Right-wing propagandists have used Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s (D-NY) local criminal charge for pulling a fire alarm to reignite their bogus claims that he is an “insurrectionist” and argue that he should spend “years” imprisoned in “the DC Gulag.”

As you may or may not recall, the right spent the end of September diligently trying to construct a major scandal out of Bowman pulling the fire alarm in a House office building. Right-wing media propagandists alleged that the congressman’s (admittedly boneheaded) move was actually a calculated attempt to stall action on the House floor, which they described as an “insurrection” comparable to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. 

The story receded amid the chaos of the past weeks in the House of Representatives following Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) removal, but came roaring back on Wednesday, as House Republicans anointed Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and prosecutors in Washington, D.C., charged Bowman with a single count of setting off a false fire alarm.

Bowman will plead guilty to that single count, agreeing to publicly apologize and pay the maximum $1,000 fine for pulling the alarm on September 30. At the time, he explained that he had been rushing from his office in the Cannon House Office Building to the Capitol for a vote, came to a door that was usually open but at that time was locked, and “activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door.” Those claims were consistent with reports that members of Congress often go outside to get from their offices to the Capitol for votes, and Cannon’s doors are closed and alarmed on weekends, when members of Congress are typically not present.

The Capitol Police investigation into Bowman’s actions further supports his statements. An affidavit by the investigator included in the charging documents states that “security camera footage showed Bowman attempting to open the door before pulling the alarm” and subsequently “attempting to get out of the building through several other exits before making his way out of the building and … to the Capitol for the vote,” Axios reported.

“Based on the evidence presented by Capitol Police, we charged the only crime that we have jurisdiction to prosecute,” a spokesperson for the D.C. attorney general’s office said.

But right-wingers have ignored or rejected all this in the hours since news of the charge against Bowman broke, instead doubling down on their initial claims. They have continued to describe the New York representative as an “insurrectionist” and complained that, unlike the January 6 defendants, he is facing “gentle treatment” when he should face serious prison time.

“He should go to jail just like the massive number of January 6 protesters,” Fox News host Greg Gutfeld claimed on The Five, adding that Bowman’s stint in prison for pulling a fire alarm should last “years.”

Co-host Jeanine Pirro argued that Bowman’s actions had been a “political thing” by Democrats.

“They wanted to shut down so they could trash the Republicans. He was trying to delay it,” she jeered. (In reality, Bowman and every other member of the Democratic caucus but one voted for the bill to avert a shutdown and fund the government through mid-November.)

Right-wing influencers chimed in on social media with a similar schtick.

This treatment of Bowman’s fire alarm snafu shows the continuation of three general trends on the Trumpist right.

First, many influential figures are either too lazy to examine the facts before commenting, or have total contempt for their audiences and assume they will not do so.

Second, they desperately want political prosecutions. If Republicans have faced legal accountability, in their worldview, Democrats must be made to face it as well, even if they haven’t committed the same crimes. 

Third, Tucker Carlson’s twisted view that January 6 was no big deal has spread throughout the movement. The insurrection is treated as either a cudgel or a joke, not a horrifying disaster that should be prevented from repeating in the future.

That's how you end up with members of Congress jeering reporters for asking the newly-minted House speaker about his past role trying to overturn the 2020 election. Donald Trump’s efforts to toss the results are simply old news that they don’t want to talk about, even as they install one of the architects of the former president’s election subversion plot at the highest level of government.