Just Security put together a video compilation of events from January 6th and gathered reactions from prominent Justice Department officials. The verdict was clear.
January 25, 2021

Donald Trump incited this riot and his supporters carried out his orders. That is a fact, in spite of all the denials floating around Trumpworld and Republicans in denial. Anyone who doubts it as a fact should spend the 10 minutes to watch the video above, compiled by Just Security.

The video was compiled from videos scraped from Parler and other videos in the public record. It draws a clear line between Trump's speech, Trump's tweets before and after the rally, and their actions.

Those people believed -- rightly or wrongly -- that they were there because their 'president' told them to be there.

Just Security showed the video to former DOJ officials to get their opinion on whether he incited the insurrection. Paul Butler, a former official in DOJ's integrity section, wrote, "The video contains strong evidence that Trump did incite the insurrection, regardless of whether that was his intent." He does go on to say that it would be difficult to convict Trump in federal court, but the standard for impeachment is different.

"The circumstantial evidence, including Trump’s bellicose words, his reported glee at the invasion of the Capitol, and his failure to immediately speak out against the violence, and his ultimate stunningly weak admonition to the insurrectionists to “go home” should persuade most Senators that he was either intentional or extremely reckless," Butler wrote.

"Trump will be remembered, if at all, as a would-be dictator, a narcissist beset by irrational grievances, tolerant, even encouraging of racism, and a threat to the rule of law and the will of a free people," Former Acting Attorney General Stuart Gerson wrote . "He appealed to the worst in us at a time when we critically need to call upon what is the best in us."

Across the board, all nine DOJ officials agreed that his behavior contributed to the insurrection, though in varying degrees.

It's hard for me to imagine anyone viewing that video who hasn't been poisoned by right wing media not seeing what Trump did as incitement. It clearly is, and this alone should be enough to convict him and bar him from running for office ever again.

However, I'm old enough to remember when Republicans enabled his anti-American mob behavior a year ago. Even as I write, they're whining that he shouldn't even be tried, much less convicted. And so this video goes out to all of them and their re-election bids, where they should be marginalized and pushed to the very margins of our body politic forever, along with Trump's miserable children too.

When it's all said and done, Trump and the GOP should be nothing but a memory. A bad one.

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