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presidential pardon
Trump’s Terrifying Pardons: Egocentric, Incompetent Leadership Provokes Panic
Individuals eager to overturn democratic institutions stand sanctioned, if not emboldened, to commit another violent insurrection.
Jan 30, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump’s flurry of executive orders rattled nerves, elevating the tension levels of many Americans. On his first day in office, he pardoned the January 6 rioters, withdrew from the Paris climate agreement, transferred 1,500 military personnel to the southern border, and began mass deportations. Each of his leadership behaviors rings their own unique alarms. But in the interest of brevity, I’ll explore only the impact of the pardons.
Trump promised to screen those prosecuted for the seriousness of those January 6 crimes—at least during the weeks prior to taking office. Nonetheless, on his fateful first day, Trump issued blanket pardons for all of the approximately 1,600 individuals involved in the insurrection. One-third of those cases involved “assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement.” Trump wiped the insurrection’s criminality clean, issuing “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon” to those prosecuted; he also commuted the sentences of those already serving prison time. A few cases involved brutal violence, and several others sedition.
Examination of even a small sampling of these cases explains why anxiety erupted, how rage fuels it, and how general fearfulness can be expected to surge over time. Consider these examples, starting with the ones who committed violent acts.
Trump rendered the January 6 event a non-event. The insurrection (almost) vanishes from history.
Daniel Rodriguez received a three-year sentence for deploying an “electroshock weapon” against a policeman and then “plunging it into the officer’s neck.” William Lewis received the same amount of jail time for spraying “streams of Wasp and Hornet Killer spray at multiple police officers.” Israel Easterday received a 30-month sentence for blasting an officer “in the face with pepper spray at point-blank range,” after which the officer “collapsed and temporarily lost consciousness.” The brutality of these crimes is self-evident.
Regarding prosecutions for sedition, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio received a 22-year prison sentence for orchestrating his far-right extremist group’s attack on the Capitol. It topped the 18-year sentence handed out for Oath Keeper’s founder Stewart Rhodes. One-time Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean also received an 18-year sentence. The leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers, Kelly Megs, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Details of their guilt in directly planning to overturn the U.S. government can be found in publicly available court documents.
Perhaps the clearest example of sedition occurred when the Southern states seceded from the United States in 1861, sparking the Civil War. Sedition, the crime of illegally inciting people to rebel against a government, is rarely prosecuted. The last significant case of sedition involved socialist leader Eugene V. Debs who, during World War I, urged resistance to the draft and obstructed military recruitment. He was convicted of sedition in 1918, receiving a 10-year sentence. The fact that four of the January 6 insurrectionists were convicted of sedition is remarkable. But, now, and again, those convictions—for literally attempting to topple our government—are moot.
Most presidents issue pardons at the end of their terms, not at the beginning. They deliver them for reasons related to the public good, not for their self-interests. For the first time in U.S. history, Trump pardoned these individuals on his first day and for his personal gain. The pardons reinforce the fictional narrative that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him—a belief Trump (allegedly) holds despite the absence of a shred of tangible evidence. More importantly, they show how Trump’s egotism overshadows his regard for the rule of law.
Americans’ levels of anxiety heightened, in reaction to these pardons, for several reasons. The perpetrators of the January 6 violence, not only freed but newly empowered, may go on to harm others. Several have already threatened those who testified against them, including injured Capitol police officers. Some promise retribution. Who cannot help but feel fearful of the release of violent criminals in any context?
Those convicted of sedition, and many of those who committed violence, show no remorse. Some feel proud, considering their actions necessary. Because of the pardons or commutations, the perpetrators can retain weapons they own or purchase new ones. Will their freedom lead directly to other forms of violence? Might Trump’s pardons inspire other would-be violent criminals? These are all nerve-wracking questions.
Trump’s executive order also negates the time spent by prosecutors, defense attorneys, bailiffs, and jurors involved in these cases, blatantly disrespecting them. Given that nearly 2,000 cases were filed, it is likely that 40,000 or more persons served in the justice process. Their hundreds of thousands of hours of work, time spent away from the families, and the stress involved in processing these cases ends up a total waste. Dispiriting is too mild a word. Trump shows a breathtaking lack of understanding of what justice means.
On an entirely different level, the pardons and commutations threaten the foundations of governmental order. All indictments, prosecutions, and sentences, for charges ranging from trespassing to seditious conspiracy, have been nullified. Trump rendered the January 6 event a non-event. The insurrection (almost) vanishes from history. And now armed individuals intent on overturning the U.S. government, and those lying in wait for the opportunity, remain a lingering risk. Individual loyalties to Trump could change in a hot second. Individuals eager to overturn democratic institutions stand sanctioned, if not emboldened, to commit another violent insurrection.
Trump’s executive orders impact the American psyche in still other ways. We Americans, or citizens of any country, rely on government to provide a basic sense of physical and emotional stability. Along with ensuring access to clean water and air, food, education, and medical care, governments provide citizens with law enforcement and judicial systems. The fairness of these systems warrant constant evaluation, but not through their destruction. Trump opened fault lines in these basic structures, eliciting distrust. Whether conscious of them or not, Americans feel these losses. Will we be safe from harm, or from another attempt to bring the government down? Will other institutions be threatened? While I was finalizing this essay, Trump issued a directive freezing spending on all forms of federal assistance.
Finally, many individuals (like me) are enraged at Trump’s release of individuals who the justice system indicted, tried, and imprisoned. Anger that lacks an adaptive channel of expression may cause any number of psychophysiological problems. It becomes suppressed (conscious) and repressed (unconscious). Americans can expect to experience symptoms ranging from headaches and muscle pain to panic attacks and depression.
Events like these pardons and commutations, or the federal funding freeze, seep into our collective psyches, our unconscious minds. They impact Trump’s supporters, most of whom will feel concern about his impulsivity despite their backing his election. In a statement made in his first day in office, Trump declared, “We’re going to do things that people will be shocked at.” One week in, and he has indeed delivered shocks.
Trump continues to make disquieting speeches and to issue orders. He acts impulsively. Many of his directives, like nominating unfit individuals for cabinet level positions or removing security details for his former advisors, show a reckless disregard for the American public. Trump is motivated by power and revenge, not by empathy and care. He displays precisely the opposite qualities of a competent leader. Simple logic argues that Americans’ anxiety levels will be on the rise.
Thus far, Americans mostly remain apathetic, as I discussed in arecent essay. However, one wonders when the angst and the anger fueling much of it will rise to the surface. When, and if, it does, oppositional movements will likely emerge. Quite possibly, there will be mass demonstrations. These will further test Trump’s judgment. Will he heed their calls, or will he turn the military against American citizens? What if the military refuses? Could there be a military coup? Then, real panic would arise. The international financial markets would crash. Even glancing fantasies of such scenarios raise blood pressures, validating that Trump’s first days in office are truly creating a pandemic of fear.
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Trump Calls Himself the 'Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the Country'
"NARRATOR: He is not the chief law enforcement officer in the country."
Feb 17, 2020
Telling reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews that he had commuted the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and pardoned former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo, financier Michael Milken, and former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, President Donald Trump said that in his own opinion he was the country's top cop.
"I'm actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country," Trump said.
Watch:
\u201cTRUMP: "I'm actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country." (The attorney general is the top law enforcement officer of the country.)\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1582051485
"NARRATOR: He is not the chief law enforcement officer in the country," tweeted filmmaker Billy Corben.
As Attorney General, a position created by the Judiciary Act of 1789, William Barr is the nation's chief law enforcement officer.
But, as New York Times reporter Charlie Savage pointed out on Twitter, Barr himself endorses Trump's view.
"William Barr likes to say that the president is the chief law enforcement officer of the country," said Savage. "It's part of his unitary executive theory mindset."
Trump's decision to commute and pardon Tuesday's quartet was seen by observers as another example of the president's corruption.
In a statement, Common Cause Illinois said that by commuting Blagojevich's sentence, Trump was sending a clear message to other corrupt politicians.
"This decision is wrong and deprives the people of Illinois the justice they deserve," the group said. "After consistently ignoring our nation's ethics norms and laws for the last three years, President Trump has now chosen to side with the long line of Illinois politicians that have been imprisoned or had their careers ended due to corruption."
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) issued a scathing statement on the pardons, drawing attention to Milken's crimes in particular.
"Trump has used pardons almost exclusively to shield unrepentant felons, racists, and corrupt scoundrels like Blagojevich and now Milken, one of the most prolific financial criminals in U.S. history," said Pascrell. "The presidential pardon is sacred under the Constitution and perhaps represents Trump's most dangerous abuse of power precisely because the pardon power is unfettered and cannot be reviewed by Congress or the courts."
\u201cWH press release on Kerik and Milken pardons mentions support from numerous figures from Trump world and conservative media.\u201d— Jim Acosta (@Jim Acosta) 1582054848
In a statement, Media Matters for America spokesperson Laura Keiter said that Trump's tying of the pardons and commutations to Fox News was just another example of the corrupting influence of the network.
"President Trump's pardon of Bernard Kerik and commutation of Rod Blagojevich's sentence are further proof that Fox News continues to help drive the agenda of Trump's White House," said Keiter. "This is the 11th time that Trump's use of executive clemency and pardons has been linked to his Fox News obsession."
Blagojevich's appearance on Trump's long-lived NBC reality show "The Apprentice" and the president's history of attacking the Central Park Five present a telling contrast, said Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington researcher Robert Maguire.
"As Trump commutes the sentence of a former contestant on his reality TV show who went to jail for crimes he was literally caught committing, it's worth noting that Trump called for the Central Park Five to get the death penalty, and he still thinks they're guilty," said Maguire.
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'Of Men, Not Law': To Make America Hate Again
To pardon a public official who refuses to obey the law (especially a direct court order) is to give the finger to the judiciary, and thus our constitutional order
Aug 29, 2017
Aristotle said the rule of law is better than the rule of men. Having law above us guides us - away from our corrupt destructive impulses, enabling greater peace, liberty, prosperity and security. The current head of the U.S. has wrought havoc on rule of law norms by inciting hate and lawlessness and sowing chaos - the antithesis of law and order. His hasty pardon of a cruel racist sheriff post-Charlottesville is simply the latest action taken to undermine the judiciary and divide people.
Donald Trump has raged particularly against the judiciary and the press - the two institutions vital to checking tyranny. The judiciary is the branch of government most independent of politics, and thus best able to safeguard constitutional values. Federal judges ruled Sheriff Arpaio's indiscriminate dragnet detention of peoples in violation of the 4th and 14th Amendments of the Constitution. When he persisted with racial profiling of Latinos he was in held in contempt of direct court orders.
To pardon a public official who refuses to obey the law (especially a direct court order) is to give the finger to the judiciary, and thus our constitutional order. It encourages further lawlessness. It unleashes bias, hate, vigilantism, mob rule. And it hits where the rubber meets the street. Most people encounter law via policing, so when racist cops are unmoored then law is seen as a threat, not a protector. There is a circular logic to the fear and hate-mongering of 45* which need be recognized and thwarted. The writing was clearly on the wall.
Citizen Trump made his entry into public policy by calling on New York to re-implement the death penalty in order to execute young black men wrongfully accused of raping a white woman. And old story seized upon by this opportunist hater to raise his profile. That he still called for the execution of the Central Park Five after they were exonerated should have disqualified him from holding office in any reasonable society. Yet today he is the inciter-in-chief of the lynch mob, hailing the unrepentant racist former Sheriff as a "patriot" who was treated "unbelievable unfairly" by the courts. An emboldened Arpaio then echoed 45*'s slander of federal judges, making unsubstantiated claims of Judge Susan Bolton's (who issued the contempt order) bias.
45* has brought Jersey-style governance to the capital, where he employs the tactics of Tony Soprano and Rupert Murdoch to hold sway over others. Payback against the Arizona Senators who had sought to assert independence from the psycho-in-chief was the most likely impetus for the Arpaio pardon. As well, he was sending a message to others (e.g., those Special Prosecutor Mueller will question), as mobsters do. Loyalty and betrayal - the be-all end-all of mobsters. Dismantling the administrative state creates a void for racketeering.
The reaction must be a mass mobilization to resist this dictatorial agenda. Counting on our existing political parties is foolish; looking to the Supreme Court is a wishful prayer. Affected communities are at the vanguard of the resistance. Using the courts in the battle against tyranny is a vital tactic, as is protest by putting bodies in the streets, even in the face of the resumption of the military equipment transfer to police program and the increasing criminalization of dissent.
We now know that 45* never consulted the Department of Justice before issuing the Pardon, and that he has snubbed and undermined its mission of equal justice under law since taking power. Thankfully, the DOJ and federal judges have not succumbed to his mobster tactics. The judiciary should be receptive to petitions from people hurt by the unlawful actions of the current U.S. administration - that is all of us.
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