Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to pay two Georgia election workers nearly $150 million after a court found him liable for defaming them, as he spread Donald Trump’s big lie. And what really sunk Rudy here — apart from his obvious guilt — was his refusal to publicly acknowledge what he did or apologize for his wrongdoing. This, of course, is the MAGA ethos.
But public apologies for the Capitol insurrection and the Big Lie are essential for the country’s political health. Tens of millions of people still believe Trump won in 2020. He is currently running to finish the job he started on Jan. 6. It is crucial that those responsible for the attempted coup are held accountable for their behavior and, ideally, state plainly and clearly that the election was not stolen.
On the lowest rungs of the ladder, we often see this with the members of the insurrectionist mob who were later charged. Like a man named Daniel Caldwell: The former marine pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon after he used chemical spray against police officers on Jan. 6. During a tearful apology in court, Caldwell said, “I must face my actions head on,” adding to the officers he assaulted, “I hope that you and our country never have to face another day like Jan. 6.”
Even when it comes to coup plotters higher up in the scheme, like the defendants in Trump’s Georgia racketeering case, we have seen some seemingly genuine contrition. Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis said this during her guilty plea earlier this year:
“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges. I look back on this full experience with deep remorse.”
Likewise, a bail bondsman named Scott Hall who was part of the election interference scheme wrote a letter to the judge in which he apologized for his role in the plot and took responsibility for his actions.
But the other two Trump confederates who pleaded guilty were not so contrite. The Atlanta Journal Constitution received both of their letters to the judge. Coup lawyer Sidney Powell wrote, “I apologize for my actions in connection with the events in Coffee County.” That is it.
Her fellow coup plotter Kenneth Chesebro offered, “I apologize to the citizens of the State of Georgia and of Fulton County for my involvement in Count 15 of the indictment.”
It has never been more obvious that two people do not regret their actions in the slightest — except perhaps insofar as they got caught. And one of the lessons here is that you simply cannot let people like Trump and his allies determine their own accountability. Because they will never do it on their own. They have to be brought to account by the full force of the law.
This is an adapted excerpt from the December 15 episode of “All In with Chris Hayes.”
Chris Hayes hosts “All In with Chris Hayes” at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday through Friday on MS NOW. He is the editor-at-large at The Nation. A former fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, Hayes was a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the New America Foundation. His latest book is “The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource” (Penguin Press).