WUSA9, a Washington, DC-based CBS affiliate, is angry that taxpayers are paying to defend some of the alleged Capitol Hill rioters.
“The guy who paraded a Confederate flag through the Capitol. ‘Zip tie guy’ … and the woman who stole Nancy Pelosi’s laptop. What do they all have in common? You’re paying for their defense.” a tweet last week from WUSA9 read.
The tweet itself does not link to some crazy, left-wing editorial. It links to an actual news story, a story mocking the idea these alleged rioters should benefit from public defenders.
Here’s the headline: “Oath Keepers, Proud Boys want public defenders. And the Constitution they sought to upend protects that right.”
Again, this is not an editorial. It is a straight news story that criticizes the “more than 60 defendants who have already been granted taxpayer-funded representation,” and then goes on to gasp over the cost of this defense:
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts says it may be years until we have an exact dollar figure for the cost of the Capitol riot cases – partly because it’s unclear what additional security may be needed for any eventual trials, and partly because court policy prohibits the release of financial information while a case is open because it can give away legal strategies.
Bernie Grimm, the former federal public defender, said there’s something poetic about the government going through such lengths and expense to defend and protect the rights of people accused of attacking it.
The premise of the article’s argument is as dishonest as it is absurd. The accused rioters were not seeking to rip up the Constitution or overthrow the American government. In fact, in their own misguided and criminal way, they believed they were protecting the Constitution and the government with their fool’s errand to stop the certification of a presidential election they believed violated the Constitution. The worst of them were willing to commit violence to achieve that goal, and isn’t that bad enough? Does WUSA9 really need to gild the lily?
Well, we all know why they did it. So WUSA9 can feel all kinds of smug with its “Trumptard gotcha,” even though the gotcha is built on the lie of a straw man.
But even if the premise was correct, only a fascist believes protesting your government, even by way of rioting, should somehow negate your right to a defense attorney. That kind of thinking is pure loony land.
It’s also insanely anti-American for anyone, much less a outlet posing as a straight news service, to sneer at the idea, or even suggest there is something wrong with taxpayer-funded legal counsel. Let’s not forget the right of adequate counsel — which many cannot afford — is a right guaranteed by the 6th Amendment.
You know, I have seen some reactionary lunacy in my day when it comes to the judicial system — people angry over criminals getting off on loopholes and the like, but never have I seen someone sneer or object to or criticize the basic fundamental right of adequate legal counsel in a criminal prosecution.
That is not an argument I would make against the left-wing terrorists in Antifa and Black Lives Matter, who actually are seeking to overturn the government.
Let’s stop now to look at the broader picture of what’s going on…
The mainstream left are launching blacklisting and canceling campaigns against us, they’re labeling our mainstream ideas as “violence” and “harmful,” they’re increasingly comfortable with political violence, they’re desperate to disarm us, and now we have the media mocking the idea — based on a fabricated premise — that there is something wrong with Trump supporters receiving taxpayer-funded defense counsel.
The writing is on the wall.
These people hate us and are eager to strip us of all our basic rights: including speech, self-defense, and a fair trial.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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