"Recent years have seen a rising number (and intensity) of death threats against members of Congress and other public officials. The number received in 2024 was three times the level in 2017. The U.S. Capitol Police Chief testified in December that 700 death threats were made against members of Congress in November alone. Most current members of Congress were there on Jan. 6, 2021, and they were deeply shaken by the experience. Many regard it as a near-death experience for democracy, and perhaps for themselves.
The most underestimated element in the current crisis of our democracy is the degree to which many politicians fear for their lives if they do anything forthright to cross or defy President Trump. If this concern contributed to the speed with which almost all of them fell into line behind him during the election campaign, how much worse must it be now that all of the insurrectionists—some of them known to be heavily armed and out for revenge—have been pardoned and set loose? As for the extremist, anti-democratic organizations that some of these individuals lead or support, the FBI was vigilantly monitoring these and other extremist organizations over the last four years. Will it do so with Kash Patel, a ferocious Trump loyalist who has published his own list of “deep state” enemies of Trump, as director?" (Trump's America Is in a Free Fall—Not a Slippery Slope—to Tyranny: He is instilling fear not just among lawmakers but every sector of society that dares to criticize him or hold him accountable. Larry Diamond, The UnPopulist, Feb 20, 2025)
Read: Memory-Holing Jan. 6: What Happens When You Try to Make History Vanish?: The Trump administration’s decision to delete a DOJ database of cases against Capitol riot defendants places those who seek to preserve the historical record in direct opposition to their own government. by Alec MacGillis, ProPublica, February 6, 2025
Read: Trump’s Obscene Jan. 6 Pardons Will Live in Infamy: Sanctioning violence is what authoritarians do, Walter Olson, The Unpopulist, Jan 24, 2025
the actual story here, which the media never talks about, is that police in this country have become a discrete right-wing political operation. the story isn't about cops leaving (they're lying about that), it's about the police trying to exert influence over elections.
— Peter (@notalawyer.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 8:01 PM
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Pardoned Capitol Rioter Tried to Hush Child Sex Victim With Promise of Jan. 6 Reparation Money, Police Say. Andrew Johnson claimed to an alleged child molestation victim that Trump’s pardon entitled him to multimillion-dollar reparations. Amanda Moore, The Intercept, November 17, 2025
"Brendan Ballou, a former DOJ lawyer who prosecuted Jan. 6 rioters, said immediately after Trump handed out pardons en masse, he watched rioters become emboldened, including openly proclaiming online how they would buy guns or seek vengeance.
“It's clear what the effect of being told that the law doesn't apply to them is,” Ballou said."
HuffPost, Jan 6, 2026
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