We are Republicans who express our sustained opposition to President Trump’s pardons of violent participants in the January 6 riot and his commutation of sentences of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who organized the attack on the Capitol.

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Thus far, almost all condemnation of the pardons has focused on assaults against police officers with clubs, electric shock instruments, pepper spray and other devices. We join in that condemnation.

But our concern isn’t limited to a past occurrence, however egregious, on one of the darkest days in American history.  Our main concern is for what the pardons bode for America’s future. Going forward, the clear message of the pardons is that henceforth political violence in the service of Donald Trump is permissible. Moreover, January 6 perpetrators and organizers now constitute the nucleus of a paramilitary militia in the service of Mr. Trump that presents a clear and present danger to civil peace. It is of urgent importance for Americans to recognize and combat this danger.

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We believe that Republicans, including those who otherwise support President Trump, must lead this effort. Therefore we ask that Republicans, beginning with members of Congress, agree to these propositions:

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1. Clemency for violent participants in the January 6 riot and their organizers is wrong.

2. In the future, those who commit violence in the service of a political cause must be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law.

 

Those Republicans who choose instead to remain silent in the face of the President’s brazen pardons may win their next primary election, but they will be forever complicit in undermining the foundation of American democracy.