Last Friday, we had an item about the long-term political risks of the 1/6 pardons. In that item, we wrote:
There is also one last problem. Some of the really awful people Trump pardoned are not going to go gentle into that good night. They are still hell-raisers who yearn for some form of violent revolution. And whenever they commit their next illegal or morally dubious acts, it will bring the pardon story back to life for a few news cycles. On the day Rhodes got out of prison, he visited the Capitol complex, said many incendiary things, and met with some far-right members of Congress. Tarrio, for his part, has already decreed that he wants "retribution" against those who put him in prison. These two men have every intention of "finishing" what they started.
Yesterday, a grand total of 3 days after we wrote that, reader J.G. in San Diego, CA wrote in to advise us that we were on the mark.
That is not to say that Rhodes and/or Tarrio have made a move. They are cautious and calculating, and not likely to go off half-cocked just a week after getting out of the can. We are certain you will hear from them again, and not in a good way, but not this soon. No, the news yesterday involved a much lower-profile 1/6 insurrectionist, a fellow named Matthew Huttle. He breached the Capitol on that day, spent about 10 minutes inside the building, and was eventually arrested and convicted for his crimes. His sentence was 6 months in prison, followed by 12 months of supervised release. Huttle served all of his prison time, but his supervised release time was scheduled to run through July of this year.
The pardon conferred by Trump brought the supervised release time to a premature end. That turns out to have been... unwise. Armed with a pardon, and very possibly the sense that Trumpers can get away with anything, Huttle quickly acquired a gun. That was doable since, of course, he's no longer a convicted felon. And then, on Sunday, he was pulled over by the Indiana police. Huttle resisted arrest and, reportedly, made a motion that could have been interpreted as going for his gun. So, the police opened fire, and Huttle was killed.
And that's not the only story along these lines. Also in the news is an insurrectionist named Andrew Taake. On 1/6, he assaulted police with bear spray and a metal whip. Not your usual arsenal for this sort of thing, but there it is. Taake was convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon, and was sentenced to 74 months in prison. The pardon conferred by Trump, in this case, shaved roughly 68 months off of that.
So, what's the problem here? Well, the federal government was the first in line to incarcerate Taake, but they weren't alone. Texas' Harris County (where Houston is located) was also after him, because he has been charged with soliciting sex from a minor. Once Taake was pardoned, Harris asked that he be transferred, so as to face the music in Texas. Instead, the Trump administration let the pardonee go, and now he's at large, and considered a fugitive from justice. One can only imagine what crimes he might possibly commit before he is recaptured.
Obviously, neither of these men returned to their insurrectionist ways. Nonetheless, they both are guilty of potential crimes since being released, and they both have skirmishes with the police on their résumés. These are not the poster children for redemption and a second chance. And note that the pardons aren't even a week old. How many other recipients of Trump's beneficence will engage in additional unlawful behavior? We bet the answer is not zero. We also bet that Republicans will not respond the way they did to, say, Willie Horton, or to the fellow who killed Laken Riley (these are very safe bets).
There is a potential messaging opportunity here for Democrats, and the Party clearly senses that. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) has introduced a resolution condemning the 1/6 pardons, and all 47 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus have signed on as co-sponsors. This maneuver is relatively unsubstantive, since it's effectively a glorified press release, and since it's never going to pass the Senate, anyhow. Still, things like this are among the tools the blue team has to keep the pardons in the headlines, and to hold Republicans' feet to the fire. (Z)