Lately, former president Donald Trump and Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York have been referring to those who were arrested, convicted and sent to prison for their roles in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol as "hostages."
Silly me, I thought people like that should be called criminals or prisoners. After all, hundreds of them beat up and injured 140 Capitol Hill police officers before illegally breaking into the building, marauding through the halls of Congress, and hoping to hang Mike Pence. If the more than 1,200 people who have been charged for their actions that fateful day and the 900 who have been convicted after trials are hostages, then I'm an astronaut.
Watching people storm the steps of the Capitol three years ago was beyond painful to watch. What's even more distressing is the thought that this kind of lawlessness could easily become the playbook for disgruntled people coast to coast.
Imagine 100 parents wearing paramilitary fatigues, roaming the corridors of their local high school, breaking into classrooms, jostling students and shouting "hang the principal" -- because they don't like the school's curriculum; or, 100 residents, all wearing ski masks and matching black parkas, disrupting a city council meeting, not by shouting, but by throwing chairs, charging the dais and hoping to "hang the mayor" -- because they object to an agenda item their local elected officials are about to debate; or, 100 neighbors surging into a museum, ripping paintings off the walls and calling out "hang the curator" -- all because they don't like the images being exhibited.
Would you call these people hostages if they were arrested, convicted and sent to prison? Of course not. You would call them criminals. So why are the former president and the 4th-ranking Republican in the House now referring to the Jan. 6 rioters as hostages? If you ask me, it's for three reasons: First, calling them criminals would mean Trump and Stefanik believe those arrested and imprisoned truly are guilty (which they do not); second, the word is defined as innocent people who've been seized or taken against their will (which they believe); and third, they are speaking for those who feel their voices no longer are being heard and, thus, believe they have a right to resort to violence (which never is right).
Donald Trump has said that, when he is reelected, one of the first things he will do is pardon the Jan. 6 hostages. Based on her recent comments, I'm guessing Rep. Stefanik thinks this is the right course of action for her mentor to take. As a 75-year-old father of three and grandfather of two, I fear that if the criminals/prisoners who tried to prevent the peaceful transfer or power in 2021 are summarily released from jail, then those of us who truly believe in the rule of law will be at risk of becoming America's real hostages. And that, my friends, is both unthinkable and unacceptable.
-DF
I think the question comes down to: "Who is the more reliable determiner of facts: Donald Trump & his gang of lawyers, or the Justice System that investigated, charged the perpetrators, heard both sides of the arguments, reviewed the facts, found them guilty by a jury of their peers and sentenced them?"
Not that that our justice system is perfect, or even necessarily fair at times, but it's a damn sight better than the Don.