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One thing Donald Trump can never be accused of: getting off to a slow start. After the most divisive inaugural address in history – delivered on the “scene of the crime” – he hurried to sign 26 executive orders, 12 memos and four proclamations which, among other abuses of power, revoked 78 of former President Biden’s executive actions and, most shockingly, issued “full, complete, and unconditional pardons” to some 1,500 MAGA supporters who, at his urging, had rampaged through that same Capitol Rotunda four years ago.

Of course, Trump had made his promise to pardon the Jan. 6 criminals, whom he called “patriots,” a central plank of his campaign. Yet nobody (but Trump) expected it to be so wholesale. Just eight days before the inauguration, vice president-elect J.D. Vance told Fox News that nobody who assaulted police officers would get clemency. “If you committed violence that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” he said. In her confirmation hearing, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi assured senators she’d consider Jan. 6 pardons on a “case by case” basis, vowing no tolerance for anyone guilty of “violence on any law enforcement officer.”

But Trump made no such distinction. “F–k it, release ‘em all,” he ordered, as one adviser reported to Axios. And, on Jan. 20, in one of the most shameful moments ever seen in American politics, cowardly Republican Senators lustily applauded Trump as he announced pardons for the armed thugs who sent them running for their lives just four years ago. There’s not one backbone in the whole bunch.

Now, here’s the problem. It’s the same problem reporters had a hard time dealing with in 2017. We call it the “fire-hose” problem. Trump tells so many lies and does so many crazy things at the same time, it’s impossible to track them all and report on them in depth. No matter how outrageous his Jan. 6 pardons, for example, they were quickly buried by news, the next day, that he was sending American troops to the southern border.

But, this time around, the media needs to slow down and give each outrage the attention it deserves – starting with the wholesale Jan. 6 pardons. Just saying “Trump pardoned 1,500 people” doesn’t do the job. To tell the whole story, you have to look into who they are and what they were charged with. Here are just four examples.

David Dempsey. California. According to prosecutors, he assaulted police officers by “swinging pole-like weapons more than 20 times, spraying chemical agents at least three times, hurling objects at officers at least 10 times, stomping on the heads of police officers as he perched above them five times, attempting to steal a riot shield and baton, and incessantly hurling threats and insults at police while rallying other rioters to join his onslaught.” Sentenced to prison for 20 years.

Shane Jenkins. Texas. Charged with using a metal tomahawk to shatter a Capitol window and, once inside, hurling “nine different objects at police, including a solid wooden desk drawer, a flagpole, a metal walking stick and a broken wooden pole with a spear-like point, which he launched like a javelin.” Sentenced to seven years.

Julian Khater. Pennsylvania. Pleaded guilty to assaulting police with a deadly weapon and aiming pepper spray at several officers, including Brian Sicknick, who suffered a stroke and died the next day. Sentenced to 80 months.

Thomas Webster. Retired New York police officer. Convicted of assaulting a DC police officer with a metal flagpole, then throwing him to the ground and attempting to rip off his gas mask as other rioters kicked the downed officer. Sentenced to 10 years in prison.

More than 150 police officers were injured on Jan. 6. Six died shortly thereafter. But, thanks to Donald Trump, nobody will ever be held accountable. Today all four of the above, along with 596 others charged with “assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement” – 200 of whom were additionally charged with using a “deadly or dangerous weapon” against police officers – are free. Why? Because Donald Trump believes that he and his supporters are above the law.

The message Trump’s J6 pardons send could not be more clear. The Republican Party’s creed is now: Political violence, as long as it’s done by our side, is good. It’s even OK to assault police officers. In the future, don’t hesitate to destroy, burn, attack, or kill – because we’ve got your back.

That’s Donald Trump’s America. But that’s not the America I believe in. I don’t think most Americans believe in it, either.

(Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of 10 books, including: “From the Left: My Life in the Crossfire.” His email address is: bill@billpress.com. Readers may also follow him on Twitter @billpresspod and on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.)

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