The implications of pardoning the January 6th insurrectionists

Four years ago today, American democracy was at a crossroads

We now know what path the country took: Political violence with possible impunity.

President Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, will undoubtedly resurface as America awaits the outcome of Trump’s promise to pardon those convicted in connection with the violence that took place exactly four years ago at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Trump has promised that he will be “acting very quickly” to save these folks from a “very nasty system.”

What Trump has pledged is a far cry from the Hunter Biden pardon—or any other pardon in American history.

---

This newsletter is my contribution to civic education. If you share this commitment, please share it widely—and consider upgrading to paid. Thank you!

---

As I explained to Jonathan Freedland on the Weekly America Podcast from The Guardian, Biden’s pardon of his son was likely made in response to Trump’s apparent plan to weaponize the Department of Justice for use as retribution and political revenge.

This is not something we have seen in American history. In my view, it is this terrifying prospect that’s novel, disturbing and unprecedented in this moment—not Biden’s pardon of his son. The entire country will feel the effects.