At some point, every parent has said to their child their actions have consequences, or some version of that idea. Spill the milk because you are being silly? Well, clean it up. Don’t get your homework done? OK, you can’t go out with your friends until it is done. The circumstances vary, but the core idea remains the same: you are responsible for what you do.

That lesson is one that may not have been taught to a couple of Colorado lawyers. In a recent Colorado Politics story, we learned the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has upheld a fine of $187,000 against two attorneys who pursued what were later determined to be frivolous and nonsensical election fraud cases in court. These two filed a lawsuit for no less than $160 billion in damages against Dominion Voting Systems, Facebook and others – $1,000 for every registered voter they claim was robbed of their right to vote in a free and fair system.

But here’s the thing: there was no significant voter fraud in the 2020 election. Those who insist there was to this day have never actually presented evidence other than vague conspiracies and nonsensical assertions. Some of these accusations would be comical were it not for the real harm they have done. Countless election workers have been accosted verbally and worse. You may have heard of the story of Shaye Moss, who now lives in fear, as does her mother, who was also an election worker. Supporters of the big lie claim they have evidence that the daughter passed the mother a USB drive loaded with tens of thousands of fake votes to be loaded into the computer tallying the election in Atlanta. What she actually handed her mother was a mint, a ginger mint to be even more specific. Yet both mother and daughter are living with death threats and worry about stepping onto their streets for having committed the sin of being an honest public servant.

The appeals court had previously found the lawsuit filed by Gary D. Fielder and Ernest J. Walker was frivolous and that the lawyers themselves lacked standing to file the case at all. That is to say, they could not prove that they or their clients had been injured by the actions they alleged. And so, these two legal eagles owe a payment of $186,922 to the defendants in the case whom they accused of fraud. In what could be perhaps considered a new and dramatic example of overreach, the defendants included in their original lawsuit the companies noted above, the governors of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, as well as “10,000 unidentified” co-conspirators. That’s quite the broad net. The lawyers claimed they had spent thousands of hours studying the evidence, which, as we have previously noted, they declined to actually offer up.

The Appeals Court wrote, “in short, plaintiffs’ arguments regarding standing were so inadequate that it was not an abuse of discretion for the district court to conclude that the claims were made in bad faith, vexatiously, wantonly, or for oppressive reasons.” And before you go crazy about overreach and bias by liberal judges appointed by Democrats, you should know that the three-judge panel included two appointees of President George W. Bush and one of President Joe Biden.

These nutty legal actions might be dismissed as the actions of bitter and childish losers, were it not for the attempted insurrection we saw on that awful January 6th of last year. People pumped up by the ongoing lies of the quintessential bitter and childish loser, the former president, attacked the very heart of American democracy and people were injured and some people died. A mob claiming to be defending the law attacked cops, hurting more than 100. As a former military cop myself, I am astonished by such actions, by people falsely claiming to be patriots.

I am pleased to see, finally and far too late, at least some in the GOP leadership appear to be breaking their subservient bonds to Donald Trump. Sadly, most of them are only willing to do that privately, continuing to be frightened by the specter of a far-right primary challenger.

I would hope the recent election’s results would put a bit of steel in the wobbly GOP spines, as the super-Trumpers lost big time. But until we see the McConnells and the McCarthys of the world fully embrace what they said on January 7th – wherein they actually did, in fact, condemn Trump and Trumpism – and break their ties to the twice-impeached serial liar and tax cheat, I worry we will continue to see such dangerous acquiescence to the cult of Trump continue.

For at least two Colorado lawyers, there are now meaningful and significant consequences of yelping about the court system with false and foolish claims. And recent news stories suggest Trump himself may actually face some of the consequences of his bile.

We can only hope.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.