"the pardoning by Trump of his cop-beating foot soldiers represents the lowest moment of this presidency so far, because it was an act not only of naked despotism but also of outlandish hypocrisy. By pardoning these criminals, he exposed a foundational lie of MAGA ideology: that it stands with the police and as a guarantor of law and order. The truth is the opposite."
"the early-morning hours of January 5, 2021, when Thomas Webster, then 54, drove south on I-95 toward Washington, D.C. Webster had been conflicted about whether to attend the "Save America" rally, "but Donald Trump had used the word patriot. Webster had joined the military at 19, taken his first plane ride to boot camp in South Carolina, gotten his first taste of lobster tail on a ship in the Mediterranean."
Thomas Webster, a former Marine and retired NYPD officer, traveled to Washington and became part of the January 6 mob that assaulted police. Officer Daniel Hodges was among those beaten and injured. Presidential pardons of insurrectionists are characterized as acts of hypocrisy that betray claims of supporting law and order. The pardons reveal a disconnect between MAGA rhetoric and actions and illustrate moral indecency at the presidential level. Webster's military background, conflicted patriotism, and the personal and institutional consequences of January 6 violence are highlighted alongside the physical and symbolic injuries to policing and democracy.
Read at The Atlantic
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