This is an adapted excerpt from the January 6 episode of “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
In 2018, Nancy Pelosi, then House Minority Leader, attended an event for Democratic Congressional candidate Donna Shalala in Coral Gables, Florida. In response, the local Republican Party in Miami-Dade County called for a protest against that event.
During that protest, members of the Proud Boys argued and shouted expletives at Pelosi as she walked inside. This included Enrique Tarrio, the national head of the Proud Boys. Tarrio lived in South Florida at the time. He now lives in federal prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 22 years for attempting to overthrow the U.S. government. On Monday, Tarrio’s lawyer wrote a letter to Donald Trump in which he formally asked the newly elected president to pardon his client.
Another participant in that 2018 protest was Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, who is seen on video banging on the door of Shalala’s campaign office. Trump just named Cabrera as his pick to be the next U.S. ambassador to Panama.
Cabrera defended his behavior, saying he was merely exercising his right to protest, but it is worth remembering that Republicans at the time were actually embarrassed by the display. The head of Miami-Dade’s Republican Party later apologized for his attendance. Other Republicans, including Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, condemned the event.
More than six years later, Rubio is about to be nominated as Trump’s secretary of state, and the man who banged on the door in an attempt to scare Pelosi will report to him as U.S. ambassador.
The reason that is repellent, the reason that is abhorrent, is because we are supposed to have a sharp line that maintains violent intimidation on one side and politics on the other – the twain will never meet.
The certification of the 2024 presidential election took place in Washington on Monday. It happened, ministerially and ceremonially, as it should be. That contrasts with what happened four years ago on January 6 and makes clear the profound difference between the parties.
Had the Democrats won the presidential election, many openly anticipated the possibility that Republicans would launch a violent insurrection. But if Republicans had won, Democrats were expected to peacefully accept and participate in the transfer of power. If violence is expected if one party loses in an election battle, the political parties in that country are no longer competing with each other in a democratic manner.
That’s part of what we’re struggling with right now: how can we ever compete democratically again? How do we ensure that Republicans no longer see physical violence and armed conflict as the way to get their way?
Well, a big step backwards as a goal will be Trump’s promised pardon for the people who committed violence in his name that day. The argument now seems to be not about whether Trump will pardon people who participated in the attack on the Capitol, but about how many of them will be pardoned.
That’s led publications as diverse as HuffPost’s editorial page and The Wall Street Journal to try this front page the details of the actual crimes for which some of these people were convicted.
“Andrew Taake sprayed police officers defending the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and struck one with a metal whip. He is serving 74 months in a federal prison in Beaumont, Texas,” HuffPost reported.
“Christopher Alberts carried a loaded 9mm handgun onto the Capitol grounds that day and struck police officers with a wooden pallet,” the report continued. “He is serving an 84-month sentence in federal prison in Milan, Michigan.”
Another example from HuffPost: “Steven Cappuccio held his cell phone in his mouth so he could hit an officer with both hands, including with the officer’s baton. He is serving 85 months in federal prison in Forrest City, Arkansas.”
As the outlet noted, all three of these men will return to the streets if Trump makes good on his promise to pardon the January 6 insurrectionists.
According to their analysis: “Of those who have spent a year or more in prison, as many as 57% are there after a conviction in cases involving an assault on a police officer. In total, 83% of people who served a year or more in prison were convicted of committing a violent crime.”
This means that, with few exceptions, the only people Trump could release from prison with his pardon power are those who assaulted a police officer, possessed weapons or explosives, or were convicted of another violent crime.
Then there’s the very conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, which published a piece headlined: “Trump’s pardon promise for Jan. 6 rioters: Does this include ex-meth dealer who brought a metal bat and waved it at police ?”
After describing some of the actions of these rioters in brutal detail, the editors go on to write: “Forgiving such crimes would contradict Mr. Trump’s support for law and order, and it would send a terrible message about his views on the acceptability of political violence committed on his behalf.”
Now I dispute the Journal’s characterization that Trump has always supported law and order; he has repeatedly praised violence in his name. But that last line is true: it would send a terrible message.
On January 6, we saw the profound difference between the Democratic Party, which offers democratic competition, win or lose, and the threat of violence from the Republican Party.
Yes, there is a nerve-wracking, disturbing struggle to remember what really happened — to be honest about how disgusting it all was — as the Trump movement and Republicans try to say the attack was a bunch of heroes wrongly have been prosecuted for doing nothing. wrong.
But there is also an instrumental and practical question. That is, what happens to the future of political violence – in the very short term – if the people who committed violence on behalf of the president-elect are released from prison and celebrated as vindicated heroes when Trump returns to power comes?
The idea that there is a permeability between violence and politics, that what is supposed to be sacred ground, is clouded by the rioting and looting we saw taking place in Trump’s name on January 6, 2021.
That would repulse and disgust us – indelibly. We should never get used to that. But the Trump side does. And so now, four years later, with just two weeks until Trump is back in power, we must be prepared for what might happen next.
Allison Detzel contributed.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
