Ross: Leaders only have power if people choose to follow them

Dustin Thompson, who was part of the mob that ransacked the Senate parliamentarian’s office, was found guilty this week on all six counts against him, including felony obstruction of Congress.

Thompson’s defense was that he’d been traumatized by losing his job a year earlier, and as the pandemic closed in, he doused himself with a firehose of pro-Trump propaganda, and because of that indoctrination, when the president on January 6 told the crowd to “fight like hell,” he took it as an order to attack the Capitol as Congress was counting the votes.

But the jury rejected that excuse, and after the guilty verdict, the judge piled on.

District Court Judge Reggie Walton (and before you ask – he’s a Republican appointee) called Trump a “charlatan” who had “duped supporters into believing the election was stolen.”

I know! Harsh, right?

He then described Thompson, the defendant, as “weak minded” and “gullible,” but said that as gullible as he was, he should have been able to separate Trump’s claims from reality.

Then the judge told the guards to take Thompson directly to jail.

So, according to this judge, even gullible people have a personal responsibility to figure out what the truth is! That would make sense coming from a Republican appointee, because I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard conservative talk hosts demand personal responsibility.

This judge is saying you need to take personal responsibility not only for your actions, but for who you choose to believe.

And before you ask: yes – I think that should go for anybody who uses a street demonstration as an excuse to liberate sneakers, televisions, or bottles of liquor, or to decorate a retaining wall.

If you’re the type who gets caught up in the moment, then you have a responsibility to stay home and avoid the moment altogether.

One more thing: There seems to be some concern among prosecutors that by holding defendants personally responsible for their actions on that day, it might absolve Trump. But that doesn’t bother me.

Leaders only have power if people choose to follow. As the saying goes, a leader without followers is just some guy out for a walk. Moreover, the ultimate check and balance on power isn’t the court system, and it isn’t the legislature. It’s when the followers are smart enough to know when to stop following.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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