Trump should be ashamed of his January 6 pardons that reveal his claim to be "pro law enforcement" is a facade that crumbles when he sides with cop killers

Stewart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio: Trump sets them free (Reuters)

 

Donald Trump's second term is less than four days old, and it is clear America has a president who claims to be "pro-law enforcement" but already has aligned himself  with cop killers. How did that happen? It came when Trump pardoned his supporters who committed abhorrent acts of violence -- which proved to be deadly violence in some instances -- but they were his followers, so Trump set them free. That's the kind of "principled leadership" that comes with electing a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, confessed sexual abuser, and serial marital cheater. 

To make matters even more grim, his pardons might say more about Trump's followers than they do about him. It was known long before election day that Trump was an epic liar and despicable person who intended to jam an authoritarian form of government down America's throat. But some so-called adults voted for him anyway? Here is a suggestion: If your judgment is so shaky that you would willingly vote for our "First Felon," do us all a favor and stay home on election day next time. We live in what is called "The Information Age," and that means there is no excuse to be so ill-informed that you would vote for a grifter like Trump. If you were conned by his cult of personality . . . well, again, you should not be voting and creating a mess for the rest of us. Critics in the press are using "shameful" and other harsh adjectives to describe Trump's pardons.

How did we get to this point? The New York Times addresses that question at its The Morning newsletter. As far back as last summer, The Times wrote that Trump's lack of moral character, his incompetence, and disregard for the rule of law made him unfit to serve as president. Under the headline "Rewriting Jan. 6," German Lopez focuses on this week's pardons, adding to Trump's lack of qualifications for the office he now holds. Lopez writes:

Before Inauguration Day, Donald Trump’s allies indicated that he’d limit clemency for Jan. 6 defendants to nonviolent offenders. “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” JD Vance said this month.

But President Trump’s pardons and commutations, signed on Monday, include people who assaulted police officers with baseball bats and chemical sprays. They include those who plotted to use violence to stop the peaceful transfer of power. Judges sentenced some of the defendants to prison for decades — a sign of their crimes’ severity.

Trump thought his supporters had been unfairly persecuted. His pardons reflect that view. “To have done anything less would have been an admission that there was something wrong with what his supporters did on Jan. 6,” my colleagues Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman and Alan Feuer wrote.

Lopez then provides details about the recipients of Trump's pardons, revealing them to be some of the slimiest serpents ever to slink their way onto the U.S. political stage:

The offenders

Trump gave clemency to more than 1,500 people who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Prosecutors had video and photographic evidence of their crimes. The offenders include:

• Stewart Rhodes and his far-right militia group, the Oath Keepers, helped orchestrate the riot. He and his followers said over text messages beforehand that Chinese agents had infiltrated the U.S. government and that Joe Biden might cede control of the country to the United Nations. Prosecutors said Rhodes had placed a “quick reaction force” of heavily armed Oath Keepers in a Virginia hotel — to rush into Washington with their weapons if called upon. A jury convicted him of seditious conspiracy, which requires proof of violent force against the government. A judge sentenced him to 18 years in prison.
• Julian Khater blasted chemical spray at a group of officers as the mob overran the police on the west side of the Capitol. One of the officers, Brian Sicknick, died the next day. A judge sentenced Khater to nearly seven years in prison.
• Albuquerque Cosper Head grabbed Officer Michael Fanone around the neck and told a crowd, “I got one!” Head then dragged Fanone down the Capitol steps and into the mob. Rioters beat, kicked and shot Fanone with a stun gun. A judge sentenced Head to seven and a half years in prison.
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• You can see two themes developing here: (1) Evidence against the offenders was overwhelming; and (2) Courts treated them with extraordinary leniency. Here is more from Lopez: 
• Daniel Rodriguez fired the stun gun at Fanone’s neck, twice. He also sprayed a fire extinguisher at the police and shoved a wooden pole at a line of officers. A judge called him a “one-man army of hate” and sentenced him to more than 12 years in prison.
• David Dempsey punched and kicked police officers and attacked them with a flagpole, crutches, broken pieces of furniture and pepper spray. A judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
• Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys, helped plan the attack. (He was not actually at the riot; officers arrested him days earlier for setting fire to a church’s Black Lives Matter banner.) A jury convicted him of seditious conspiracy, and a judge sentenced him to 22 years in prison.

• My colleague Alan Feuer detailed the defendants’ crimes, and the type of clemency they received, in this article.

  Some of the Jan. 6 defendants have shown no remorse. Days before his sentencing, Rhodes falsely claimed that the 2020 election was fraudulent and that the government was “coming after those on the political right.” At a court hearing, he declared, “I am a political prisoner.”

  Undeterred

  Trump won’t be able to act as unilaterally in many other areas as he did with these pardons. The president’s pardon powers are unique in that they are virtually unchecked by the Constitution. The same is not true for immigration, taxes, health care, tariffs or other topics that interest Trump. Congress, state governments and the courts will get a say — and they might not want to go as far as the president does.

  Yet Trump’s blanket clemency previews an important aspect of his second term: He feels unbound this time around. He believes that the public is behind his agenda, and he’s ready to push it by any means he can.