Rachel Maddow: Trump’s 1/6 Pardons Are Authoritarian Tactics 101

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Trump’s pardons of the 1/6 insurrectionists, including those who committed acts of violence, were not surprising. Trump has been saying that he is going to pardon these people for years.

However, Rachel Maddow pointed out that the pardons and clemencies are boring for a different reason.

Maddow said:

 In authoritarian Hungary, Viktor Orban’s government pardoned a far right agitator who had set fire to the homes of Orban’s political rivals. In Turkey, Erdogan had pardoned the leader of a far right nationalist paramilitary group that mobilized on his behalf and engaged in street violence. In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe pardoned hundreds of people who carried out election related violence on his behalf.

Pinochet in Chile gave, and Fujimori in Peru. gave blanket amnesties to their security forces. If you’re on my side, the law doesn’t apply to you. Don’t even ask me about the SA in Germany. Don’t get me started.

But this is day one. Unfolding pretty much the way we expected it to, and yes, this is novel in American history, but it is also knowable in world history. Because it’s the same stuff every other would be authoritarian leader does in every country that has had to contend with a leader like that. And As Americans, you know, we’ve had bad inaugurations before, including the one where one of the principals was too drunk to stand.

We’ve had blatant cash in envelopes to the vice president corruption before. We’ve had political violence before. We’ve had civil war. But before, each of those things has been treated as a calamity and a scandal. This time, it’s a platform. This is textbook authoritarian takeover 101 tactics. Which means today and literally over the next few days, they’re going to see what they can get away with and how much they can cow people into not opposing what they’re doing and not speaking out about what’s wrong with it.

More than ever, this is not a time to pretend this isn’t happening. You’re going to want to have a good answer when you get asked what you did for your country when your country started to take a turn this radical. We are here.

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One of the criticisms of Maddow’s shows from her audience is that she has become very dark and depressing to watch.

If these shows are going to be 100 days of Rachel Maddow telling her audience that America is doomed, this will not be the tonic that many people are searching for.

None of what Trump did on day one was unexpected and it is a leap to get Trump pardons 1/6 insurrectionists to Trump forms his own paramilitary force to end democracy.

Needless to say, we aren’t there yet. It is not good that Trump pardoned and commuted these sentences, nor is it the end of democracy.

Trump desperately wants to rewrite the history of 1/6, and that is likely his number one motivation for making the convictions of those who carried out a violent attempted coup allegedly at his direction disappear.

What do you think of the 1/6 pardons? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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