard to his previous merits.  

“And a state that properly observes this principle will long enjoy its liberty, but if otherwise, it will speedily come to ruin. 

“For if a citizen who has rendered some eminent service to the state should add to the reputation and influence which he has thereby acquired the confident audacity of being able to commit any wrong without fear of punishment, he will in a little while become so insolent and overbearing as to put an end to all power of the law.”

No better proof of this can be found in the unwillingness of local, state and federal courts to hold accountable former President Donald Trump for a decades-long history of criminality.

This includes two attempts to impeach him as President—in 2019 and 2021.

The first impeachment trial centered on two charges: Abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The second trial centered on the charge of “incitement of insurrection” against the U.S. Capitol on January 6. 

The evidence against Trump was overwhelming in both trials, but his Right-wing allies in a Republican-controlled Senate twice acquitted him.

And although he was banned from Youtube, Facebook and Twitter in the wake of his inciting an attack on Congress, the oligarchs who own these websites have since fully restored his accounts.

He is once again free to use their platforms to spread his “Big Lie” gospel that he was robbed of the Presidency in 2020 through massive voter fraud.

Moreover, he is doing so as a candidate for President of the United States.

There is a very real danger that his millions of Fascistic followers could return him to the Oval Office—and thus put an end to the 245-year history of democratic government in the United States.

And the fact that so many of his followers have gotten slap-on-the-wrist sentences for their treasonous coup attempt only incites them to similar future violence.

All of which would lead Machiavelli to declare: “This bodes ill for your republic.”

Niccolo Machiavelli, the father of modern political science, would have been appalled.            

On March 17, a federal judge sentenced Larry Rendall Brock, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, to two years’ imprisonment for joining a mob that tried to overturn a legitimate Presidential election.

The date was January 6, 2021, and the site was the United States Capitol Building. Inside, members of Congress were counting Electoral College votes from the 2020 Presidential race.

Officially, the popular vote had already been counted: On November 3, 2020, 81,255,933 Democratic voters had elected former Vice President Joseph Biden the 46th President of the United States. Donald Trump, running for a second term as President, got 74,196,153 votes.

That should have been enough to decide who would be the next President of the United States. But in America, the winner isn’t chosen according to the popular vote—but according to the number of Electoral College votes s/he receives

Brock—and the mob—knew how that vote would go. It would—like the popular vote—end Donald Trump’s dream of a second term. And it would usher Joe Biden into the Oval Office. :

But having repeatedly “joked” about how wonderful it would be if the United States—like China—had a “President-for-Life,” Trump wasn’t ready to concede office. 

He immediately began spreading “The Big Lie”: That he had been defeated by massive voter fraud. And that this had been made possible through Dominion Voting Systems.

On January 6, 2021, Trump appeared at the Ellipse, a 52-acre park south of the White House fence and north of Constitution Avenue and the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

A stage had been set up for him to address tens of thousands of his supporters, who eagerly awaited him.  

Trump ordered them to march on the Capitol Building to express their anger at the voting process and to intimidate their elected officials to reject the results. 

Donald Trump addresses his Stormtrumpers 

“All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by a bold and radical left Democrats which is what they are doing and stolen by the fake news media.

“Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that is what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal….

“Republicans are constantly fighting like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back….And we’re going to have to fight much harder….

“And after this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down to the Capitol. And we’re going to cheer on our brave Senators and Congressmen and women and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.

“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated.”

The Stormtrumpers marched to the United States Capitol—and quickly brushed aside Capitol Police, who made little effort to arrest or shoot them.

Capitol Police facing off with Stormtrumpers

• Members of the mob attacked police with chemical agents or lead pipes.
• A Capitol Hill police officer was knocked off his feet, dragged into the mob surging toward the building, and beaten with the pole of an American flag.
• One attacker was shot as protesters forced their way toward the House Chamber where members of Congress were sheltering in place.

Stormtrumpers scaling Capitol Building walls

• Several rioters carried plastic handcuffs, possibly intending to take hostages.
• Others carried treasonous Confederate flags.
• Shouts of “Hang [Vice President Mike] Pence!” often rang out.
• Improvised explosive devices were found in several locations in Washington, D.C.
• Many of the lawmakers’ office buildings were occupied and vandalized—including that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a favorite Right-wing target.

Stormtrumpers inside the Capitol Building

More than three hours passed before police—using riot gear, shields and batons—retook control of the Capitol. 

Larry Brock made his contribution to the attempted coup by entering the floor of the Senate Chamber, wearing a combat helmet and tactical vest and carrying zip-tie handcuffs. He examined paperwork on Senators’ desks  while inside the building for approximately 37 minutes.

For their safety, members of Congress had been evacuated from their joint session. 

Fortunately for those members, Brock was unable to carry out the goals laid out in a manifesto he sent to another military veteran on Christmas Eve, 2020. Titled “Plan of Action if Congress fails to act on 6 January,” the document laid out eight points that Brock described as “main tasks,” including:

• Seizing all Democratic politicians and Biden key staff and select republicans [sic], including Senators John Thune and Mitch McConnell, and interrogating them using “measures we used on Al Queda” [sic].
• Seizing national media figures. Brock wrote they should “eliminate them. Media silence except for White House communications.”
• President Trump would issue a general pardon “for all crimes up to and including murder” for those who put down “the Democratic Insurrection.”