Given all the discussion about the first days of Trump’s second term, I’m surprised there’s been almost no mention here of the pardons he granted for the “January 6 hostages.”
I’m sure some of these prisoners deserve a break, but I’m upset that Trump did across-the-board pardons for all 1,500+ of them – including those who were convicted of attacking members of law enforcement. I’m not surprised he did it, I just think it was wrong not to consider granting pardons on a case-by-case basis.
Given that we have some TUSCLers who have expressed full support for Trump, I’d be curious to hear from any here who support the pardoning of the Jan 6 prisoners who committed violent crimes.
I’m not here to start a fight and won’t call out any thoughtful poster who thinks differently than I do about this. I’m just interested in knowing the reasons anyone thinks pardoning those convicted of violent crimes was a righteous move on the part of Donald Trump.
I only ask one thing: If you post a well-reasoned defense of Trump on this topic, please do so without referencing the pardons of ANY OTHER PRESIDENT, whether it’s Biden, Obama, Bush, Clinton, etc. They all made pardons that were reprehensible to many people (including me), and I’m not interested in comments based on what-about-ism.
If you think Trump did the right thing, please post your reasons why.
Thanks in advance for keeping things civil (he said with fingers crossed).


What I have read is that there were so many distortions made by the J6 Committee, so much false testimony given by alleged witnesses, and so much deleted and manipulated media that Trump became concerned that there could be oversights or other innocent citizens left to be punished for crimes they did not actually commit. His determination was that it would be better for a few guilty to go free rather than risk dozens of hundreds to be punished for crimes they were innocent of. You compare this to the Biden pardons, all 8,000 of them, and it becomes an insignificant number. Even worse, many of these people were victims of the weaponized justice system and charge-stacking, and were unable to mount a reasonable defense. Look at the pre-emptive pardons that Biden issued to the very people who are guilty of the worst abuses on J6- the committee itself and the liars they brought to testify. How would it be right that they go free while the people THEY attacked be left to suffer? Last, but not least, it was campaign promise. Another one that Trump kept to. It is what a majority of Americans voted for.
Remember the truth - not a single cop died on J6 nor as a result of anything that occurred on J6. npr.org The only death was unarmed woman killed by Michael Byrd, a bad cop with long record of abuses and professional breaches. nypost.com foxnews.com