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The trial in the court is a legal challenge. I don't really have a problem with Trump (or Biden) supporters being rallied. Why does "rally his base" have a bad connotation in your mind?

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Because it tends to lead to public officials getting death threats or people with guns outside of their houses at night. Whatever that is, it's not rallying.

I think the angst in the public sphere is much, much deeper than some politician "rallying their base".

My take is that the federal government has accrued far, far more power than was ever intended. The entire population of the US has to fight over who is in charge at the federal level in order to live their lives the way they would like.

The founders had the right idea - a federation of states with a variety of laws that the people could choose among, glued together by a weak federal government.

That was the Articles of Confederation more than anything. The current federal government was meant to be strong after the fiascoes of the AC. And the Founders, once they were in power, almost universally worked towards a stronger federal government and concentrating power. I mean, Jefferson purchased Louisiana from Napoleon unilaterally without consulting congress; maybe the most massively illegal abuse of power in the history of the US.

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