this is a useful lie that reinforces horseshoe theory bullshit
99.9% of the Independent's readership has never once heard of TrueAnon, has no idea who Brace Belden is, and is utterly clueless regarding his politics or the politics of the podcast. Calling this a "right wing podcast" while linking it to a funny board game can only be good publicity.
Its long when you have to live it, yes.
Those are also long sentences.
It actually doesn't need to be either-or. The fact that so many people were arrested and prosecuted is wildly unusual when you consider the historical response to right-wing protests and riots in the past. Certainly, this is a far higher percentage of people facing jail time than after the Brooks Brothers' Riots used to shut down the 2000 Bush/Gore recount. Its harsher punishment than anyone at Project Veritas suffered for breaking into a Senator's home office. Hell, 15 years is far more than any of the Watergate burglars ultimately served
Even Liddy and Hunt weren't in jail for more than 5 years, each.
So this is a "long" time for a politically motivated crime, both in terms of years assigned and cumulative time assigned to the volume of people prosecuted. Normally, none of these assholes would have seen the inside of a court room much less a federal prison.