On January 6th, in the act of sedition, a mob took over the U.S. Capitol, and the police arrested only a few of the group. White supremacy in America is a principal reason that few of these rioters were arrested. These rioters were white. Black Lives Matter protesters are not.
But there is more to this story.
The future of the American experiment in democracy might be in jeopardy if these seditionists, including Donald Trump, are not brought up on charges. Sedition is a serious felony punishable by fines and up to 20 years in prison. It refers to the act of inciting revolt or violence against a lawful authority to destroy or overthrow it.
It is vitally essential for a society to define illegality. If Trump and these outlaws do not face charges, the seditious actions of January 6th will be automatically defined in history and practice as legal and permissible.
Experts on how democracies die, Levitsky and Ziblatt, have studied this phenomenon worldwide and argue that democracies are in peril when violence by authoritarian supporters is not unambiguously condemned and punished. That would apply to Trump’s actions as well as that of his stormtroopers.
The country must address Trump’s traitorous acts one way or another, either by invoking the 25th Amendment, impeachment, or federal charges of sedition.
The 25th Amendment would remove the President if a majority of the cabinet voted him as unable to carry out the duties of his office. However, that option is losing steam as Vice President Pence is against it, and two cabinet members, Elaine Chao and Betsy DeVos, have cowardly resigned.
Impeachment would take longer to complete; however, they should still do it because a critical issue is to define the situation as illegal. An added benefit is that it would prevent Trump from ever holding public office again.
And then there are the current federal issues that should be investigated by the Justice Department. Trump almost certainly has committed federal crimes in addition to inciting a riot, sedition, etc.
The bottom line is that failure to very publicly define this insurrection as such is to approve it. Democracies tend not to survive such assaults.