Kurt Webber: Trump's recent Jan. 6 pardons are unconscionable

To The Daily Sun,

The first week of Donald Trump’s second presidency has passed and it has been as bad as I feared. He has filled his cabinet with sycophants who won't object to whatever outrageous things he tries to do. He fired 17 inspectors general who are responsible to monitor federal agencies for misconduct without giving Congress 30 days warning and justification as required by law and then lied by saying this was “a very common thing to do”. Trump showed his pettiness and vindictiveness by stripping Anthony Fauci and John Bolton of their security protection even though there have been death threats made against him. He fired career Department of Justice lawyers who worked on the cases against him. The list goes on and on.

However, the most egregious act so far has been Trump’s pardon of over 1,500 criminals who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Many of them weren’t criminals prior to Trump inciting them to riot with lies about a stolen election. Even if there had been a smidgen of truth to these lies, it still wouldn’t have justified them brutally attacking and injuring the police officers who were doing their duty to protect the Capitol so they are criminals now. How can Trump apologists like Richard Littlefield (who responded to my Jan. 6, 2024, letter decrying the events of Jan. 6, 2021, with unfounded conspiracy theories) or the Republican politicians who lack the backbone to stand up to Trump continue to claim that they are the “party of law and order” who support the police?

It is no surprise that Trump has continued to demonstrate that he has no problem lying and no respect for the Rule of Law. It is, however, disturbing that there are misguided or ill-informed people who accept this and support him.

Kurt Webber

Gilford