‘Dangerous slide in America.’ Judge in Jan. 6 case says what Florida needs to hear | Editorial

Florida man Adam Johnson grinned and preened for the cameras in his Trump ski cap last year as he paraded through the U.S. Capitol carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern.

He screamed encouragement to his fellow rioters as the Jan. 6 crowds surged through the building after Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. He yelled that a bust of George Washington would make a “great battering ram” to knock down a door to the House chamber, where members huddled inside. He shot video as rioters assaulted and disarmed a police officer. He tried to open a door to what he thought was Pelosi’s office.

He gloried in the moment, bragged he “broke the internet” — but then erased most of the images from his phone. He later said he was ashamed of what he had done and insisted that if the office door had opened, he would have asked Pelosi for a selfie.

Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton refused to be played for a fool. He sentenced Johnson on Friday to 75 days in jail, in a plea deal, and would not let the father of five from Manatee County off the hook.

“A message just has to be sent. If you’re going to associate yourself with this type of behavior, and you’re going to try to engage in conduct that undermines the fundamental fabric of this society, that your freedom is going to be taken away,” Walton said, according to the Washington Post.

Walton’s words are important, especially in Florida. We lead the nation in the number of arrests — 79 — related to Jan. 6, 2001. Johnson is just one of about 750 people who have been arrested nationwide. The most serious charges so far were lodged in January against 11 individuals for seditious conspiracy.

But that doesn’t mean actions like Johnson’s can or should be treated lightly, no matter how many Republicans try to shrug off the events of that infamous day as some sort of legitimate political discourse.

This wasn’t about one man in the Capitol. It was about a violent mob trying to overturn a legitimate election, and the judge, to his lasting credit, said the words we need to hear: “We’re on a dangerous slide in America.”