Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute's Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, flattened President Donald Trump this week for his mass pardons of violent January 6th protesters who ransacked the United States Capitol four years ago.
Writing at The Unpopulist, Olson outlined the dangerous precedent that has been set by a president pardoning violent criminals who attacked a coequal branch of government on his behalf.
"The thugs who broke cops’ bones, the creeps who used bear spray against the Republic’s defenders, the ones who express no remorse and say they’d do it all again, the ones judges warned about as at risk for reoffending if freed -- they’re all walking free," Olson fumed. "And they’re walking free for one reason only: because they did it for Trump. It’s a sad day for America. It deserves lasting infamy."
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Olson then proceeded to rip Trump for saying that he was freeing the rioters in the name of national reconciliation, when the reality is that their pardon would likely accomplish just the opposite.
"The new president expressed no dismay or regret about political violence perpetrated by his supporters, let alone about their goal: overturning an election he had lost," he wrote. "Rather than acknowledging that his adversaries had any legitimate concerns at all, he used the occasion to attack once again their motives and actions."
Instead, Olson believed that Trump was sending two distinct messages with his pardons.
"One was to his political opponents: you lost, you can’t stop me from doing this, and I’m going to rub your noses in it," he argued. "The other was to the most zealous and violent of his supporters: you did nothing wrong that day, and I am the one who can protect you from consequences, now and in the future."