Capitol Riot: QAnon Shaman Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison

Jacob Chansley, the so-called QAnon Shaman, was sentenced on Wednesday to 41 months in federal prison — nearly three and a half years — for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot. Good. If anything, the judge went too easy on him. This is precisely the sort of exemplary punishment that riots demand and that is particularly necessary and in accordance with America’s Jacksonian tradition of example-making in responding to January 6.

There is a reason why I previously cited, as precedents, George Washington’s executing the leaders of a mutiny in 1781, Abraham Lincoln’s hanging of 38 leaders of a Sioux uprising in 1862, William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea to bring the horrors of the Civil War home to the Confederacy, Harry Truman’s dropping the atom bomb, and Calvin Coolidge’s and Ronald Reagan’s firing strikers against the public safety. All of those men understood the same basic calculus: Dramatic offenses require dramatic responses in order to deter a repetition.

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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Jacob Chansley, the so-called QAnon Shaman, was sentenced on Wednesday to 41 months in federal prison — nearly three and a half years — for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot. Good. If anything, the judge went too easy on him. This is precisely the sort of exemplary punishment that riots demand and that is particularly necessary and in accordance with America’s Jacksonian tradition of example-making in responding to January 6.

There is a reason why I previously cited, as precedents, George Washington’s executing the leaders of a mutiny in 1781, Abraham Lincoln’s hanging of 38 leaders of a Sioux uprising in 1862, William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea to bring the horrors of the Civil War home to the Confederacy, Harry Truman’s dropping the atom bomb, and Calvin Coolidge’s and Ronald Reagan’s firing strikers against the public safety. All of those men understood the same basic calculus: Dramatic offenses require dramatic responses in order to deter a repetition.