The bunch of assholes are horrible people, but I still can get some small degree of sympathy at them because of that detail of the clusterfuck, and the huge difference in authority responding to different protests for different reasons.

Like, try to get into their mindset, specifically regarding the assault on the Capitol. Sure, on some level, you must know that you're fucking up, that there's no way this is legal. But also, you know how authorities respond to riots/protests: Tear gas, riot control, paintballs, etc. They are also movements organized by small, common folk. Here however, you have the commander in chief, literally the highest authority in the country, specifically telling you to do this, to march on the Capitol. There's no ambiguity here, that's what the chief of the country is asking you to do. And once you get there, the cops are not shooting tear gas at you, instead they're opening the doors and literally waving you in.

I know this wasn't the general case, that there were confrontations with police, deaths, that no matter how many guards wave you in you'd have to be Trailer Park Boys' Rich level of self deluded idiot to think that stealing official documents is a-ok. But I can kind of understand why, for some of these asshats, they believe they were justified in what they did. For the point of view of at least some of them, the highest authority in the land asked you to do this, and then the people tasked with stopping you instead welcomed you with open arms.

It's why I think that, while it's important to pursue these people, it's much more important to punish the cops that let them in, or whoever ordered them to do so.