Legendary U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton has put every rioter who is going to appear before him on notice, Judge Walton is taking this damned seriously and is more than ready to hand out extremely serious sentences. Seventy-five days for a small-time misdemeanor is one hell of a sentence.

But rioter Adam Johnson, the rioter famous for stealing the podium, did all he could to earn that sentence. Judge Walton noted that this was not the global climate in which to be taking matters into their own hands and try to rule by fiat or violence.

From Politico:

Judge Reggie Walton sentenced Adam Johnson to one of the harshest misdemeanor punishments yet for defendants charged in the Capitol breach. Johnson pleaded for leniency, describing his actions as “foolish” and said he was trying to accept responsibility for his actions as a role model to his five children.

But Walton said Johnson’s actions required a jail sentence. He noted that Johnson jiggled the handle of a locked door in Pelosi’s office, when staffers were fearfully hiding from the mob in nearby spaces. He also raised concerns about Johnson’s remark, caught on camera, suggesting using a bust of George Washington as a battering ram.

Walton urged Johnson to read “How Civil Wars Start” and “The Next Civil War,” which he said chronicled events in other parts of the world.

This is the second time that we have seen Judge Walton hand down a stiff sentence in the face of a rather minor rioter (someone who assaulted an officer in any way) and the second time he’s brought up the Civil War.

WALTON sentences Adam Johnson — who famously carried Pelosi's lectern across the rotunda — to 75 days in prison, one of the harshest misdemeanor sentences yet. pic.twitter.com/2MVqwItVex

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 25, 2022

It seems obvious that some of the MAGA thinking reminds Judge Walton of some of the run-up to the Civil War.

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[email protected] with Nicole Hickman