Michael Fanone has long warned that the damage of January 6 goes far beyond the riot itself. “I think things are 100 times worse,” he says, pointing to how Trump redirected federal agents away from critical investigations and into showy crackdowns. Rick agrees, noting that these weren’t real policing roles but theatrical deployments that corroded public trust.
The flood of troops in D.C. was meant to project control, but Fanone calls it “purely performative.” Crime wasn’t stopped, and what residents felt was occupation, not safety. Even grand juries refused to indict cases riddled with constitutional violations, rejecting prosecutions born of politics instead of justice.
