California Man Pleads Guilty, Texas Man Sentenced for Two Separate Attacks on Democratic Headquarters

     May 27th, 2022, was a significant day in the fight to combat violent domestic extremism, which has been a priority of this project since the Capitol insurrection on January 6th. The conservative whining over the attack on a pro-life group's office is as amusing as it is hypocritical. Charlie Kirk, in the same tweet he downplayed the Capitol insurrection in, asked why "the Left" was "allowed to firebomb" the building. Hard to believe the guy who thought a dolphin fetus was a human being isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

     On May 27th, white supremacist Timothy Louis Hale-Cusanelli was convicted of a felony and four misdemeanors for his actions during the insurrection on January 6th. While not accused of any violence or property destruction, he could face a maximum of 23.5 years in prison. He has already spent more than 16 months in custody and will remain in custody until his sentencing date, likely this autumn. His defense was that he didn't know Congress met in the Capitol and that he wore a Hitler mustache and owned a copy of Mein Kampf because he was a "nihilistic millenial." In the end, it may have been his pathetic excuses that did him in, and he will likely spend four to six more years behind bars; even Judge Trevor McFadden, who delivered the only acquittal of a Capitol riot defendant and has handed out all of the shortest sentences for misdemeanor defendants, believes that Hale-Cusanelli deserves extra prison time for his racist ideology, violent rhetoric, criminal history, and refusal to accept responsibility for his actions.

     The very same day, Ian Benjamin Rogers of Napa, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to destroy by fire or explosive a building affecting interstate commerce, possession of unregistered destructive devices, and possessing a illegal machine gun; his co-defendant, Jarrod Copeland, previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge as well as destruction of records. The convictions come from a plot the duo hatched between November 2020 and January 2021 to blow up the California Governor's Mansion and Sacramento Democratic Party Headquarters in an attempt to inspire future political violence and prevent Joe Biden from taking office. Each faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in federal prison.

     Just hours earlier, Ryan Faircloth of San Antonio, Texas, was sentenced to six years in federal prison and nearly $20,000 in fines and reparations after pleading guilty in January to throwing a Molotov cocktail into the Austin Democratic Party headquarters in September 2021. Thankfully, nobody was injured and a Good Samaritan was able to put out the fire before it completely destroyed the building. Most importantly, the 2022, 2024, and 2026 elections will be safe from this domestic terrorist.

     These elections as well as others will also likely be safe from Copeland, Rogers, Hale-Cusanelli, and others who will be dissuaded from committing political violence for fear of being cut off and instead sent to prison. May 27th was a good day for democracy, and let's hope there are many more good days to come.