Members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have warned America for three years to take former President Donald Trump at his word.

Now, as Trump is poised to win the Republican presidential nomination, his criminal trials face delays that could stall them past Election Day, and his rhetoric grows increasingly authoritarian, some of those lawmakers find themselves following their own advice.

In mid-March, Trump said on social media that the committee members should be jailed. In December he vowed to be a dictator on “day one.” In August, he said he would “have no choice” but to lock up his political opponents.

“If he intends to eliminate our constitutional system and start arresting his political enemies, I guess I would be on that list,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose). “One thing I did learn on the committee is to pay attention and listen to what Trump says, because he means it.”

Lofgren added that she doesn’t yet have a plan in place to thwart potential retribution by Trump. But Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who has long been a burr in Trump’s side, said he’s having “real-time conversations” with his staff about how to make sure he stays safe if Trump follows through on his threats.

“We’re taking this seriously, because we have to,” Schiff said. “We’ve seen this movie before … and how perilous it is to ignore what someone is saying when they say they want to be a dictator.”

      • @[email protected]
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        -177 months ago

        They are obviously different but they are an illustrations of two different ideologies and how one was much more severely prosecuted. But I agree, lets do apples to apples, how many people were arrested and convicted on the May 29th attack on the capital by the leftists?

        • @[email protected]
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          7 months ago

          Moving the goalposts much?

          That event was way different that Jan 6. On Jan 6, we had armed people in the Capitol building threatening to hang the VP. On May 29, we had some people cross a barricade. They’re not comparable at all.

          • @[email protected]
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            -127 months ago

            So you are going with the “BUT INSURRECTION!!!” argument. It was not a insurrection, and you have yet to compare the quantities of people arrested and convicted with the different events.

            • @[email protected]
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              77 months ago

              If you want to compare quantities, go ahead, but that’s not on me to do. I did that already with your other stated comparison, and I’m not going to keep doing that with your whataboutism.

              And I do believe it was an insurrection. They were literally demanding the election be overturned, and the charges and confessions were consistent with that.

              If it wasn’t an insurrection, what exactly was it? The burden of proof lies with you.

              • @[email protected]
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                -67 months ago

                It was obviously a riot, and I am sad that you can see through some of the narrative but then get caught up on this one. How is it possible that you do not recognize this as a targeted prosecution for political reasons?

                • @[email protected]
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                  47 months ago

                  An insurrection can be a riot also, it was a riot formed with the intention of disturbing the electoral process (aka insurrection), how is that not obvious to you? They were extremely open about it, in the lead up to and during it. They live streamed the entire thing. Looking up the definition of ‘insurrection’, at a basic level it means an armed rebellion. Many people were armed.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    -47 months ago

                    They were not armed… I am doing the insurrection debate, the only reason you guys believe this was because the media kept telling you it was. Literally, its just propaganda, and it has been extremely effective on you guys.

                • @[email protected]
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                  17 months ago

                  Because of how Trump responded in both scenarios. On Jan 6, he provided no additional support to capitol police, despite being urged to do so, but on May 29, the Secret Service pepper sprayed protesters, various policing units were brought in, and troops and National Guard were deployed.

                  The response was so different between the two events that it’s clear Trump was okay with Jan 6 (they were trying to keep him in power) but not okay with May 29 (they were opposing inaction on police reform). On Jan 6, multiple people died, and many more were hospitalized. On May 29, the were a few hospitalizations among police, but nothing life threatening. If Trump responded similarly to both, I’d be more sympathetic, but his active lack of action doesn’t instill trust.

                  I’d like to see the various lawsuits resolved quickly, because it’s getting to be a very political issue. Ideally, he would’ve resolved everything years ago, but he continually delayed and now we’re in a massive mess. That said, I don’t see him as a victim here, this is exactly the expected result for his actions. Whether he’s guilty should be determined by the courts though, not public opinion.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    -47 months ago

                    You are just repeating the media lines. If you have any doubts then look into the stories better and see the obvious double standard. Just take one second to look at the steve baker prosecution.

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              7 months ago

              Were you at any protests in 2020? Many people are still in prison. The police were absolutely unhinged and caused massive injuries and trauma to protesters and non-involved people. One protester who shot someone in self defense, a right-wing man trying to kill protesters, was later assassinated by federal marshals. The entire neighborhood I lived in was blanketed with tear gas, filling up residents homes.

              • @[email protected]
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                -97 months ago

                Many of those people should be in prison… How many are in prison for the riots vs jan 6th? How about vs May 29th?

                • @[email protected]
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                  57 months ago

                  That’s your view, in my view there should have been more injured cops. What point are you making about comparing the numbers of people in prison? The scale of the two things are not even comparable, there were massive protests in every single state in the country.

              • @[email protected]
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                -47 months ago

                Uhhhh, you are the one that really is all about going after people if they might have threatened your sacred leaders… NPC found and blocked.