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Donald Trump Faces the Music
Yesterday I was talking with a reporter about Trump’s latest round of indictments and got unexpectedly emotional and what it meant. Because even after all this time, the hearings, charges, sedition charges, convictions, and the previous Trump indictments, I never quite believed that Trump would be held accountable for organizing a coup against the United States of America and abusing the power of his office. Even as someone who has a positive view of Merrick Garland’s DOJ, it didn’t seem plausible. But as I write this, I’m listening to CNN in the background, and Donald Trump is in the courtroom for his arraignment.
Longtime readers know that January 6 continues to haunt me. I spent my 2020 holiday break heavily pregnant, isolated by Covid, and watching Trump’s supporters organize a violent insurrection in plain sight online. At the time, I hoped that what I was seeing was some sick version of MAGA-LARPing but my gut, and gut checks with other researchers, told me that violence was inevitable. Still, I never imagined that the Capitol would be breached because surely law enforcement was seeing what researchers were. Then I watched in horror as the Insurrection unfolded live online.
The thing that struck me that day and continues to resonate is just how brazen those who breached the Capitol were. They documented their crimes in real-time on social media. Partly because…
