The Face of the Republican Party: Enrique Tarrio, Chairman of the Proud Boys, Was Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Sedition for His Part in the January 6 Insurrection

During the January 6th insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, Enrique Tarrio was the chairman of the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist and militant organization that engaged in political violence. By January 2022, over thirty-seven members were indicted for their roles in the attack. Under subpoena, Tarrio gave a deposition to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack investigators, after which the Justice Department indicted him on a conspiracy charge for his role in the insurrection.

Tarrio wasn’t even in Washington during the insurrection. A D.C. judge had banned him from the city. But from a Baltimore hotel room, encrypted texts show that he coordinated the Proud Boys attack. Via social media, he told his followers to “Do what must be done.”

A grand jury later indicted him on the more serious crime of sedition. After a three-month trial, he was sentenced to twenty-two years in jail, the longest sentence of anyone to date. According to the Associated Press, “Prosecutors told jurors the group viewed itself as ‘Trump’s army’ and was prepared for ‘all-out war’ to stop Biden from becoming president.”

Before his sentencing, he spoke briefly in the courtroom, calling January 6 a “national embarrassment” and apologized to police officers and legislators and his family for letting them down. He pleaded with the judge for leniency, saying, “I am not a political zealot. Inflicting harm or changing the results of the election was not my goal.” Really? What did he think his goal was? He then added, “Please show me mercy.” “I ask you that you not take my 40s from me.” He will spend both his 40s and 50s in jail.

Americans have lost confidence in their government. We no longer trust our legislators and the Supreme Court to solve our country’s problems: income inequality, affordable health care, a woman’s right to decide what’s best for her health, the economy, and climate change. Governance has become a series of battles. It’s no longer just political ideology. We are at war over cultural issues while our politicians ignore our basic needs. And we’ve lost faith in our country’s institutions when ersatz news organizations like Fox knew Donald Trump lost the election but promoted voter fraud to get ratings.

The morals of our GOP legislators and their sycophants are just as important as their economic policy. How can we trust a party that Alex Patton, a Florida-based Republican consultant and pollster, has characterized as a party that “has become mean and driven by emotion on whom we dislike.”? “But,” he says, “that is the driving force in American politics right now.” That is the driving force of the GOP, not the Democrats. This is not an example of the equality of “bothsidesism.”

In my essay, “ It’s Time to Release Our Own Kraken!” I outlined the history of the Republican Party’s “below the belt” tactics. They continue to be underhanded to this day. But with the low level of civility in our present polarized country, many Republican legislators now in office have hit new ethical lows.

As a visual artist who has spent over a decade creating posters about the sorry state of American political discourse, this year I began a new series of portraits, “Faces of the Republican Party.” The men and women in this series deserve to be taken to task for their unwillingness to compromise, belief in conspiracy theories, and disdain for the LGBTQ+ community, women’s rights, and our children’s education. The purpose of our government is to solve our nation’s problems. It’s not a place for personal vendettas or manufactured cultural issues.

“Faces of the Republican Party” is not a partisan series of portraits. Merriam-Webster defines the word as “a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person, especially one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance.” The people depicted in these images are the partisans. Instead, my series is a documentary and op-ed showcasing the facts in 2022. All of them had a hand in trying to overthrow the government. These images are MAGA Republicans who put their blind allegiance to Donald Trump and their careers ahead of the needs of the American people.

The results of the 2022 midterm elections showed we are tired of autocratic and self-absorbed politicians. We would simply like our officials to do the jobs we elected them to do. Everyone deserves a piece of American Exceptionalism. As it stands, there is nothing exceptional about the tribalism these people promote.

Republicans are perfect examples of Patton’s “driving force.” This force is dirty, mean, misogynistic, selfish, and wastes our tax dollars. These people are just a small sampling of individuals responsible for the loss of credibility and faith in America’s institutions. And worse, they couldn’t care less.

Feel free to pass this poster on. It's free to download here (click on the down arrow just to the lower right of the image). Each has a special Creative Common's copyright that allows you to share these images as long as there is attribution, no derivatives, and you do not use these for commercial purposes.

See the rest of the posters from the Chamomile Tea Party! Digital high res downloads are free here (click the down arrow on the lower right side of the image). Other options are available. And join our Facebook group.

Follow the history of our country's political intransigence from 2010 to 2020 through a eight-part exhibit of these posters on Google Arts & Culture.

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Taken on: October 22, 2023

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