Welcome To The Intersection Of January 6th And White Entitlement

"Fairness" doesn't mean attacking police with a flagpole without consequence

No matter how smart you are, you can never convince someone stupid that they are stupid.

• Anonymous

It would be difficult to imagine a more entitled group of criminals than the White MAGAts who stormed the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021. They engaged in an actual, honest-to-God, attempted coup-de-étât, and violated who-knows-how-many federal laws. Despite this, many still feel they’re being persecuted by “Joe Biden’s Department of Injustice.”

After all, they’d been called to Washington by “their” President to protest what they saw as an illegitimate election. Never mind that they had no evidence of said illegitimacy; they were convinced that the Presidency had been stolen from The Former Guy by the evil, conniving Joe Biden.

And so they came to Washington to set things straight. Never mind that there was nothing to “set straight.” The 2020 Presidential election, according to all impartial (and even many partisan) observers, was the freest and fairest in American history. It wasn’t perfect, but with more than 150 million votes cast, perfection was an unreasonable goal.

Also, with The Former Guy’s legal team losing at least 60 court cases, there was no credible evidence of voter fraud, election tampering, or any other behavior that would’ve spoken to election theft.

They failed to acknowledge that what little voter fraud had been uncovered had been committed by…wait for it…Republican voters.

Go figure, eh?

Not that the truth would keep him from attempting to remain in power, with his efforts culminating on January 6th. That was when an angry, Trump-supporting mob stormed and eventually breached the Capitol. The thousands of rioters broke into Congressional and Senatorial offices, breached the Senate and House chambers, and wandered the halls of Congress.

By late evening, the mob had been cleared from the Capitol, but the job of holding those responsible accountable had only just begun. Two-plus years later, prison sentences are still being handed out…and some aren’t going quietly. Many, like Audrey Ann Southard-Rumsey, believe they were acting on the orders of “their” President and, therefore, should be pardoned.

A U.S. Capitol rioter who spoke up in court to verbally attack federal prosecutors and the entire federal government was sentenced to six years behind bars on Friday for physically attacking police on Jan. 6, 2021.

The woman, Audrey Ann Southard-Rumsey, 54, appeared to deliver her rambling 15-minute diatribe off the cuff, according to CBS News.

“My whole dream of my life has been taken because people have different politics than mine,” Southard-Rumsey said, the outlet reported.

Sitting before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, she added, per CBS: “I have grievances since they don’t listen to us at the polling place. They don’t listen to us little people in the regular world.”

Southard-Rumsey reportedly urged Mehta to think about “what I now have to give up” and concluded by saying, “It’s not fair.”

She had been found guilty on seven felony charges, including three counts of assaulting or resisting law enforcement and three counts of civil disorder.

Her “whole dream” of her life” has been taken” because “people have different politics” than hers? That’s a fascinating argument and, more than anything, an attempt to evade personal responsibility. Ms. Southard-Rumsey was convicted of physically attacking police officers on January 6th, behavior which in anyone’s book is- or at the very least, should be- a felony.

If anyone has taken anything from her, it’s Ms. Southard-Rumsey through her felonious actions. She broke the law. Criminal activity has consequences…and she should be grateful she’s getting off as lightly as she did.

A few months before, I’d wager that Ms. Southard-Rumsey was among supporters of The Former Guy screaming, “BACK THE BLUE!!” Yet, on January 6th, she was attacking police officers.

So what is it? Back the blue…or beat the blue? Because she can’t have it both ways, though it appears that’s precisely what she wants.

Whatever it takes for a good, God-fearing White Conservative Christian heterosexual to evade personal responsibility for her criminal behavior, eh?

Then she urges the judge to consider what SHE has to give up…and punctuates her White entitlement by proclaiming, “It’s not fair.” Yeah, that’s some chutzpah.

Perhaps she should’ve considered what she might be putting at risk BEFORE attacking police officers on the Capitol grounds on January 6th. As for fairness, if that were a consideration, she would’ve been handed a much longer sentence. As it is, she should consider herself fortunate that she’ll be released from prison before she has to be put into assisted living.

Did she consider “fairness” before she attacked police officers at the Capitol? Somehow, in her moment of White entitlement, I seriously doubt it.

As the trials of some of the January 6th insurrectionists have proceeded, I’ve been astonished by their arrogance. Some of these folks lack the self-awareness to understand that they’ve broken several federal laws…or they really are just that stupid.

Some believe their sincere and firmly held ideology and political beliefs should excuse their politically-motivated violence (otherwise known as “terrorism”). Others believe that their obedience to the call issued to them by “their President” conveyed blanket immunity on them, meaning they had carte blanche to do whatever may have been necessary to prevail on January 6th. After all, it was a revolution, and their country was at stake, just like in 1776.

Except that it wasn’t like 1776. Not at all.

Mehta reportedly called her a “one-person wrecking crew.” The judge added an optional terrorism enhancement to meet prosecutors’ requested sentence of 72 months, despite generally handing out sentences to Jan. 6 defendants that are shorter than recommended by the government.

The Spring Hill, Florida, resident worked as a vocal coach until her arrest in June 2021.

Prosecutors say she used a flagpole to push against law enforcement trying to defend the Capitol, causing one officer to hit his head on the base of a marble statue.

Southard-Rumsey was also captured on video yelling at Capitol Police, “Tell Pelosi we are coming for that bitch,” referring to the then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“There’s a hundred thousand of us! What’s it going to be?” Southard-Rumsey was heard saying on the video.

Prosecutors noted her threatening social media posts in the wake of the 2020 election, which included “HANG the TRAITORS!” and a message to “go to their work and home, pull them out by their teeth and hang them for treason!”

Audrey Ann Southard-Rumsey was hardly a benign presence on January 6th. “Tell Nancy Pelosi we are coming for that bitch?” The fact that the judge felt her conduct to be sufficiently egregious that he added an optional terrorism enhancement to it speaks to her central role in the attack police at the Capitol.

So, anything Ms. Southard-Rumsey may be “giving up” is a direct consequence of being what the judge called a “one-person wrecking crew.” Using a flagpole to push against police meant she planned to do serious physical harm if the opportunity presented itself.

Six years is more than fair, and she should be grateful that the judge didn’t, given her conduct, hand down a longer sentence. If Nancy Pelosi was thinking about Ms. Southard-Rumsey at all, it was probably something along the lines of “Tell her that karma’s coming for that bitch.”

“It’s not fair?” Neither was using a flagpole to push back against law enforcement officers…and yet she still had the audacity to complain about how the justice system was unfair to her. Cry me a fucking river, will ya? I see no reason to feel sorry for anyone WHO TRIED TO OVERTHROW OUR GOVERNMENT BASED ON A LIE!

Elections have consequences. So do rioting against the results of a democratically-contested election because you don’t like how things turned out.

I hope a few years in a federal lockup will teach Ms. Southard-Rumsey a lesson and that when she’s released, she’ll understand the risks of accepting and treating a politician as a Messiah.

Until then, she can take her idea of fairness and White entitlement and stick them where they won’t see any sunshine.