Well, I’ve got to say, I didn’t expect this. I’ve realized that, in a weird way, I actually feel badly for Enrique Tarrio, the disgraced leader of the disgraceful Proud Boys hate group who helped plan the J6 assault. I’ve kept an eye on this one. Tarrio had a defense unique from most of the rest: he wasn’t there. He planned it and set it up but he didn’t DO it. I was interested in how that worked for Tarrio because there’s one other defendant that might have tried the, “I wasn’t even there,” defense: Donald Trump. I saw Tarrio’s sentence as a possible marker as to what the trumpster might be looking at for his similar (but more important) role. Tarrio was sentenced, Tuesday, to 22 years in a Federal prison.

I mean, don’t get me wrong. Tarrio was a willing participant in criminal activity that landed him 22 years in jail. That’s just the way it works. I don’t feel badly about that. “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time,” as the saying goes. But there’s this ONE aspect to this whole thing that I focus on from time to time as I watch these guys, one after another and into the hundreds now, being hauled off to prison, STILL singing Donald Trump’s praises: They thought, they believed, they had found their Savior, their Jesus. And what wouldn’t you do for Jesus? It’s a matter of faith.

Obviously, I’m not alone in this but I, personally, have tried to help some of his faithful see reality by pointing to, you know, reality. They WILL NOT have it! Full stop. It turns out, one cannot argue faith, even poorly placed faith. Enrique Tarrio is a grown man who makes his own choices and will pay the price for his actions. But I believe the motivation for his choice, in this case, was his faith in Trump. Faith commonly leaves (often) weak-thinking but, otherwise, good people vulnerable to hucksters (or trumpsters) who get them to do unthinkable things.

Heaven’s Gate: group suicide as a matter of faith.
People’s Temple: mass suicide (and a few murders) as a matter of faith.
Branch Davidians: “sacrifice,” including women and children, in a battle with law enforcement as a matter of faith.
Manson’s “Children:” crime spree and murder as a matter of faith.
The Nazi’s in the 1930s: 22 million dead, as a matter of faith.
Enrique Tarrio: 22 years as a matter of faith.
Stewart Rhodes: 18 years as a matter of faith.
Joe Biggs: 17 years as a matter of faith.
Ashli Babbitt: a bullet to the brain as a matter of faith.

Abraham, he of the Torah, Bible, AND Koran, came within moments of murdering his own son – as a matter of faith. IF the voice in his head, the same voice that “told” him to kill the kid in the first place, had not stayed his hand, Abraham would surely have brought down that knife, ending his son’s life – because he believed his GOD had told him to do so. THAT story is actually presented in churches as a positive image of faith in God. “Now, that, there, is some loyalty! Try to live up to THAT.” I’ve always seen the other side of it: he was going to murder his own son – because a voice in his head told him to. Schizophrenia as faith.

The smaller cults, Heaven’s Gate, People’s Temple, Branch Davidians, come and go pretty quickly. Commonly, they start to decline right around the time their founder announces that God has told him he has to start having sex with the underage girls in the group “for the good of the community.” That move is a challenge many women don’t expect or accept. If they question it, he has his pat answer, “Well, no,” he says, as he gazes, lustfully, at the breast buds of the woman’s 12 year old daughter, “I don’t want to, but it doesn’t matter if I want to or even if I understand why. God has commanded it and my faith is just that strong. How strong is YOUR faith?” That’s the crack that begins the end. (Amazingly, though, many of the women will just…hand their daughters over. “Well, if God said so…”)

The larger cults, the Nazis of Germany, the Catholic Church, Cult 45, and the like are more difficult to break down. They’re SO big (and SO popular) they gain converts that never leave – even if the main cult figure disappears. One can still find Nazis or Neo-Nazis around the world, singing Adolph Hitler’s praises. Catholics are STILL taking their sons to church and paying the churches legal bills so the church doesn’t have to. Cult 45 is currently being rounded up and sent of to prison, one by one. The trumpsters are happily paying the stable genius, billionaire business man’s legal bills, too. Every one of them, misguided by their faith.

I feel badly for the victims, the members deceived by the leader they revere. All they wanted was something to believe in, someone who could make them feel safe, someone who could give them a feeling of belonging. They wanted someone who would show them a better way to live. They were looking for peace and reassurance. Instead, they get death or prison. Poor choices, sure, but poor choices made by weak thinkers preyed on by sociopathic narcissists. These people did (and do) terrible things but – aside from the bigots – I’m not sure they’re terrible people. In many regards, the rank-and-file are just as much victims as the people they attack.

It’s a difficult nuance to put into words and I’m not sure I’ve done a good job of it, here. I think Enrique Tarrio SHOULD go to prison. I’m sure he committed the crimes for which he has been convicted. In Tarrio’s case, I suspect it was only a matter of time before he landed himself in prison anyway, but I STILL can’t shake my perception that put his faith in the wrong person at the wrong time and that choice has, essentially, cost him the rest of his life. (In America, convicts don’t get out of metaphorical “prison,” even after they serve their sentence and get released…)

To me? THAT is an additional crime, not chargeable, perhaps, but attributable to Trump. HE told them he was their champion. They believed him. HE told them he, and he alone, could save them. They believed him. HE told them he would protect them. They believed him. HE told them they HAD to fight for him or everything they love would be lost – and they believed him. HE told them he would “make them great” and restore their freedom. They believed him. He didn’t help them, he hurt them. He didn’t protect them. He’s begging THEM to protect him. He hasn’t saved them and he hasn’t been their champion. They DID fight for him and now? One by one, they’re being hauled off to prison.

I’ll tell you this: I guess there’s no charge for fooling people who WANT to be fooled but I hope his reckless, selfish, deceptive misguidance is taken into account during the sentencing phase of trump’s trials – and included accordingly…