Opinion

Trump’s mass pardons of Capitol rioters undermines US democracy


All opinions expressed in this article are solely the opinions of the contributors.

Over 200 rioters serving prison sentences for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol have begun to be released shortly after President Trump began his second term as president. Trump issued pardons to more than 1,500 individuals, including those who had assaulted police officers. The “full, complete and unconditional” pardons — far more extensive than many had anticipated — drew sharp condemnation from police unions, the general public and lawmakers, including some Republicans.

Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor Dr. Rashad Richey argues that Trump’s pardons have proven he is anti-police, anti-constitution and anti-democracy. Dr. Richey says those who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 are domestic terrorists and that no American patriot should defend them.

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The following is an excerpt from the above video:

He did not wait days, he did not wait weeks, months — he wasted no time showing you his priority. When Trump was sworn in again, one of his first acts as president of the United States was to release those who committed an act of domestic terrorism on that fateful day, Jan. 6 — we remember what happened — called the Jan. 6 rioters. That’s my opinion. I believe that they did, in fact, commit an act of domestic terrorism.

Now if the last names would have been “Mohammed” this would have been a different conversation, but let’s be very clear about Donald Trump’s action. Remember, there are those who decided to engage in aggressive action against police officers that took place, regardless of your contextualization outside of that — there is no mistake they committed criminal trespass, they committed destruction of property, they failed to follow lawful commands, the list goes on and on. Donald Trump says “no, these are patriots who deserve to be free.”

If Biden would have pardoned a Black Lives Matter protester because they were part of a crowd that got caught up in some other mischief — meaning they may not have come there to do such a thing, but the people they came with did so, they got caught up in the charge, just like anyone else, and Biden pardoned them — there would be an outrage, an uproar, from many in this country.