Why didn’t Trump pardon accomplices?
They thought Donald Trump was asking them to come to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 to save his presidency, to save democracy, because, essentially, that is what he told them.
Lots of people have kept track of what he said and why his supporters thought they were doing exactly what he wanted. They bought into his lies about the election. They, sadly, believed in him.
On Dec. 18, for example, Trump in his now permanently suspended Twitter account said, “@senatemajldr and Republican Senators have to get tougher, or you won’t have a Republican Party anymore. We won the Presidential Election, by a lot. FIGHT FOR IT. Don’t let them take it away.”
On Dec. 12 Trump tweeted, “Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA.”
And also, “WE HAVE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT!!!”
Trump was relentless.
During his speech at the Jan. 6 rally, he said, “Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal.”
The crowd later chanted: “Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!”
And they did.
Or thought they did.
And why wouldn’t they?
According to an audit of Trump’s Twitter account done by Haley Miller at HuffPost, in the two months after the election Trump said the election was rigged 68 times and stolen 35 times.
Hundreds of times he claimed ballot irregularities. He falsely claimed that Democrats rigged or stole the election more than 100 times.
It goes on.
So his supporters gathered together and attacked the U.S. Capitol and, when the coup failed, hundreds of them were arrested.
Before he left office a number of them asked for a pardon.
Jenna Ryan, a Texas real estate agent charged in the storming of the Capitol, told CBS News, “I would like a pardon from the president of the United States. I think that we all deserve a pardon. I’m facing a prison sentence. I think that I do not deserve that.”
Likewise, Adam Newbold, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL, who boasted on Facebook about “breaching the Capitol,” told ABC News, “I would like to express to you just a cry for clemency, as you understand that my life now has been absolutely turned upside-down.” Trump did not come to their rescue. Why?
Because Trump knew that if he did something like that he would be more or less admitting that they weren’t just supporters, but accomplices, which wouldn’t look good at his impeachment trial. So, he’s done what he’s always done with people he found useful once but not anymore.
He threw them under the bus. Reach Montini at ed.montini@ arizonarepublic.com.