A Georgia congressional candidate convicted of a misdemeanor for illegally demonstrating inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, walked out of a televised debate with a fellow Republican on Sunday ahead of a June 18 primary runoff.
It was the latest volatile turn in southwest Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District, where Chuck Hand and Wayne Johnson are competing for the GOP nomination to take on 16-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Sanford Bishop in November.
Hand is one of at least four people convicted of Jan. 6 crimes running for Congress this year, all as Republicans. He was sentenced to 20 days in federal prison and six months of probation.
Nixon brought up a 2005 criminal trespass charge and a 2010 DUI charge against Hand, both of which were dismissed. Nixon also cited federal court documents to argue Hand’s participation in the Jan. 6 riot was more serious than Hand had claimed.
“This is where I get back in my truck and go back to southwest Georgia because I’ve got two races to win,” Hand said, walking out of the studio while cameras were rolling.
That’s some real black and white thinking you’re espousing there, and when you paint as irredeemable with too broad a brush, all that happens is those people - or people who perceive themselves to be painted with that brush - are incentivized to do even worse things.
This is not to say that anyone should be relieved of consequences or not charged when they should be. It is to say that recognizing nuance and being truly fair are necessary, as is there being a path to redemption for many people.
tl;dr: It’s complicated.
There really isn’t nuance when attempting to overthrow a government?
Should we have given the planners of 9/11 a misdemeanor?
The Jan 6 folk wernt just walking down Constitution Ave NE and got swept up in the mob. They bought plane tickets, took time off work, and posted their intentions.
There’s no fucking nuance in those actions.
Get your centrist, we need to listen to both sides, ass out of here
Yeah, you really need to check my comment history.
Every single person who marched on the Capitol on Jan 6, whether they went inside or not, whether they engaged in violence or not, was wrong.
Some of those people were criminally wrong, to varying degrees. Again, consequences for criminal actions should be commensurate with the degree of criminality. Again, taking into account that even minor criminal offenses were in support of the entire mob.
Once we’re all on the other side of this nonsense - if? - right-wing loons are still going to exist. They’re still going to be citizens. We still all have to live together and move forward. I’m quite certain that there will be more, and more widespread, violence between now and then.
I don’t know how to find common ground with people who reject reality, and I get real frustrated sometimes, too. (It gives me a MAGAraine.) But I also know that just giving up and taking the easy “throw them all in jail” route is counterproductive, and wholly at odds with how a fair justice system works. One of the things which separates me from them is that I want a fair justice system, regardless of who the accused is.
No, they can have their day in court and defend themselves with all available options, 100%.
Once convicted, they need a little more than community service and a fine. Loss of citizenship seems fine. I really don’t think you understand the severity of what went on and that they’ll do it again this election because the penalty wasn’t harsh enough to deter them from repeating.
Lots of people convicted because of their actions on J6 are in prison right now. Approximately 467 of the 749 charged federally, which is more than half. I am also aware that Judge Chutkan sentenced some offenders with more lengthy prison sentences than the prosecution was seeking.
That’s not a thing. You can’t just “make someone stateless.” Denaturalization can only happen for a handful of reasons, and those only apply to naturalized citizens (that being people who were not born into citizenship, but acquired it after immigrating to the US from elsewhere).
Cute of you to think you know me.