University of Chicago professor Robert Pape examines the troubling rise of domestic political violence and says Trump’s January 6 pardons could be the most consequential decision of his presidency.

A year ago this month, President Donald Trump granted clemency to nearly 1,600 people responsible for the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. When Robert Pape, a University of Chicago political science professor who studies domestic political violence, heard about the pardons, he says he immediately thought it was “going to be the worst thing that happened in the second Trump presidency.”

The first year of Trump’s second term has been a blizzard of policies and executive actions that have shattered presidential norms, been challenged in court as unlawful, threatened to remake the federal government, and redefined the limits of presidential power. But Pape argues that Trump’s decision to pardon and set free the January 6 insurrectionists, including hundreds who had been found guilty of assaulting police, could be the most consequential decision of his second term.

“There are many ways we could lose our democracy. But the most worrisome way is through political violence,” Pape says. “Because the political violence is what would make the democratic backsliding you’re so used to hearing about irreversible. And then how might that actually happen? You get people willing to fight for Trump."

  • UnspecificGravity@piefed.socialEnglish
    10·
    23 hours ago

    You know, the reason why this was a bad idea is because it means that anyone running for president can just tell their supporters to do the exact same thing and expect a pardon when they win.

    Of course, that would depend on there actually BEING an opposition party that was interested in doing something about this shit.

    Like, imagine if a Democratic candidate said: “Hey, I will pardon anyone convicted of violently opposing ICE if I am elected president.”

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      22 hours ago

      Of course, that would depend on there actually BEING an opposition party that was interested in doing something about this shit.

      If Tim Walz was a Republican Governor, he’d have activated the state national guard and been doing photo ops surrounded by municipal and state troopers at firing ranges, talking about how they’re not going to harm another hair on a Minnesotan’s head. We’d be getting a full-on “Jade Helm” tier response, with every single member of the party leading rallies and giving speeches in their home districts, and Senators from the state grandstanding at the Capital and shutting down business until they got a full investigation.

      As a Democrat, it’s not even clear if he thinks Jonathan Ross committed a crime. He’s waffled. He’s flaked. He’s made “both sides” noises. His DOJ has done virtually nothing. The Minneapolis DA’s office has done nothing. The crime scene wasn’t even fucking secured for a proper investigation. Klobacher’s more interested in backfilling Walz as Governor than doing her job as Senator. I haven’t heard a peep from Tina Smith. If Ilhan Omar wasn’t from Minnesota, I’m not sure anyone in the congressional delegation would have made a sound.

      Nobody thinks the establishment Dems would lift a finger to support a grassroots liberal campaign to kick ICE out of the city. More likely, they’d facilitate further executions and kidnappings if they thought there was a whiff of insufficiently peaceful resistance.