January Column Winner

Jan. 6 pardons are an affront to rule of law

By Jeff Mullin, Enid News & Eagle

I used to think the United States was a nation of laws, founded on a rock solid principle that right was right, wrong was wrong and never the twain should meet.

That no longer seems to be the case.

With a sweep of his pernicious presidential pen, Donald Trump earlier this week issued some 1,500 par-dons and commuted 14 sentences for those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The president’s actions send the clear message that what the Capitol rioters did was not wrong. It couldn’t be, in his eyes, since it was in ser-vice of his abortive attempt to over-turn the 2020 presidential election, which he says was stolen from him.

He called them “hostages,” and vowed during his campaign for a second term in the White House that he would free them. However, his vice president, JD Vance, previously stated that those who committed violence on Jan. 6 “obviously” should not receive pardons.

But the news website Axios, quoting a Trump adviser, said the president became frustrated by having to go through Jan. 6 cases individually and said, “Bleep it, release them all,” which is pretty salty language for a guy who has made money selling $60, “God Bless the USA,” bibles.

So they are all free, save for Pamela Hemphill, 71, from Boise, Idaho, who said it would be “an insult to the Capitol Police, to the rule of law and to the nation.” if she accepted the pardon. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for entering the Capitol during the riot. She was sentenced to 60 days in prison and three years of probation. She now calls the “Stop the Steal,” movement, “a cult.”

The rest of the Jan. 6 rioters apparently have no such qualms. In fact, Enrique Tarrio, the former lead-er of the far right group the Proud Boys, expressed a desire for retribution against the people who investigated and prosecuted those involved in the Jan. 6 riot.

In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump called the assaults on police officers tasked with protecting the Capitol on Jan. 6, “very minor incidents.”

Then-Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, interviewed by NPR, said “My fellow officers and I were punched, kicked, shoved and sprayed with chemical irritants by a violent mob.” At one point, Gonell said, “I could feel myself losing oxygen and recall thinking to myself, 'This is how I’m going to die.'"

Gonell suffered injuries to his hands and shoulders, which required surgery to repair and which forced him to retire from the Capitol police. Very minor incidents? The president has a far different idea of what constitutes “very minor,” than I do.

And Gonell was far from alone. He was one of approximately 140 police officers assaulted in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

But that is OK now in America, apparently, as long as you are trying to keep your president in office.

Which flies in the face of the concept of “American exceptionalism,” that many of Mr. Trump’s’ supporters like to tout. Kellyanne Conway, a Fox News contributor and former adviser to Trump in his first term in office, said Trump voters are loyal to the principles of American exceptionalism.

One key aspect of American exceptionalism went out the window Jan. 6, 2021. Prior to that time the transitions between one presidential administration and another were peaceful and orderly. But not that day, when rioters attempted to stop the Senate from certifying the vote of the Electoral College.

On Jan. 6, 2021, America was no better than a third-rate banana republic that stages a coup every time their leader makes people mad enough to take up arms.

Trump claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him. Fine. Go to court, fight your battles legally and ethically, don’t incite a mob to attack the home of the government’s legislative branch.

I don’t care if Trump and his followers had evidence of voter fraud that, if piled up one document on top of another, would reach to the top of the Capitol dome. America is not a country in which we solve our political disputes with violence.

Or, at least, it didn’t used to be.

We watched Jan. 6 in horror. We saw the police being attacked with everything from stun guns and pep-per spray to baseball bats and flag-poles that were used as clubs.

We saw the rioters storm the building, smashing out windows and forcing open doors to gain access to the facility, then roaming the Capitol and inflicting some $1.5 million worth of damage.

The world watched in horror as America sank to a level no one ever expected to see. Our allies and enemies saw mighty America, proud America, left with one of the seats of her power in tatters.

But everything’s apparently OK now. You are free to go, the rioters have been told, go home, go on about your business, nothing you did was wrong.

Nothing you did was wrong. No, pardoning them was wrong, or at least it was when America was a nation of laws.
Are we still? That remains very much in question.