Donald Trump’s version of law and order apparently comes with a loyalty discount. Help turn an election loss into an attack on Congress, wait for your preferred president to return, and discover that the consequences have been sent to the branding department. The flag stays. Accountability is optional.
Key takeaways
- The House January 6 committee identified Trump as the central cause of the attack and documented his effort to overturn the 2020 election.
- Trump won the 2024 election and returned to the presidency on January 20, 2025, after the attack on the transfer of power.
- That day, he commuted 14 January 6 defendants’ sentences, pardoned the other people convicted of related offenses, and directed dismissal of pending cases.
The attack was on our own country.
The Capitol was attacked while Congress was carrying out the constitutional process of counting electoral votes. Police faced a violent mob. Lawmakers and staff had to get to safety. The House committee’s final report documents the attack, the efforts to overturn the election, and more than 140 injured Capitol and Metropolitan Police officers.
This site’s judgment is that Trump incited the January 6 attack. The committee’s executive summary identified him as “the central cause of January 6th.” Its account reaches well beyond one sentence at a rally: the election lies, the pressure campaign, the summoned crowd, and his failure to promptly tell the attackers to leave.
Calling that patriotism requires a fairly adventurous definition of country. Apparently, you can love America so much that the constitutional transfer of power becomes an obstacle to your preferred man’s schedule.
The Constitution interrupted the fan club.
On February 13, 2021, the Senate voted 57 guilty to 43 not guilty in Trump’s second impeachment trial. He was acquitted because the vote fell short of the required two-thirds majority. That is the recorded outcome; the committee’s later findings are a separate congressional investigation.
Our criticism is political and moral: the person who bears responsibility for this attack should have paid an enormous price in public trust. Instead, the Applause Department found another way to demonstrate its flexible relationship with a spine.
The comeback did not erase the footage.
The National Archives records Trump’s 2024 Electoral College victory, 312 votes to Kamala Harris’s 226. He returned to office on January 20, 2025. The country elected him again after January 6. That fact belongs in the story, however uncomfortable it makes the people selling the triumphant comeback.
Winning the next election cannot make the previous attack disappear. Democracy depends on accepting a loss as well as celebrating a victory. Otherwise, an election is just an approval system for whichever result the loudest man prefers.
Then came the presidential eraser.
The January 20, 2025, clemency proclamation commuted the sentences of 14 named defendants to time served. It pardoned all other people convicted of the covered January 6 offenses and directed the attorney general to seek dismissal of pending indictments. The Justice Department’s explanation confirms the clemency action.
AP reported that the sweeping action included people convicted of assaulting police officers. That is a remarkable conclusion to years of posing as the great defender of law enforcement. The officers got the violence. The attackers got the presidential paperwork.
Our cartoon gives Agent Orange an enormous PARDON stamp beside a battered model of the Capitol. The desk’s Law and Order sign has an asterisk. The scene, supporter, and speech bubble are invented satire: “Law and order. Terms apply.”
Today’s SI translation: Selective Impunity.
The man who wants a more flattering name for everything has an especially useful trick here. Change the label on the people who did the damage, wave the flag, and let loyalty do the explaining. The rest of us are supposed to forget what the cameras recorded.
A pardon cannot unbreak a window, uninjure an officer, or turn an attack on Congress into a respectable civic activity. No amount of gold lettering makes that part of the record tremendous.
Questions before the stamp comes down
Did every January 6 defendant receive a pardon?
No. The proclamation commuted 14 named defendants’ sentences to time served, pardoned the other people convicted of covered offenses, and directed dismissal of pending indictments. Those are different actions.
Was Trump convicted in his second impeachment trial?
No. The Senate vote was 57 guilty and 43 not guilty, below the two-thirds majority required to convict. He was acquitted on February 13, 2021.
Why does the article hold Trump responsible for January 6?
It draws on the House committee’s investigation of his efforts to overturn the election and his conduct around the attack. The committee’s findings are attributed; the article’s judgment and cartoon are political commentary.