Donald Trump kicked off his second presidency with a frenzy of pardons and grants of clemency, not only freeing some of his most violent supporters but also signaling that future right-wing violence will be protected.
Everyone expected that Trump would pardon rioters who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. After all, he’d spent the campaign saying he would. And yet the mass pardon of about 1,500 insurrectionists apparently surprised his own aides. Seeing the supposed law-and-order president rewarding violence against law enforcement really brought home the point that the only thing that matters to Trump is fealty to Trump. Violence committed in service of that fealty, we know now, is A-okay with Trump. Crushing a cop in a door? Totally fine. Tasing a police officer who later had a heart attack? Also cool.
Jacob Chansley, right with fur hat
Trump’s protection of right-wing violence is clear—just ask the “QAnon Shaman,” Jacob Chansley. Chansley was released from prison in May 2023 after serving 27 months, but he still had a criminal conviction on his record. Upon receiving the pardon, Chansley gloated on X, “I GOT A PARDON BABY! THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!!! NOW I AM GONNA BUY SOME MOTHA FU*KIN GUNS!!!”
Trump’s pardon of insurrectionists who attacked police officers raised the hackles of police departments and unions, many of which issued a flurry of statements condemning the move. So Trump quickly threw police a bone by pardoning two Washington, D.C., police officers convicted in the death—and cover-up of the death—of a 20-year-old motorist.
Trump said officers Andrew Zabavsky and Terence Sutton were in prison because “they went after an illegal” who was “a rough criminal, by the way.”
In reality, the officers pursued 20-year-old Karon Hylton-Brown, an American citizen, for the extreme crime of … riding a moped without a helmet. Prosecutors said the officers chased him at “unreasonable speeds,” with Sutton forcing Hylton-Brown into an alley and then accelerating toward him. When Hylton-Brown exited the alley, another vehicle struck and killed him. Then the officers agreed to cover it up, turned off their body-worn cameras, and destroyed evidence.
This was certainly a move to re-ingratiate Trump with fans in law enforcement. Indeed, the Washington, D.C., police union had been begging Trump to pardon the two officers.
But in the end, these pardons serve the same purpose as the pardons of the rioters who attacked law enforcement: to send the message that violence is forgivable, even welcomed, as long as it is violence Trump likes, directed against people he hates.
People participate in the March for Life, an annual anti-abortion rally, on Jan. 24, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Trump’s grant of clemency to 23 anti-abortion activists could be seen as just a “thank you” to staunch supporters, but it’s more than that. Several of those pardons were for people who had violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, the FACE Act, by blockading clinics and preventing people from receiving medical services.
Trump characterized them all as “peaceful protesters,” a weird way to describe the actions of Bevelyn Williams, who crushed a clinic staff member’s hand in a door while trying to block access to a clinic in New York. It’s clear that the anti-abortion activists saw this as their due, with one anonymous person even complaining to Politico that Trump pardoned the Jan. 6 rioters on Day 1 but waited a few more days to pardon the anti-abortion extremists.
At root, all of these pardons send the same type of message: Right-wing violence is perfectly acceptable, and there will be no consequences.
Make no mistake. Trump’s plans for the country require the active participation of people like this, and he’s well aware of it. It’s why he told the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by. It’s why he called the neo-Nazis at Charlottesville “very fine people.” It’s why he has repeatedly encouraged and praised violence at his rallies. He needs people who are easily goaded into committing future violence on his behalf—and now he’s pardoned those most eager to do so.
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