January 6th Pardons

More red meat for his base. Our law and order president has pardoned over 1500 people who were serving jail time for their actions at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. Many of whom assaulted police officers. I know lots of Republimorons like to say that what happened that day wasn’t really attempt at insurrection. But can you really argue that people didn’t attack, beat, and in some cases pepper spray law enforcement officers?

Yet somehow, it’s Democrats who don’t support the police. 

The pardons for the violent lawbreakers of January 6 serve to encourage future violence if it's "for Trump", since the criminals will assume that they'll get pardons also (if they're ever prosecuted).

"American Carnage", indeed.

I would love to hear statements by chiefs of police departments and the heads of state PBAs and other law enforcement advocacy groups about this.

I heard Trump refer to the people he was pardoning as “hostages”. Many of these people actually plead guilty to assaulting police officers. Many others were duly convicted. It seems to me that this flies in the face of standing up for law enforcement. 

mrincredible said:

I would love to hear statements by chiefs of police departments and the heads of state PBAs and other law enforcement advocacy groups about this.

...

no you wouldn't. it would be very depressing.

LE overwhelmingly support MAGA. which is depressing enough.

drummerboy said:

no you wouldn't. it would be very depressing.

LE overwhelmingly support MAGA. which is depressing enough.

I guess what I would really like is to hear professional journalists ask the question of these people and press them to say whether they support these pardons. I don’t think that there are many journalists left in this country who would be willing to do so. 

But, depressing or not, I think that holding law-enforcement accountable for such a contradiction would be important.

The MAGA believers (and fellow travelers such as Elon stans and Putin apologists) aren't bothered by things like this at all. 

mrincredible said:

I would love to hear statements by chiefs of police departments and the heads of state PBAs and other law enforcement advocacy groups about this.

I heard Trump refer to the people he was pardoning as “hostages”. Many of these people actually plead guilty to assaulting police officers. Many others were duly convicted. It seems to me that this flies in the face of standing up for law enforcement. 

Have you seen any of the videos? I don't think its that simple.  While those that assaulted police officers should be punished, many were just there.  The police escorted Jacob Chansley into the Senate Chamber.    As the late great Norm MacDonald said: They were staying within the velvet ropes in what Amy Klobuchar called "the People's House". 

terp said:

mrincredible said:

I would love to hear statements by chiefs of police departments and the heads of state PBAs and other law enforcement advocacy groups about this.

I heard Trump refer to the people he was pardoning as “hostages”. Many of these people actually plead guilty to assaulting police officers. Many others were duly convicted. It seems to me that this flies in the face of standing up for law enforcement. 

Have you seen any of the videos? I don't think its that simple.  While those that assaulted police officers should be punished, many were just there.  The police escorted Jacob Chansley into the Senate Chamber.    As the late great Norm MacDonald said: They were staying within the velvet ropes in what Amy Klobuchar called "the People's House". 

how do you that any of the convicted were "just there"?

can you give us some examples?

I did in my post. 

terp said:

I did in my post. 

what post? did you name names?

drummerboy said:

terp said:

I did in my post. 

what post? did you name names?

Yes.

terp said:

Have you seen any of the videos? I don't think its that simple.  While those that assaulted police officers should be punished, many were just there.  The police escorted Jacob Chansley into the Senate Chamber.    As the late great Norm MacDonald said: They were staying within the velvet ropes in what Amy Klobuchar called "the People's House". 

so apparently you disagree with his blanket pardon. How do you feel about him referring to all of them as hostages?

I think most were wrongfully imprisoned and some treated harshly(solitary confinement).  Its a rhetorical spin.  It does orders of magnitude less harm than "Trust the Science" or "Horse paste". 

terp said:

I think most were wrongfully imprisoned and some treated harshly(solitary confinement).  Its a rhetorical spin.  It does orders of magnitude less harm than "Trust the Science" or "Horse paste". 

you did not answer the question

Um. Yeah. I did. 

terp said:

Um. Yeah. I did. 

no. You didn’t say whether you agree or disagree with his blanket pardon. 

You didn't ask me that. 

mrincredible said: 

so apparently you disagree with his blanket pardon. How do you feel about him referring to all of them as hostages?

terp said:

drummerboy said:

terp said:

I did in my post. 

what post? did you name names?

Yes.

again - where did you do that?

Hint: look for the name "Jacob"

drummerboy said:

terp said:

Have you seen any of the videos? I don't think its that simple.  While those that assaulted police officers should be punished, many were just there.  The police escorted Jacob Chansley into the Senate Chamber.    As the late great Norm MacDonald said: They were staying within the velvet ropes in what Amy Klobuchar called "the People's House". 

how do you that any of the convicted were "just there"?

can you give us some examples?

terp said:

Hint: look for the name "Jacob"

Jacob Chansley pleaded guilty to reduced charges for an agreed-upon sentence. Police officers were inaccurately accused of "escorting" people when they were trying to de-escalate a situation, with people who had broken windows and already assaulted officers. 

Capitol Rioter Known as QAnon Shaman Pleads Guilty - The New York Times

Trump has essentially authorized right wing extremists to use violence in support of Trump. Nice. 

nohero said:

Jacob Chansley pleaded guilty to reduced charges for an agreed-upon sentence. Police officers were inaccurately accused of "escorting" people when they were trying to de-escalate a situation, with people who had broken windows and already assaulted officers. 

Capitol Rioter Known as QAnon Shaman Pleads Guilty - The New York Times

Like I said, terp sure can pick 'em

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5097857-jacob-chansley-qanon-shaman-donald-trump-pardon-guns/

“I JUST GOT THE NEWS FROM MY LAWYER…I GOT A PARDON BABY! THANK YOU
PRESIDENT TRUMP!!!” Chansley, who was photographed inside the Capitol on
Jan. 6, 2021, with a horned helmet, painted face and bare chest, wrote on X. “NOW I AM GONNA BUY SOME MOTHA FU*KIN GUNS!!! I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!”

There are so many people who were covered by Trump’s blanket pardon and lots of different levels of offense. Many plead guilty to various crimes, and the rest were duly convicted in court. It would take a lot of time to go through them all and showcase who actually got pardoned and what their offense was. 

The problem is that MAGA true believers like Terp have been gaslit by the continuing rhetoric from news outlets like OAN and Fox that it was not a big deal what happened. That most of these people just came into the building and were touring around peacefully and in some cases led around by police. Terp and his friends can’t possibly accept that people would actually resort to real violence to try and disrupt the legal proceedings going on that day to certify the election. Because Terp and his friends were fed lie after lie after lie about the results of the 2020 election. It’s all part of their slavish adulation of Trump. 

Here’s one - Julian Khater of NJ. Assaulted police including Brian Sicknick with bear spray. He plead guilty. 

https://patch.com/new-jersey/bridgewater/bear-spray-assault-fallen-jan-6-officer-ends-nj-mans-plea

Pardoned as part of Trump’s pandering to terp and his friends. 

MrIncredible, you mentioned you’d like to hear from police officers what they think of these pardons.  Over the past 24hours I’ve read, and watched, several officers comment to journalists and to podcasters. It’s almost 1am here, but if you’re still interested you could go through the special sections of BBC News website, Guardian (Australia, International and I think US editions), as well as a whole grab-bag of podcasters. 

Or I’ll edit this in a few hours, to add links. 

joanne said:

MrIncredible, you mentioned you’d like to hear from police officers what they think of these pardons.  Over the past 24hours I’ve read, and watched, several officers comment to journalists and to podcasters. It’s almost 1am here, but if you’re still interested you could go through the special sections of BBC News website, Guardian (Australia, International and I think US editions), as well as a whole grab-bag of podcasters. 

Or I’ll edit this in a few hours, to add links. 

Thanks. I’ll take a look!

Well, the Fraternal Order of Police, which endorsed Trump in every election, has actually come out and condemned the pardons. So that’s something. 

https://www.axios.com/2025/01/22/police-union-trump-jan-6-pardons

In other news, 

'I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.

Check out The Shovel for a good laugh.

joanne said:

Check out The Shovel for a good laugh.

I just looked at some of the headlines. To close to reality. 

I think there were at least 2 reasons for the blanket pardons.

1.Trump is too lazy to go through the list of offenders even if one of his lawyers screened it. He would rather go for the big move even if it means it is wrong.

2. My more sinister opinion, is that he has a growing militia at his beck and call. 

A 2022 story -

Authoritarianism is about making government a safe harbor for criminals, and pardons are part of that. Don't be surprised if an amnesty in the autocratic tradition kicks off Trump's second term.

.....

All of this is in keeping with authoritarian tradition. Illiberal leaders have long used pardons and amnesties to corrupt people, discourage dissent in and outside of the party, pose as all-powerful and yet generous individuals, and hide their crimes.

Amnesties and pardons have always been an efficient way for leaders to free up large numbers of the most criminal and unscrupulous elements of society for service to the party and the state, and make them indebted to the rulers in the process.

Benito Mussolini pioneered the strategy. In 1925, soon after he declared himself dictator, he pardoned all political criminals --his target population being the Blackshirts who had committed so much violence before and after the Fascist 1922 March on Rome.

Blackmailers, murderers, specialists in torture, and more were now available to serve in Il Duce's new militia, or take jobs in the party and in the state bureaucracy. To seem magnanimous, Mussolini also pardoned many imprisoned anti-Fascists, requiring them to write a "letter of submission" to him as a condition of their release (then he would read the letters in public to destroy the writer's credibility with other anti-Fascists).

https://lucid.substack.com/p/pardon-me-from-il-duce-to-trump-authoritarians