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The Trump Pardons Will Quiet Dissent
Protections for protestors were undone with a wave of the hand
There was never any debate as to whether those who stormed the capitol on January 6th committed a crime. Of course, breaking into a building to forcefully interrupt a governmental proceeding — whether or not you also assaulted a police officer to do as much— is illegal.
The defense given to us by Trump supporters was never a defense of this act itself. It was always that Trump himself didn’t intend for his followers to do such a thing. After all, though Trump told his followers to “fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” before pointing them in the direction of Capitol Hill, he also said to march over “peacefully and patriotically.”
That argument has now been completely unraveled. He had the choice to not pardon anyone who went to the Capitol building in his second term. He also had the choice to pardon only those who entered the building but didn’t force their way in — those who were following others after the way was already cleared for them, so that no violence was necessary on their part. Instead, he pardoned all of them, even the violent offenders, and he did it on his first day in office.
