AMERICA IS A FASCIST STATE
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Opposed to anarchism, democracy, pluralism, egalitarianism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxismfascism is at the far right wing of the traditional left–right spectrum.
AMERICA IS A ROGUE STATE
A nation or state regarded as breaking international law and posing a threat to the security of other nations.
https://www.populismstudies.org/trump-2025-dystopia-and-fascism-the-rise-of-authoritarianism-in-the-new-government/
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Opposed to anarchism, democracy, pluralism, egalitarianism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxismfascism is at the far right wing of the traditional left–right spectrum.
AMERICA IS A ROGUE STATE
A nation or state regarded as breaking international law and posing a threat to the security of other nations.
https://www.populismstudies.org/trump-2025-dystopia-and-fascism-the-rise-of-authoritarianism-in-the-new-government/
Trump 2025: Dystopia and Fascism – The Rise of Authoritarianism in the New Government?
Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a campaign rally at Suburban Collection Showplace on October 26, 2024 in Novi, Michigan. Photo: Anna Moneymaker.
Donald Trump’s first campaign and election were not merely a triumph for populism but a “game-changer,” bringing it to the forefront not just as an ideology but as a method of governance. Trump’s rise reshaped Western democracies, fostering a culture where political norms were no longer stable foundations but tools to be discarded when inconvenient. This commentary seeks to analyze Trump’s prospective second administration and its potential to deepen existing fractures in governance. By examining the cabinet figures, controversies, and projected policies, this analysis will explore their implications for the balance of powers, climate policy, immigration, justice, and international relations.
by João Ferreira Dias
November 20, 2024
European Center for Populism Studies
The return of Donald Trump to the White House in 2025 raises profound concerns about the future of democracy in the United States. With a cabinet composed of figures associated with populism, climate denial, extreme nativism, and allegations of serious criminal conduct, the emerging government signals a shift towards authoritarianism.
Authors like Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt (2019) and Yascha Mounk (2018) have noted the far-reaching impact of Trump on contemporary politics. His first campaign and election were not merely a triumph for populism but a "game-changer," bringing it to the forefront not just as an ideology but as a method of governance. Trump’s rise reshaped Western democracies, fostering a culture where political norms were no longer stable foundations but tools to be discarded when inconvenient.
This commentary seeks to analyze Trump’s prospective second administration and its potential to deepen existing fractures in governance. By examining the cabinet figures, controversies, and projected policies, this analysis will explore their implications for the balance of powers, climate policy, immigration, justice, and international relations.
Populism, Resentment, and the White Working Class
The literature on populism emphasizes the "us vs. them" dichotomy as central to the ideology and practice of populist movements. This narrative is not merely rhetorical but structural, enabling populist leaders to redefine democratic politics around exclusionary lines. As Mondon and Winter (2020) observe, male anxiety—rooted in fears of economic insecurity and immigration—was pivotal in mobilizing support for both Brexit and Trump’s 2016 election. This anxiety, framed as a defense of cultural and economic stability, has become a powerful driver of populist coalitions.
Yascha Mounk (2018) identifies the declining economic security of the white working class as a critical backdrop to this shift. This demographic, comprising rural laborers and displaced urban workers, has been profoundly affected by globalization and industrial outsourcing, which have hollowed out the economic foundations of entire communities. These "losers of globalization," marginalized by liberal economic policies, have turned to populist leaders who promise to restore not just jobs but dignity and identity. Begum, Mondon, and Winter (2021) argue that this group has become the symbolic "people" populist radical-right movements claim to represent. This realignment echoes historical fascist strategies, where economic grievances were redirected into nationalist and exclusionary frameworks, undermining class solidarity in favor of cultural antagonism.
Trump’s "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) slogan was the masterstroke that consolidated these sentiments, offering a promise of cultural revival that transcended purely economic appeals. Fukuyama (2018) notes that this shift reflects a reconfiguration of the political spectrum, as economic discontent has increasingly been reframed as a cultural battle. The rise of "culture wars" (Hunter, 1991; Hartman, 2019) has enabled populist leaders like Trump to weaponize moral and cultural grievances, portraying the left as a threat to traditional values and national identity. Concepts such as "woke culture" (McWhorter, 2021) and "cultural Marxism" (Jamin, 2014) are invoked to delegitimize progressive movements, presenting them as enemies of the "common man."
The "cultural backlash" phenomenon, as described by Norris and Inglehart (2019), plays a crucial role here. By amplifying fears of moral alienation and cultural displacement, Trump crafted a coalition that opposed not only the policies of the left but the foundational principles of liberal democracy itself. This backlash was not an aberration but a calculated strategy to consolidate power, mobilizing resentment to erode the very norms that sustain democratic institutions.
The literature on populism emphasizes the "us vs. them" dichotomy as central to the ideology and practice of populist movements. This narrative is not merely rhetorical but structural, enabling populist leaders to redefine democratic politics around exclusionary lines. As Mondon and Winter (2020) observe, male anxiety—rooted in fears of economic insecurity and immigration—was pivotal in mobilizing support for both Brexit and Trump’s 2016 election. This anxiety, framed as a defense of cultural and economic stability, has become a powerful driver of populist coalitions.
Yascha Mounk (2018) identifies the declining economic security of the white working class as a critical backdrop to this shift. This demographic, comprising rural laborers and displaced urban workers, has been profoundly affected by globalization and industrial outsourcing, which have hollowed out the economic foundations of entire communities. These "losers of globalization," marginalized by liberal economic policies, have turned to populist leaders who promise to restore not just jobs but dignity and identity. Begum, Mondon, and Winter (2021) argue that this group has become the symbolic "people" populist radical-right movements claim to represent. This realignment echoes historical fascist strategies, where economic grievances were redirected into nationalist and exclusionary frameworks, undermining class solidarity in favor of cultural antagonism.
Trump’s "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) slogan was the masterstroke that consolidated these sentiments, offering a promise of cultural revival that transcended purely economic appeals. Fukuyama (2018) notes that this shift reflects a reconfiguration of the political spectrum, as economic discontent has increasingly been reframed as a cultural battle. The rise of "culture wars" (Hunter, 1991; Hartman, 2019) has enabled populist leaders like Trump to weaponize moral and cultural grievances, portraying the left as a threat to traditional values and national identity. Concepts such as "woke culture" (McWhorter, 2021) and "cultural Marxism" (Jamin, 2014) are invoked to delegitimize progressive movements, presenting them as enemies of the "common man."
The "cultural backlash" phenomenon, as described by Norris and Inglehart (2019), plays a crucial role here. By amplifying fears of moral alienation and cultural displacement, Trump crafted a coalition that opposed not only the policies of the left but the foundational principles of liberal democracy itself. This backlash was not an aberration but a calculated strategy to consolidate power, mobilizing resentment to erode the very norms that sustain democratic institutions.
The Collapse of Democratic Norms and the Dismantling of Checks and Balances
Levitsky and Ziblatt’s (2019) framework on democratic backsliding highlights how democracies often erode through gradual institutional decay rather than abrupt authoritarian takeovers. Trump’s presidency exemplified this process, as his persistent attacks on the judiciary, the media, and electoral integrity undermined the legitimacy of these institutions.
Trump’s rhetoric, especially his false claims of election fraud, was not merely an expression of personal grievance but a deliberate strategy to delegitimize the rule of law. These narratives culminated in the January 6th Capitol riot, an unprecedented attack on democratic governance in the modern United States. By encouraging insurrectionist behavior, Trump signaled his willingness to destabilize institutions rather than accept their role as checks on executive power.
Policies such as mass deportations further illustrate this erosion of norms, creating an environment of fear and division that undermines trust in governance. At the same time, Trump’s environmental agenda—typified by proposals to expand oil drilling in Alaska—exemplifies his administration’s disdain for scientific expertise. As Mondon and Winter argue, this confluence of environmental degradation and exclusionary nationalism, or "bio-cultural nativism," reflects a broader authoritarian project that sidelines expertise in favor of ideological loyalty.
Nativism, Class, and the Fragmentation of Liberal Democracy
Mondon and Winter (2020) highlight the centrality of nativism in Trump’s political strategy. For the white working class, nativist rhetoric offers both cultural validation and a channel for economic grievances, reinforcing the "us vs. them" framework. Trump’s appeal lies in his ability to present himself as the protector of "real Americans" against perceived threats from immigrants, elites, and progressive activists.
Mounk (2018) warns that the separation of democracy from liberalism creates fertile ground for authoritarianism. While democracy centers on majority rule, liberalism safeguards minority rights and institutional checks on power. Under Trump, this decoupling fosters a dangerous "tyranny of the majority," in which populist policies—such as border walls and mass deportations—erode the pluralism that underpins liberal democracy.
This fragmentation of liberal democracy has broader implications, as populist leaders exploit cultural and economic insecurities to dismantle the institutional norms that sustain democratic governance. The result is a political landscape where nativism and exclusionary policies are not fringe elements but central features of mainstream governance.
Trump’s Cabinet: A Microcosm of Authoritarian Drift
Trump’s prospective 2025 cabinet crystallizes his administration’s authoritarian tendencies. Jason Stanley (2018) identifies the vilification of out-groups and the consolidation of power among loyalists as hallmarks of authoritarian regimes. Trump’s cabinet appointments reflect this dynamic, blending ideological extremism with personal loyalty at the expense of institutional norms and expertise.
J.D. Vance emerges as a key figure in this trajectory. As an intellectual voice for the radical right, Vance bridges populist grievance with the cultural warfare central to Trump’s appeal. His rhetoric, centered on the "decline of traditional values," positions him as an architect of the culture wars that sustain Trump’s coalition. Vance’s influence extends beyond policy, shaping a narrative that frames the MAGA movement as the defender of American identity against the perceived excesses of progressivism.
Elon Musk, another prominent figure in Trump’s circle, wields outsized influence as both a deregulation advocate and a media magnate. Through his dominance of platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Musk amplifies misinformation, weakening public trust in institutions and expertise. His inclusion in the cabinet signals a shift toward governance driven by individual power rather than institutional accountability, further undermining democratic norms.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vocal climate change skeptic, exemplifies the administration’s disregard for scientific consensus. Kennedy’s presence underscores Trump’s strategy of sidelining expertise in favor of ideological alignment, with significant implications for environmental policy and institutional credibility.
Finally, figures like Matt Gaetz, despite their legal controversies, illustrate Trump’s prioritization of loyalty over ethical standards. This normalization of controversial and compromised figures signals a broader erosion of accountability, mirroring the dynamics of historical authoritarian regimes.
Conclusion: The Authoritarian Future of Liberal Democracy
Trump’s cabinet is not just a collection of individuals; it is a reflection of his administration’s authoritarian vision. By prioritizing ideological conformity, cultural grievance, and personal loyalty, Trump’s appointments deepen the erosion of democratic norms and institutional credibility. The profiles of figures like Vance, Musk, and Kennedy illuminate how populism and nativism are reshaping the American political landscape, with long-term consequences for the principles of liberal democracy.
Resisting this drift requires more than institutional safeguards; it demands a societal recommitment to pluralism, expertise, and the rule of law. Without such efforts, the United States risks cementing a political model where authoritarianism thrives under the guise of democratic legitimacy.
References:
Begum, N., Mondon, A., & Winter, A. (2021). “Between the ‘left behind’ and ‘the people‘: Racism, populism and the construction of the ‘white working class’ in the context of Brexit.” In: Routledge handbook of critical studies in whiteness(pp. 220-231). Routledge.
Cammaerts, B. (2022). “The abnormalisation of social justice: The ‘anti-woke culture war‘ discourse in the UK.” Discourse & Society, 33(6), 730-743.
Duffy, B., Gottfried, G., May, G., Hewlett, K., & Skinner, G. (2023). Woke vs anti-woke? Culture war divisions and politics. https://doi.org/10.18742/pub01-163.
Hartman, A. (2019). A war for the soul of America: A history of the culture wars. University of Chicago Press.
Hunter, J. D. (1991). Culture wars: The struggle to define America. Basic Books.
Hunter, J. D. (1993). Before the shooting begins: Searching for democracy in America’s culture war. Free Press.
Jamin, J. (2014). Cultural Marxism and the radical right. In The post-war Anglo-American far right: A special relationship of hate (pp. 84-103).
Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2019). How democracies die. Crown.
McWhorter, J. (2021). Woke racism: How a new religion has betrayed Black America. Penguin.
Mirrlees, T. (2018). “The Alt-right‘s discourse on "Cultural Marxism": A political instrument of intersectional hate.” Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice, 39(1), 49-69.
Mondon, A., & Winter, A. (2020). “Whiteness, populism and the racialisation of the working class in the United Kingdom and the United States.” In: Whiteness and Nationalism (pp. 10-28). Routledge.
Mounk, Y. (2018). The people vs. democracy: Why our freedom is in danger and how to save it. Harvard University Press.
Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2019). Cultural backlash: Trump, Brexit, and authoritarian populism. Cambridge University Press.
Paternotte, D., & Verloo, M. (2021). “De-democratization and the politics of knowledge: Unpacking the cultural Marxism narrative.” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 28(3), 556-578.
Stanley, J. (2018). How fascism works: The politics of us and them. Random House.
Related Terms:
Term: Authoritarianism
Term: Immigration
Term: Liberal Democracy
Term: Culture War
Term: Populism
Term: Nativism
Term: Media
Term: The People
Term: Alt-Right
AMERICA IS A FASCIST STATE
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Opposed to anarchism, democracy, pluralism, egalitarianism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxismfascism is at the far right wing of the traditional left–right spectrum.
AMERICA IS A ROGUE STATE
A nation or state regarded as breaking international law and posing a threat to the security of other nations.
DEFEAT FASCISM BEFORE FASCISM DEFEATS YOU
For Trump, a Vindication for the Man and His Movement
Donald John Trump took the oath of office again during a ceremony in the Capitol, promising a new “golden age of America” four years after he was evicted by voters.
PHOTO: President Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday. Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
by Peter Baker
January 21, 2025
New York Times
Donald John Trump took the oath of office again during a ceremony in the Capitol, promising a new “golden age of America” four years after he was evicted by voters.
PHOTO: President Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday. Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
by Peter Baker
January 21, 2025
New York Times
[Peter Baker is covering his seventh presidential inauguration. He reported from Washington.]
Leer en español
Donald John Trump completed an extraordinary return to power on Monday as he was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States and opened an immediate blitz of actions to begin drastically changing the course of the country and usher in a new “golden age of America.”
In a triumph of the man and his movement, Mr. Trump took the oath of office during a ceremony in the Capitol four years after he was evicted by voters, reinvigorated for another term aimed at remaking America in his vision. He wasted no time outlining an ambitious program of often divisive policies to “reclaim our Republic” and purge its enemies and his own.
“My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and, indeed, their freedom,” Mr. Trump said during a 29-minute Inaugural Address as former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and former Vice President Kamala Harris looked on. “From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”
Feeling vindicated by voters after impeachments, indictments and conviction on 34 felony counts, Mr. Trump claimed a personal mandate as well as a political one. “Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback,” he said. “But as you see today, here I am. The American people have spoken.”
PHOTO: Mr. Trump’s supporters celebrated his swearing-in at a restaurant in downtown Washington. Credit: Todd Heisler/The New York Times
Indeed, he saw divine intervention in his restoration to the White House, citing his close call during an assassination attempt this summer when a bullet nicked his ear. “I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason,” he said. “I was saved by God to make America great again.”
Mr. Trump was inaugurated in the same building where a mob of his supporters rampaged four years ago in a failed effort to reverse the results of an election that he lost, culminating one of the most astonishing comebacks in U.S. history. In a stark sign of the changing power dynamics in America, Mr. Trump in the evening pardoned nearly all 1,600 rioters for their roles in the attack and commuted the sentences of another 14.
Mr. Biden, wary of Mr. Trump’s threats of “retribution” against perceived enemies, used his final hours in power to use the pardon power himself to thwart possible political prosecutions by his successor. Mr. Biden pardoned five members of his family, including his two brothers, as well as other figures who had been targeted by Mr. Trump, like former Representative Liz Cheney, the retired Gen. Mark A. Milley and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci.
But Mr. Biden, who for years has warned that Mr. Trump posed a threat to democracy, nonetheless observed the rituals of the day, unlike his predecessor who four years ago refused to concede or attend the inauguration. Mr. Biden, by contrast, graciously hosted Mr. Trump for coffee at the White House before the ceremony.
“Welcome home,” Mr. Biden told Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, when they arrived at the executive mansion.
PHOTO: President Biden and Jill Biden welcomed Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, at the White House on Monday morning. Credit: Pete Marovich for The New York Times
Mr. Trump moved quickly beyond Inauguration Day ceremonies to put his stamp back on the government as he signed the first of as many as 100 orders and actions. He declared a national emergency at the southern border and said he would send the military to guard it. He said he would end government programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. He said he would rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and promised to seize the Panama Canal. “We’re taking it back,” he said.
He signed orders in the early evening rescinding 78 of Mr. Biden’s executive actions, blocking new regulations, freezing federal hiring, pulling the United States out of the Paris climate accord again and directing agencies to end “government censorship” and the “weaponization” of the Justice Department.
He signed a directive denying citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States, in defiance of the longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment, a move that drew an instant lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Much as he did eight years ago, when he denounced “American carnage” in his first Inaugural Address, Mr. Trump painted a grim portrait of a country on its knees that only he could revive. But even more than in 2017, he largely dispensed with lofty themes and the broad unifying strokes favored by most presidents after taking the oath and instead detailed specific policies he would enact.
Mr. Trump spoke of “national unity” but made no nod toward Democrats in the speech and offered no thanks to Mr. Biden, as other presidents have done for their predecessors. Indeed, the nation’s 60th inauguration quickly took on the feel of a State of the Union address as Republicans jumped to their feet to applaud particular plans announced by the new president while Democrats sat mute and apparently uncomfortable.
Sitting a few feet away, Mr. Biden stared downward during some of the speech, while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at one point even laughed at what she seemed to think was the absurdity of the Gulf of Mexico line. Elon Musk, the new president’s billionaire patron and owner of SpaceX, pumped his fists in the air when Mr. Trump said he hoped to send “American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.”
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. administered the 35-word oath of office to Mr. Trump at 12:01 p.m., a minute after the constitutionally prescribed time, during a ceremony that the president-elect’s team moved indoors citing the cold weather. James David Vance was sworn in a minute before as the nation’s 50th vice president by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Mr. Trump, 78, became the oldest person inaugurated as president, eclipsing Mr. Biden, who was five months younger when he took the oath four years ago. Mr. Vance, 40, by contrast, became the third-youngest vice president in history.
Mr. Trump also became only the second president since the founding of the Republic to reclaim the White House after being defeated for re-election, joining President Grover Cleveland, who served nonconsecutive terms in the 19th century.
Mr. Trump’s restoration came on a sunny but frigid day as temperatures dipped to 26 degrees (and felt like 19 degrees) in a city virtually locked down by security forces. Much of downtown was blocked off by scale-proof fencing, concrete barriers, military vehicles and dump trucks, while the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue was canceled and held at Capital One Arena instead.
Eight years after his first inauguration, Mr. Trump looked a little older but, if possible, even more sure of himself as he takes power with more political wind at his back thanks to a narrow popular vote victory that eluded him last time and a better understanding of how to manipulate the levers of government.
Wearing a dark suit, white shirt, purple tie and U.S. flag pin, Mr. Trump was joined by Melania Trump in a wide-brimmed, black-and-white hat, as well as his five grown children. As he took the oath, Mrs. Trump held two Bibles, one given to him decades ago by his mother and the other used by Abraham Lincoln in 1861, but her husband did not put his hand on them as is traditional.
After Mr. Trump complained, flags at the Capitol and, once power was transferred, at the White House were raised to full staff despite the 30-day mourning period for former President Jimmy Carter. He later signed a proclamation making it mandatory to raise flags on Inauguration Day even if a president had recently died.
The day started with the traditional service at St. John’s Church followed by the coffee at the White House, whereupon Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden rode together in the armored presidential limousine to the Capitol. Asked his message for the day, Mr. Biden said simply, “Joy.” But other Democrats, including the outgoing first lady, Jill Biden, looked less than joyful.
While all three other living presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — showed up for the inauguration as is customary, even though none of them supported Mr. Trump, Michelle Obama refused to attend and none of the other presidents stuck around for the crab-cakes-and-rib-eye-steak congressional luncheon that followed the ceremony.
Likewise in attendance was former Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to endorse Mr. Trump last year because of his effort to overturn the 2020 election and became the first vice president not to serve in a president’s subsequent term since 1944. But his wife, Karen Pence, who refused to shake Mr. Trump’s hand at Mr. Carter’s funeral, stayed away.
The Rev. Franklin Graham and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan delivered invocations, Carrie Underwood sang “America the Beautiful,” and several other clergy members from different faiths offered benedictions. Mr. Trump planned to attend three inaugural balls in the evening.
The new power map in Washington was on display during the ceremony and the lunch. Mixed in with the former presidents, family members, prospective cabinet members and congressional leaders were check-writing billionaires like Mr. Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook. The chief executive of TikTok had a reserved spot among the few who made it into the Rotunda as well, hours before Mr. Trump temporarily spared the firm from a legal ban. “The Return of the King,” Mr. Musk exulted on social media before generating online outrage over a gesture at a later rally that some compared to a Nazi salute.
Mr. Trump followed most of the conventions of the day. He shook Mr. Biden’s hand after taking the oath and escorted his predecessor and Dr. Biden to a Marine helicopter on the East Front of the Capitol to bid them farewell as they began their journey back to Delaware. Mr. Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, likewise saw off Ms. Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, as they headed back to California.
But it did not take long for Mr. Trump to go off script in a rambling, off-the-cuff speech to supporters at the Capitol that lasted longer than his Inaugural Address. Sounding more like a candidate again, he excoriated Mr. Biden, Ms. Cheney and General Milley and said former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was “guilty as hell” of not securing the Capitol on Jan. 6. He offered some of his favorite false claims and his greatest hits of grievances about all the ways he feels mistreated.
At yet another speech later in the day to supporters at the arena, he mocked Mr. Biden’s age and called his “one of the worst administrations in history,” while denouncing the investigators and prosecutors who had pursued him as “these creeps,” including the “deranged” special counsel, Jack Smith.
During one of his encounters with supporters, Mr. Trump said that his wife and vice president had urged him to tone down his Inaugural Address, but even the toned-down Trump talk was an aggressive assault against the status quo and everyone he portrayed as a “radical and corrupt establishment.”
Mr. Trump, the first convicted felon ever inaugurated as president, complained about what he called “the vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department” in the first minute of his speech.
He inherited a country that by many normal metrics is in better shape than at any inauguration in a couple of dozen years. Unemployment, inflation and crime are low, jobs and stock markets are up, energy production has hit record highs and no American troops are fighting an active overseas war. But Mr. Trump asserted that “the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair” and portrayed himself as its savior.
“The golden age of America begins right now,” he said, opening the speech. He promised a “revolution of common sense” that will reverse current policies on immigration, the environment and regulation.
Speaking on the holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, he said he would build a “colorblind and merit-based society” while taking a swipe at transgender Americans by saying government policy would hold “that there are only two genders, male and female.”
His speech was at times in conflict with his own record. Mr. Trump, one of the most polarizing figures in modern times, said he would be “a peacemaker and unifier.” He vowed to “stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America” even as he is threatening to sue or take away broadcast licenses from news media organizations. He said government would no longer “persecute political opponents” despite declaring repeatedly for months that his adversaries should be prosecuted.
But he presented himself as a man who had evolved since leaving office four years ago. “I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success,” Mr. Trump said.
“Over the past eight years,” he added, “I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history. And I have learned a lot along the way.”
Leer en español
Donald John Trump completed an extraordinary return to power on Monday as he was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States and opened an immediate blitz of actions to begin drastically changing the course of the country and usher in a new “golden age of America.”
In a triumph of the man and his movement, Mr. Trump took the oath of office during a ceremony in the Capitol four years after he was evicted by voters, reinvigorated for another term aimed at remaking America in his vision. He wasted no time outlining an ambitious program of often divisive policies to “reclaim our Republic” and purge its enemies and his own.
“My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and, indeed, their freedom,” Mr. Trump said during a 29-minute Inaugural Address as former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and former Vice President Kamala Harris looked on. “From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”
Feeling vindicated by voters after impeachments, indictments and conviction on 34 felony counts, Mr. Trump claimed a personal mandate as well as a political one. “Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback,” he said. “But as you see today, here I am. The American people have spoken.”
PHOTO: Mr. Trump’s supporters celebrated his swearing-in at a restaurant in downtown Washington. Credit: Todd Heisler/The New York Times
Indeed, he saw divine intervention in his restoration to the White House, citing his close call during an assassination attempt this summer when a bullet nicked his ear. “I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason,” he said. “I was saved by God to make America great again.”
Mr. Trump was inaugurated in the same building where a mob of his supporters rampaged four years ago in a failed effort to reverse the results of an election that he lost, culminating one of the most astonishing comebacks in U.S. history. In a stark sign of the changing power dynamics in America, Mr. Trump in the evening pardoned nearly all 1,600 rioters for their roles in the attack and commuted the sentences of another 14.
Mr. Biden, wary of Mr. Trump’s threats of “retribution” against perceived enemies, used his final hours in power to use the pardon power himself to thwart possible political prosecutions by his successor. Mr. Biden pardoned five members of his family, including his two brothers, as well as other figures who had been targeted by Mr. Trump, like former Representative Liz Cheney, the retired Gen. Mark A. Milley and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci.
But Mr. Biden, who for years has warned that Mr. Trump posed a threat to democracy, nonetheless observed the rituals of the day, unlike his predecessor who four years ago refused to concede or attend the inauguration. Mr. Biden, by contrast, graciously hosted Mr. Trump for coffee at the White House before the ceremony.
“Welcome home,” Mr. Biden told Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, when they arrived at the executive mansion.
PHOTO: President Biden and Jill Biden welcomed Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, at the White House on Monday morning. Credit: Pete Marovich for The New York Times
Mr. Trump moved quickly beyond Inauguration Day ceremonies to put his stamp back on the government as he signed the first of as many as 100 orders and actions. He declared a national emergency at the southern border and said he would send the military to guard it. He said he would end government programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. He said he would rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and promised to seize the Panama Canal. “We’re taking it back,” he said.
He signed orders in the early evening rescinding 78 of Mr. Biden’s executive actions, blocking new regulations, freezing federal hiring, pulling the United States out of the Paris climate accord again and directing agencies to end “government censorship” and the “weaponization” of the Justice Department.
He signed a directive denying citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States, in defiance of the longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment, a move that drew an instant lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Much as he did eight years ago, when he denounced “American carnage” in his first Inaugural Address, Mr. Trump painted a grim portrait of a country on its knees that only he could revive. But even more than in 2017, he largely dispensed with lofty themes and the broad unifying strokes favored by most presidents after taking the oath and instead detailed specific policies he would enact.
Mr. Trump spoke of “national unity” but made no nod toward Democrats in the speech and offered no thanks to Mr. Biden, as other presidents have done for their predecessors. Indeed, the nation’s 60th inauguration quickly took on the feel of a State of the Union address as Republicans jumped to their feet to applaud particular plans announced by the new president while Democrats sat mute and apparently uncomfortable.
Sitting a few feet away, Mr. Biden stared downward during some of the speech, while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at one point even laughed at what she seemed to think was the absurdity of the Gulf of Mexico line. Elon Musk, the new president’s billionaire patron and owner of SpaceX, pumped his fists in the air when Mr. Trump said he hoped to send “American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.”
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. administered the 35-word oath of office to Mr. Trump at 12:01 p.m., a minute after the constitutionally prescribed time, during a ceremony that the president-elect’s team moved indoors citing the cold weather. James David Vance was sworn in a minute before as the nation’s 50th vice president by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Mr. Trump, 78, became the oldest person inaugurated as president, eclipsing Mr. Biden, who was five months younger when he took the oath four years ago. Mr. Vance, 40, by contrast, became the third-youngest vice president in history.
Mr. Trump also became only the second president since the founding of the Republic to reclaim the White House after being defeated for re-election, joining President Grover Cleveland, who served nonconsecutive terms in the 19th century.
Mr. Trump’s restoration came on a sunny but frigid day as temperatures dipped to 26 degrees (and felt like 19 degrees) in a city virtually locked down by security forces. Much of downtown was blocked off by scale-proof fencing, concrete barriers, military vehicles and dump trucks, while the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue was canceled and held at Capital One Arena instead.
Eight years after his first inauguration, Mr. Trump looked a little older but, if possible, even more sure of himself as he takes power with more political wind at his back thanks to a narrow popular vote victory that eluded him last time and a better understanding of how to manipulate the levers of government.
Wearing a dark suit, white shirt, purple tie and U.S. flag pin, Mr. Trump was joined by Melania Trump in a wide-brimmed, black-and-white hat, as well as his five grown children. As he took the oath, Mrs. Trump held two Bibles, one given to him decades ago by his mother and the other used by Abraham Lincoln in 1861, but her husband did not put his hand on them as is traditional.
After Mr. Trump complained, flags at the Capitol and, once power was transferred, at the White House were raised to full staff despite the 30-day mourning period for former President Jimmy Carter. He later signed a proclamation making it mandatory to raise flags on Inauguration Day even if a president had recently died.
The day started with the traditional service at St. John’s Church followed by the coffee at the White House, whereupon Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden rode together in the armored presidential limousine to the Capitol. Asked his message for the day, Mr. Biden said simply, “Joy.” But other Democrats, including the outgoing first lady, Jill Biden, looked less than joyful.
While all three other living presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — showed up for the inauguration as is customary, even though none of them supported Mr. Trump, Michelle Obama refused to attend and none of the other presidents stuck around for the crab-cakes-and-rib-eye-steak congressional luncheon that followed the ceremony.
Likewise in attendance was former Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to endorse Mr. Trump last year because of his effort to overturn the 2020 election and became the first vice president not to serve in a president’s subsequent term since 1944. But his wife, Karen Pence, who refused to shake Mr. Trump’s hand at Mr. Carter’s funeral, stayed away.
The Rev. Franklin Graham and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan delivered invocations, Carrie Underwood sang “America the Beautiful,” and several other clergy members from different faiths offered benedictions. Mr. Trump planned to attend three inaugural balls in the evening.
The new power map in Washington was on display during the ceremony and the lunch. Mixed in with the former presidents, family members, prospective cabinet members and congressional leaders were check-writing billionaires like Mr. Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook. The chief executive of TikTok had a reserved spot among the few who made it into the Rotunda as well, hours before Mr. Trump temporarily spared the firm from a legal ban. “The Return of the King,” Mr. Musk exulted on social media before generating online outrage over a gesture at a later rally that some compared to a Nazi salute.
Mr. Trump followed most of the conventions of the day. He shook Mr. Biden’s hand after taking the oath and escorted his predecessor and Dr. Biden to a Marine helicopter on the East Front of the Capitol to bid them farewell as they began their journey back to Delaware. Mr. Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, likewise saw off Ms. Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, as they headed back to California.
But it did not take long for Mr. Trump to go off script in a rambling, off-the-cuff speech to supporters at the Capitol that lasted longer than his Inaugural Address. Sounding more like a candidate again, he excoriated Mr. Biden, Ms. Cheney and General Milley and said former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was “guilty as hell” of not securing the Capitol on Jan. 6. He offered some of his favorite false claims and his greatest hits of grievances about all the ways he feels mistreated.
At yet another speech later in the day to supporters at the arena, he mocked Mr. Biden’s age and called his “one of the worst administrations in history,” while denouncing the investigators and prosecutors who had pursued him as “these creeps,” including the “deranged” special counsel, Jack Smith.
During one of his encounters with supporters, Mr. Trump said that his wife and vice president had urged him to tone down his Inaugural Address, but even the toned-down Trump talk was an aggressive assault against the status quo and everyone he portrayed as a “radical and corrupt establishment.”
Mr. Trump, the first convicted felon ever inaugurated as president, complained about what he called “the vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department” in the first minute of his speech.
He inherited a country that by many normal metrics is in better shape than at any inauguration in a couple of dozen years. Unemployment, inflation and crime are low, jobs and stock markets are up, energy production has hit record highs and no American troops are fighting an active overseas war. But Mr. Trump asserted that “the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair” and portrayed himself as its savior.
“The golden age of America begins right now,” he said, opening the speech. He promised a “revolution of common sense” that will reverse current policies on immigration, the environment and regulation.
Speaking on the holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, he said he would build a “colorblind and merit-based society” while taking a swipe at transgender Americans by saying government policy would hold “that there are only two genders, male and female.”
His speech was at times in conflict with his own record. Mr. Trump, one of the most polarizing figures in modern times, said he would be “a peacemaker and unifier.” He vowed to “stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America” even as he is threatening to sue or take away broadcast licenses from news media organizations. He said government would no longer “persecute political opponents” despite declaring repeatedly for months that his adversaries should be prosecuted.
But he presented himself as a man who had evolved since leaving office four years ago. “I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success,” Mr. Trump said.
“Over the past eight years,” he added, “I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history. And I have learned a lot along the way.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent for The Times. He has covered the last five presidents and sometimes writes analytical pieces that place presidents and their administrations in a larger context and historical framework.
More about Peter Baker
A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 21, 2025, Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Caps Return To Power, Vowing To Stop A U.S. ‘Decline’. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper
See more on: Donald Trump, U.S. Politics
AMERICA IS A FASCIST STATE
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Opposed to anarchism, democracy, pluralism, egalitarianism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxismfascism is at the far right wing of the traditional left–right spectrum.
AMERICA IS A ROGUE STATE
A nation or state regarded as breaking international law and posing a threat to the security of other nations.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/politics/trump-pardons-jan-6.html
Trump Grants Sweeping Clemency to All Jan. 6 Rioters
The extraordinary pardons and commutations extended to those who committed both violent and nonviolent crimes on Jan. 6, including assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy.
PHOTO: Supporters of President Trump climbing the walls of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Credit: Jason Andrew for The New York Times
by Alan Feuer
Reporting from Washington
January 20, 2025
New York Times
President Donald J. Trump, in one of his first official acts, issued a sweeping grant of clemency on Monday to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, issuing pardons to most of the defendants and commuting the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia, most of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Mr. Trump’s moves amounted to an extraordinary reversal for rioters accused of both low-level, nonviolent offenses and for those who had assaulted police officers.
And they effectively erased years of efforts by federal investigators to seek accountability for the mob assault on the peaceful transfer of presidential power after Mr. Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. As part of his pardon order, Mr. Trump also directed the Justice Department to dismiss “all pending indictments” that remained against people facing charges for Jan. 6.
Sitting in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said he hoped that many of the defendants could be released from prison as early as tonight.
“They’ve already been in jail for a long time,” he said. “These people have been destroyed.”
The pardons Mr. Trump issued — “full, complete and unconditional,” he wrote — will touch the lives of about 1,000 defendants accused of misdemeanors like disorderly conduct, breaching the Capitol’s restricted grounds and trespassing at the building. Many of these rioters have served only days, weeks or months in prison — if any time at all.
The pardons will also wipe the slate clean for violent offenders who went after the police on Jan. 6 with baseball bats, two-by-fours and bear spray and are serving prison terms, in some cases of more than a decade.
Moreover, Mr. Trump pardoned Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, who was serving a 22-year prison term after being convicted at trial of seditious conspiracy — a crime that requires prosecutors to prove that a defendant used violent force against the government.
A representative for Mr. Tarrio said he had been released from a federal prison in Louisiana and was expected to return to Miami, his hometown, by Tuesday afternoon.
Mr. Trump’s actions drew an immediate firestorm of criticism, not least from some of the investigators who had worked on Jan. 6 cases.
“These pardons suggest that if you commit acts of violence, as long as you do so on behalf of a politically powerful person you may be able to escape consequences,” said Alexis Loeb, a former federal prosecutor who personally supervised many riot cases. “They undermine — and are a blow to — the sacrifice of all the officers who put themselves in the face of harm to protect democracy on Jan. 6.”
In a separate move, Mr. Trump commuted the prison sentences of five other Proud Boys, some of whom had been convicted at trial with Mr. Tarrio. He also commuted the sentences of Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia, and eight of his subordinates.
Altogether, the commutations erased more than 100 years of prison time for the 14 defendants, almost all of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
The twin acts of clemency were greeted with jubilation by several Jan. 6 defendants, their families and the activists who had worked on their behalf, seeking to push Mr. Trump toward issuing the broadest version possible. Many Jan. 6 rioters had been riding high ever since Mr. Trump won the election in November, convinced that he would come to their aid and pardon everyone involved in the attack.
Last week, in fact, Mr. Tarrio’s family in Miami started to plan a “cocktail event” to celebrate his pardon. Other defendants hired cars in advance to meet them outside their prisons or awaited Mr. Trump’s decision at so-called pardon watch parties, some of them wearing court-ordered ankle monitors.
Enrique Tarrio with a contingent of the Proud Boys in Washington in December 2020. Mr. Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader, received the longest prison term of any Jan. 6 defendant — 22 years. Credit: Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
Beyond the effect the pardons and commutations will have on the lives of those who received them, they also served Mr. Trump’s mission of rewriting the history of Jan. 6. Throughout his presidential campaign and after he won the election, he has tried repeatedly to play down the violent nature of the Capitol attack and reframe it, falsely, as a “day of love.”
Mr. Trump’s actions were in essence his boldest moves yet in seeking to recast his supporters — and himself — as the victims, not the perpetrators, of Jan. 6. By granting clemency to the members of a mob that used physical violence to stop the democratic process in its tracks, Mr. Trump gave the imprimatur of the presidency to the rioters’ claims that they were not properly prosecuted criminal defendants, but rather unfairly persecuted political prisoners.
As a legal matter, the pardons and commutations effectively unwound the largest single criminal inquiry the Justice Department has undertaken in its 155-year history. They wiped away all of the charges that had already been brought and the sentences already handed down while also stopping any news cases from moving forward.
Starting virtually from the moment the Capitol was breached, investigators spent more than four years obtaining warrants for thousands of cellphones and Google accounts, scrolling through tens of thousands of hours of police body-camera and surveillance camera footage, and running down hundreds of thousands of tips from ordinary citizens.
Starting virtually from the moment the Capitol was breached, investigators spent more than four years obtaining warrants for thousands of cellphones and Google accounts, scrolling through tens of thousands of hours of police body-camera and surveillance camera footage, and running down hundreds of thousands of tips from ordinary citizens.
Their work resulted in charges being brought in Federal District Court in Washington — just blocks from the Capitol itself — against almost 1,600 people. More than 600 of those defendants were accused of assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers, many with weapons that included hockey sticks, firecrackers, crutches and broken wooden table legs.
More than half of the nearly 1,100 people who have been sentenced for their crimes were sentenced to at least some time in jail. Mr. Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader, received the longest prison term of any defendant — 22 years. He was followed closely by a Proud Boys member from California, David Dempsey, who had attacked the police with his hands, his feet, a flagpole, pepper spray and other weapons and was sent to prison for 20 years.
Both of those sentences will now be erased, along with others for far-right leaders like Mr. Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder, who was serving an 18-year prison term when the commutations were issued.
Both of those sentences will now be erased, along with others for far-right leaders like Mr. Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder, who was serving an 18-year prison term when the commutations were issued.
The pardons and commutations did not address the separate but related question of what Mr. Trump plans to do with the Justice Department’s continuing investigation of Jan. 6.
Two weeks ago, department officials said that prosecutors were still weighing whether to bring charges against as many as 200 additional people, including about 60 suspected of assaulting or impeding police officers during the riot. And as recently as Friday, court proceedings in Washington for Jan. 6 defendants continued more or less normally.
Mr. Trump appears to have decided to grant an expansive form of clemency relatively recently and after a debate among his advisers. In recent months, he has said different things to different people about how he planned to proceed, sometimes suggesting he would grant pardons to violent offenders, sometimes indicating that they would be reserved for those who did not act violently and were only charged with misdemeanors.
A few weeks ago, Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News that rioters who had assaulted the police would most likely not get pardons.
“If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” Mr. Vance said, but added that “there’s a little bit of a gray area there.”
Mr. Vance’s comments elicited almost immediate outrage among many of the rioters.
“J6 defendants are very angry at JD Vance,” Philip Anderson, who was accused of taking part in a violent scrum in a tunnel outside the Capitol, wrote on social media. “All J6 defendants need to be saved.”
Mr. Vance quickly tried to walk back his remarks.
“I assure you, we care about people unjustly locked up,” he wrote on X. “Yes, that includes people provoked and it includes people who got a garbage trial.”
David C. Adams and Glenn Thrush contributed reporting.
Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump.
More about Alan Feuer
See more on: U.S. Politics, U.S. Justice Department, Donald Trump
AMERICA IS A FASCIST STATE
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Opposed to anarchism, democracy, pluralism, egalitarianism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxismfascism is at the far right wing of the traditional left–right spectrum.
AMERICA IS A ROGUE STATE
A nation or state regarded as breaking international law and posing a threat to the security of other nations.
https://www.wlbt.com/2025/01/20/thomspon-cheney-release-statement-wake-presidential-pardon/
See more on: U.S. Politics, U.S. Justice Department, Donald Trump
AMERICA IS A FASCIST STATE
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Opposed to anarchism, democracy, pluralism, egalitarianism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxismfascism is at the far right wing of the traditional left–right spectrum.
AMERICA IS A ROGUE STATE
A nation or state regarded as breaking international law and posing a threat to the security of other nations.
https://www.wlbt.com/2025/01/20/thomspon-cheney-release-statement-wake-presidential-pardon/
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WLBT) - A Mississippi Congressman thanked President Joe Biden on Monday for issuing a pardon for his work on the January 6 Bipartisan Select Committee.
In the waning hours of his presidency, Biden issued preemptive pardons to Rep. Bennie Thomspon, former Rep. Liz Cheney, and other members of the Select Committee, the House body that investigated the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Thompson, who served as the chair of that committee, released a joint statement with Cheney Monday morning.
“We express our gratitude to President Biden for recognizing that we and our families have been continuously targeted not only with harassment, lies, and threats of criminal violence but also with specific threats of criminal prosecution and imprisonment by members of the incoming administration, simply for doing our jobs and upholding our oath of office,” the two wrote.
According to the Associated Press, Biden issued preemptive pardons to multiple individuals in the waning hours of his presidency to “guard against potential ‘revenge’ by the new Trump administration.”
Pardons were also granted to Dr. Anthony Fauci and Gen. Mark Milley.
Fauci is the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and was a major face during the COVID-19 pandemic. Milley is a former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a vocal critic of Trump, the AP reports.
For its part, the January 6 Select Committee, investigated what Thompson called a “months-long criminal effort to override the will of the voters after the 2020 election, including inciting a violent insurrection to thwart the peaceful transfer of power.”
Trump was defeated in his bid for a second term by Biden. Trump claimed multiple times that the election was stolen.
Hundreds of people who participated outside the Capitol that day were eventually charged and convicted in connection with the incident.
In December 2024, Trump told NBC News that the committee members who investigated the riots should go to jail “but he would not direct the FBI or DOJ to arrest them.”
The pardons come just days after Biden awarded Cheney and Thompson the Presidential Citizens Medal for their work investigating the Capitol riots. The award is the second-highest civilian honor given in the United States.
News of the pardons sparked critical rebukes from political leaders on the state and national levels. President Trump told NBC News the pardons were “disgraceful.”
According to the Washington Examiner, during his remarks on Monday, the president-elect described Select Committee members as “political thugs” who “were very, very guilty of very bad crimes.”
Locally, State Auditor Shad White called the pardons “nothing but a bailout for Bennie doing Biden’s dirty work... With President Trump, a true patriot returns to the White House.”
