Sorry for the sedition.

A Capitol rioter pleads guilty and apologizes.

     “I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I am truly remorseful and regretful for my actions in Washington. This was a foolish decision on my part that I take full responsibility for it. I completely acknowledge and respect that Joseph R. Biden is rightfully and respectfully the president of the United States."   

              Paul Hodgkins, Capitol rioter, upon sentencing.

The political system is frozen by tribalism and fear of Trump. The judicial system is not.  

A Capitol rioter was sentenced and a judge described what he did.

Republican officeholders are feeling their way carefully through the political minefield set for them by Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his defense of the Capitol rioters. On Fox News last week he called the Capitol rioters "patriots," and a "loving crowd," of "wonderful people."  In an interview this past March at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told reporters, "Personally, what I wanted is what they wanted," which was to stop certification of the election of Joe Biden. Trump said,

They showed up just to show support because I happen to believe the election was rigged at a level like nothing has ever been rigged before. There’s tremendous proof. There’s tremendous proof. Statistically, it wasn’t even possible that [Biden] won. Things such as, if you win Florida and Ohio and Iowa, there’s never been a loss.

To be a Republican in good standing one cannot openly disagree with Trump. However, there is political space for a Republican officeholder to say one opposes murdering a Vice President of one's own party. Oregon's sole Republican U.S. Representative, Cliff Bentz, defended his vote not to certify the election in Pennsylvania, but he went on to tell the Pendleton, Oregon newspaper in June:

If you have people wandering through the Capitol screaming "Hang [former Vice President] Mike Pence’"— which they were, you can look at it and see it — it’s the kind of thing that we in Congress should be doing our best to prevent in the future. 

Most GOP office-seekers have settled on the safe harbor of avoiding saying straight-out that they found election fraud, but saying one is deeply concerned about "election integrity" and that good, patriotic, concerned Americans have legitimate questions about the 2020 election, even if election officials and the courts do not. This means one can imply the Capitol rioters' concerns were legitimate, even if the behavior of a very few of them was not, and that the rioters were victims of bad crowd control. 

The judicial system can say straight out what GOP officeholders dare not. This was an insurrection. It was wrong. It was dangerous. It threatens American democracy. It badly hurts our image abroad.

Paul Hodgkins was the first person to be sentenced on a felony charge. He had travelled to Washington D.C. from Tampa, Florida. He was videotaped in a Trump 2020 tee shirt carrying a Trump flag. He entered the Senate chamber. He had an agenda. He obstructed Congress doing an official act, carrying out the orderly transfer of power after the election of a new president, a felony. 

The Assistant U.S. Attorney said "January 6th was genuinely an act of terrorism" and that an 18-month sentence would send "a loud and clear message" so “people contemplating a follow-up to January 6th will stand down."

In sentencing Hodgkins, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said, 

The symbolism of that act was unmistakable. He was staking a claim on the floor of the U.S. Senate not with an American flag, but declaring his loyalty to a single individual over the nation. In that act, he captured the threat to democracy that we all witnessed that day. . . .There were people storming through the halls of the Capitol, shouting, "Where’s Nancy?" There were people threatening the lives of members of Congress. There were members of Congress fleeing for their lives. This was more than a simple riot. . . .The chambers of Congress were emptied during the most solemn act in a democracy, of certifying who the next president is going to be, by an angry mob.

Americans will disagree with the appropriate sentence. If convicted of sedition he could have faced a sentence of 20 years. In 1776 Nathan Hale was discovered by the British to be carrying out a seditious act, and he was hanged--but he didn't apologize. The judge sentenced Hodgkin to eight months in prison. He apologized. He had pled guilty, early and quickly. It was his first offense. The judge said "Hodgkins did some very bad things that day and caused some real damage to this country."

At least it was said clearly and without qualification. Hodgkins was no hero. He did bad things.  As more of the rioters are sentenced that message will circulate and may become the lesson and meaning that Americans retain.