In a variation of “the devil made me do it,” Capitol rioters are trying to shift the blame to Trump.
“Many of the defendants facing criminal charges for their role in the January 6 insurrection have tried to share blame with Trump or shift blame to him,” CNN says (here), but I don’t see what that gets them.
As CNN points out, “While some federal judges have lambasted [Trump] and suggested he bears some responsibility for what happened that day,” they’ve also said the defendants are responsible for their own actions.
There is such a thing in U.S. law as an undue influence defense — against enforcing a contract (details here). In criminal law, there are coercion (somebody making you commit a crime by holding a gun to your head) and temporary insanity (e.g., “I was drunk out of my friggin’ mind and don’t remember a thing”) defenses. However, stupidity is not an available defense in U.S. criminal, and that will leave most, if not all, of the Capitol rioters high and dry.
The best thing Capitol rioters have going for them is the leniency that prosecutors and judges have shown so far. They should just shut up, take the plea deal, pay the fine, and serve a month in jail. As violent insurrectionists who sought to overthrow our government, they deserve far more.
Oh, and one more thing: Blaming Trump is disloyal to their messiah. But why not? He has no loyalty to them.