Beg Your Pardon?
Be Angry About the Pardons. Very Angry.
Among the cavalcade of shit that Trump has dumped on the country in the first week of his regime, the blanket pardon of over 1,500 criminals that had been investigated, charged, and found guilty of crimes related to the January 6th coup is perhaps one of the top two actions that will have the most significant, and chilling, consequences.
Make no mistake… Trump has told the world that anyone who does crime in his name will be pardoned. It does not matter what the nature of the crime is, nor the severity. If it is done in order to advance him or his plans, you will get a pass.
The photo above is one of the most prolific, and upsetting, images that capture the pain caused that day. For those of us who followed the attack that day, as well as all that came after it, the image of Officer Hodges being crushed in the door is seared upon our psyche. The response to Trump’s pardoning of the people responsible for the attack has been pretty swift, with even a handful of Republicans speaking out against the decision to release all of the criminals. Not MAGA, of course, or the eternally weak-willed liar JD Vance… but we’ll get to him later. However, there has been a common theme with many of the complaints that sits uneasily with me; that people should be pissed that Trump pardoned all of these people who attacked cops.
Yes, I understand that pointing out the attacks on the Capitol and Metropolitan Police are valuable in calling out the “Back the Blue” hypocrisy of the Right, but keep in mind the context. Those cops were attacked as part of an attack on American Democracy. And that, my friends, should be the ballgame. The fact that it’s not serves as another indication of just how fucked we are right now.
We’ve Lost the Plot
I am not naive. At least not always. I know why we are discussing the pardons in terms of releasing people that attacked cops. That’s a sure way to elicit a visceral response from most “normal” people. I realize that, by releasing these people, Trump has spit in the face of those who were doing their job, putting their bodies and lives on the line, to protect the members of Congress, some of whom have hailed this as a great act. Assholes.
I am also keenly aware that the American population, or at least a significant percentage of it, either doesn’t fully grasp the idea of losing our Democracy or doesn’t see that as a Bad Thing. But the ignorance of the population does not protect said population from increasing tyranny. And I am not being dramatic, because tyranny is exactly Trump’s end game here.
Isn’t It Ironic
Throughout Trump’s campaign, a central theme was that foreign governments were emptying their jails across our Southern border and into our Heartland, causing crime, gang violence, pestilence, a marked increase in the price of eggs… Ok, maybe not all of that, but, well, that was his point. So, it’s not lost on me that on the very first day of his term, he literally said “fuck it” and released all of these domestic terrorists back to American streets. Alanis Morrissette would be quite proud.
One thing that will be counterproductive over the next four years1 will be to breathlessly point out the blatant hypocrisy of Dear Leader. It’s kinda his thing, to be honest, and the GOP/MAGA love to play along. While we can’t get bogged down in pointing out what will likely be daily hypocrisy, I couldn’t let this one slide.
The Timing Is Key
Cynical pardons are, unfortunately, not a new phenomenon. We have seen their use increase substantially over the last few administrations. Joe Biden did no favors by pardoning both the January 6th Committee members (somewhat understandable, even if many did not want pardons) as well as others that Trump has consistently threatened (Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley) as well as several of his family members (far less understandable) even though none of them has been convicted of a crime. That said, most “bad” pardons, pardons that will be nearly universally panned, are done on the way out of office, like Biden’s and Trump’s barrage of pardons for his cronies at the end of his first term.
The timing of these pardons, literally on his first day back in office, are a clear and unmistakable message. Do for me, I have your back. No matter what.
More on that in a piece to come, but for now, we need to be clear that the man who caused this attack, through his months of lying about having the election stolen from him, has just released all of these criminals to our streets. Make no mistake, they will understand and accept that they owe him. The man is nothing if not transactional. And you know as well as I that he fully intends to call in that debt.
JD the Cuck
I really hate that word, cuck. It’s just another byproduct of the toxic masculinity culture that is part of the reason that we are here today. However, I can’t think of a better word to describe Vice President JD Vance’s participation in this narrative.
Vance went on the Sunday shows a week before the Inauguration and said that J6 criminals who committed violence “obviously” should not, and would not, be pardoned. While he briefly mentioned “some grey areas”, he claimed that the admin would review each of the 1600 cases individually to make a determination on pardons. Just over a week later, his boss did just what was apparently not so obvious to JD. So either Trump hung Vance out to dry or Vance was lying through his teeth.
Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to know which is true, since both are equally possible in Trump’s government.
Average White* Guy is a collection of thoughts from Marwan Saidi. It’s primarily a place for me to dump my thoughts in an effort to get them out of my head and give me some calm. It’s also a place where my friends and family can opt in to my neuroses so I can keep it out of other family gatherings. :)
* - I am Palestinian American, but you would probably not think that based on my appearance or (lack of) accent. For years I would check White on the race section of forms because there wasn’t an option that fit better.
At least four years…