Jan. 6 has come and gone, and unlike four years ago on that day in 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol and delayed the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, the largely procedural process went forward uneventfully on Monday, with no objections from any Democratic members of Congress.
That’s because the election was certified for President-elect Donald Trump. The same man and former president who fomented and encouraged the mob to “fight like hell” and attack the Capitol will, four years later, be sworn back into office on Jan. 20 after winning the 2024 election.
Once in office, Trump has promised to pardon most of the 1,500 people criminally charged for breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. This could include, as reported this week by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, one man from Ringgold and two men from Cleveland, Tennessee, one of whom, Joseph Lino “Jose” Padilla, was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for hurling a flagpole at a police officer’s head.
Much has and will be written about any pardons Trump may grant to these insurrectionists. But it should be no surprise if the soon-to-be president chooses to do this.
Trump, a man who has clearly shown he looks at the rule of law with contempt, would, of course, seek to relieve any punishment among his supporters for the violent attempt to overthrow the results of an election he lost.