On January 6, 2021, members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives met to count the Electoral Votes cast for then-President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden.

Trump knew that Biden has received more Electoral College votes than he had—306 to 232. 

And he wanted that vote-count stopped—thus allowing him to remain in office as “President-for-Life.”

For weeks Trump had ordered his legions of Right-wing Stormtrumpers to descend on Washington, D.C. on January 6. 

On December 20, 2020, he had tweeted: “Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” 

In tweets, he promoted the rally again on December 27 and 30, and January 1.

Thus, through his lies, he had aroused the fury of his Right-wing supporters.

It would take only his command to send it hurtling at his perceived enemies: Those who would dare elect Joe Biden in his place.

Donald Trump addresses his Stormtrumpers 

On January 6, 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: 

“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 overwhelmed Capitol Police.

Tyler Merbler from USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

• Members of the mob attacked police with chemical agents or lead pipes. 
• Many of the lawmakers’ office buildings were occupied  and  vandalized—including  that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a favorite Right-wing target.
• Shouts of “Hang Pence!” and “Hang Pelosi!” often rang out. 
• According to CBS News, more than 150 officers were injured in the attack.
• Several rioters carried plastic handcuffs, possibly intending to take hostages.
• Others carried treasonous Confederate flags.  

After more than three hours, police—using riot gear, shields and batons—retook control of the Capitol. 

And Trump?  After giving his inflammatory speech, he didn’t march with his followers to the Capitol.

Like the draft-dodger he had been during the Vietnam war, he kept himself out of harm’s way and returned to the White House.

There he watched his handiwork on television—and initially rebuffed requests to mobilize the National Guard.

Six months later—by July 30—599 Stormtrumpers had been arrested and charged.

• At least 27 defendants have pleaded guilty.
• At least 22 have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors.
• Six have pleaded guilty to felonies.
• Three defendants have been sentenced: One drew a sentence of eight months for a felony. Two were sentenced for misdemeanor charges.
• Another was sentenced to three years probation and no jail time.
• Another was sentenced to six months imprisonment, but was credited for the time he had already spent in jail awaiting trial.

Yet no major Trump supporter has been arrested, let alone indicted.

• NOT Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who cried to the demonstrators, “Let’s have trial by combat!”
• NOT Donald Trump, Jr., who, just hours before the Trump mob stormed Congress, threatened Republican lawmakers at a large rally outside the White House: “These guys better fight for Trump. Because if they’re not, guess what? I’m going to be in your backyard in a couple of months!”
• NOT Rep, Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) who incited the Trump crowd with: “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass!”
• And, above all, NOT Donald Trump. He not only incited his followers to attack the Capitol, he has spent the last six months spreading poisonous lies that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him through “massive” voter fraud. As a result, he continues to undermine the democratic process as he terrorizes the Republican party to stand behind him.

For attempting to overthrow the government of Bavaria in 1923, Adolf Hitler could have spent five years in prison. Instead, a sympathetic Right-leaning judge gave him only nine months.

Had he served out his full sentence, he might not have been able to revive his political career. But once he emerged from prison, he reorganized the Nazi party and began a series of campaigns for the presidency.

By January 30, 1933, he had become Chancellor of Germany. By August, 1934, he had become absolute dictator.

At the battle of the Alamo, 200 Texans killed 600 Mexican soldiers before being overwhelmed. During the Capitol battle, hundreds of police killed one Stormtrumper, thus sending the message: You can commit treason with impunity.

The Justice Department must soon indict, prosecute and—hopefully—convict Donald Trump—to both punish his treason and warn his potential imitators of treason’s penalties.

On November 9, 1923, Nazi Party Fuhrer Adolf Hitler tried to overthrow the government in Munich, Bavaria.

About 2,500-3,000 Nazis marched to the center of Munich, where they confronted heavily-armed police. A shootout erupted, killing 16 Nazis and four policemen. 

Hitler was injured during the clash, but managed to escape. Two days later, he was arrested and charged with treason.

Put on trial, he found himself treated as a celebrity by a judge sympathetic to Right-wing groups. He was allowed to brutally cross-examine witnesses and even make inflammatory speeches. As a result, he emerged a national figure, popular in Right-wing circles.

At the end of the trial, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment—by a Right-wing judge hostile to the the newly-created Weimar Republic.

Serving time in Landsberg Prison, in Bavaria. he was given a huge cell, allowed to receive unlimited visitors and gifts, and treated with deference by guards and inmates.

Hitler used his time in prison to write his infamous book, Mein Kampf-–“My Struggle.” Part autobiography, part political treatise, it laid out his future plans—including the extermination of the Jews and the conquest of the Soviet Union.

Adolf Hitler leaving Landsberg Prison, December, 20, 1924

Nine months later, he was released on parole.

Hitler immediately began rebuilding the shattered Nazi party—and deciding on a new strategy to gain power. Never again would he resort to armed force. He would win office by election—or intrigue. 

In less than 10 years—on January 30, 1933—he had done so. By August 2, 1934, he had become absolute dictator of Germany.

Writes historian Volker Ullrich, in his monumental 2016 biography, Hitler: Ascent 1889 – 1939: “Historians have perennially tried to answer the question of whether Hitler’s rise to power could have been halted….

“There were repeated opportunities to end Hitler’s run of triumphs. The most obvious one was after the failed Putsch of November 1923. Had the Munich rabble-rouser been forced to serve his full five-year term of imprisonment in Landsberg, it is extremely unlikely that he would have been able to restart his political career.”

Thus, it isn’t just what happens that can influence the course of history. Often, it’s what doesn’t happen that has at least as great a result.

Consider the case of America’s own would-be Fuhrer: Donald Trump.

On December 18, 2019, the House of Representatives had approved two Articles of Impeachment against Trump for: 

Article 1: Abuse of Power: For pressuring Ukraine to assist him in his re-election campaign by smearing a potential rival for the White House. 

Article 2: Obstruction of Congress: For obstructing Congress by blocking testimony of subpoenaed witnesses and refusing to provide documents in response to House subpoenas in the impeachment inquiry. 

On September 9, 2019, the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight and Reform committees began investigating his attempted extortion of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

On July 25, 2019, Trump had “asked” Zelensky to do him a “favor”: Find embarrassing “dirt” on former Vice President Joseph Biden and his son, Hunter.

Hunter had had business dealings in Ukraine. And Joseph Biden might be Trump’s Democratic opponent for the White House in 2020.

To underline the seriousness of his “request,” earlier in July Trump had told Mick Mulvaney, his White House chief of staff, to withhold $400 million in military aid that Congress had approved for Ukraine, which faced an increasingly aggressive Russia.

Joseph Biden

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

But then a CIA whistleblower filed a complaint about the extortion attempt—and the media and Congress soon learned of it. And ever since, the evidence linking Trump to impeachable offenses had mushroomed.

On January 16, 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced that the Trump administration broke the law when it withheld security aid to Ukraine.

As trial proceedings unfolded in the 2020 impeachment of Trump, the majority Republican Senators consistently put their own partisan interests over those of their country.

Among their actions:

• Refusing to hear from eyewitnesses who could prove that Trump had committed impeachable offenses,
• Refusing to provide evidence on Trump’s behalf—but attacking witnesses who had testified against him in the House.
• Attacking Joseph and Hunter Biden as if they were on trial—instead of having been the targets of Trump’s smear-attempt. 

As Lead Impeachment Manager, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) held the role of a prosecutor. 

Faced with the unwillingness of Trump’s Senatorial defenders to accept any evidence—no matter how damning—against him, Schiff warned: “Donald Trump must be convicted and removed from office. Because he will always choose his own personal interest over our national interest. Because in America, right matters. Truth matters. If not, no Constitution can protect us. If not, we are lost.”

Adam Schiff

On February 5, 2020, the Republican-dominated Senate—as expected—absolved him from trying to extort Ukraine into smearing a possible rival for the White House.  

Only one Republican—Utah Senator Mitt Romney—had the moral courage to vote for conviction.

On January 6, 2021, Schiff’s prophecy came true.