The Chilling Message Behind Donald Trump’s January 6 Pardons

Donald Trump’s presidency got off to a wild start Monday. There was the surreal scene of his second inauguration, which he capped with a speech even grimmer than the “American carnage” address of his first swearing-in. Then there were his subsequent speeches, in which Trump—ever the sore winner—continued to lie about his 2020 election loss. And there was top adviser Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and its most committed edgelord, throwing up what was either a Nazi salute or merely an extremely awkward gesture.

It was a day of pomp and circumstance, shock and awe. But Trump saved the wildest part of his surge back into power for the end of the day, when he granted clemency to more than 1,500 of those convicted in the January 6 attack on the Capitol he instigated four years ago. His blanket pardon extended to those who committed violent crimes, including assaults on law enforcement. “This is a big one,” Trump said as he signed the pardon, narrating his blitz of executive orders for a scrum of reporters in the Oval Office. “We hope they come out tonight, frankly.”

He got his wish. Among the so-called “J6 hostages” to be released overnight was Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader who helped incite the 2021 insurrection and was serving the longest prison sentence for his role in it, and Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder who was serving the second-longest sentence. “I’m so glad to see they’re being released,” one Trump supporter said of the January 6 convicts, outside the detention facility where some of the insurrectionists were being held. “This is just an unspeakably joyous, happy day.”

Not for everybody, of course. “One of the first things that [Trump] does is pardon the criminals who nearly took my life,” former Capitol Hill police officer Aquilino Gonell said. “It’s a desecration to our service and the sacrifices made to keep everyone safe. It’s a violation to our democracy and a disgrace to the title he holds once again.”

“I have been betrayed by my country, and I’ve been betrayed by those that supported Donald Trump, whether you vote for him because he promised these pardons, or for some other reason,” former DC police officer Michael Fanone told CNN. “You knew that this was coming, and here we are.”

Here we are, indeed. And by issuing the blanket pardon, Trump went even further than some of his own allies had encouraged him to go. JD Vance, his own vice president, said on Fox News Sunday, just a little more than a week before the inauguration, that “if you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.” Several other Republicans—including some of the leading participants in Trump’s effort to overturn his 2020 loss to Joe Biden—seemed to agree. “I’m against it for people who assaulted cops, threw stuff at cops, broke down doors, broke windows,” said Senator Josh Hawley, who raised his fist in solidarity with pro-Trump protesters outside the Capitol on January 6, only to flee as the rioters stormed the building later. (Hawley, the first senator to announce he’d object to Biden’s victory, still voted against certifying the election results that day.) “They’re going to look on a case-by-case basis,” Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNN’s Jake Tapper on the morning of Inauguration Day.

Trump didn’t do that. Instead, he effectively ended the federal effort to bring the Capitol attackers to justice—and put a period on his revisionist history of that dark day. That’ll have long-term ramifications, as will the partisan use of pardon power, which Biden used in the final moments of his presidency to preemptively protect members of his family.

More immediately, though, Trump’s clemency has sent a dangerous message to his supporters, perhaps empowering them to commit violence on his behalf, without fear of reprisal. “I JUST GOT A PARDON BABY!” Jacob Chansely, better known as the QAnon Shaman, posted on X Monday night. “NOW I AM GONNA BUY SOME MOTHA FU*KIN GUNS!!!”