This may be trump's most self-destructive move yet
Trump says one of the first things he's going to do if he gets elected in 2024 is release the J6 prisoners that are in jail today. Specifically he will pardon them. on "day one".
If you are a truly undecided voter at this point and you hear that trump is going to pardon the people who conducted a riot at the capital on January 6th and let them all free, would that news make you more or less likely to vote for him in the presidential election.
Common sense would tell us that such an action will make undecided voters much less likely to vote for him. So why is he making this promise? Much of the pundit speculation is that he's just saying it on impulse, but I think there may be another reason.
Trump is capable of convincing a lot of people that he's going to win the election in November and if he doesn't win it was stolen from him. I think he's promising pardons not for the benefit of those already in jail but as a carrot for those who may go to jail because of their illegal or violent activities during the 2024 campaign. If people think they can break the law and intimidate others ,and do perhaps some campaign event violence on trump's behalf and then after he gets elected he will pardon them, it could make them more likely to have those criminal inclinations now and as the campaign unfolds.
He wants to have an army ,so to speak, that will do his bidding between now and next January. What better way from his point of view then to promise potential miscreants that he will let them free when he retakes power?
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related
www.theguardian.com /us-news/2024/mar/12/trump-january-6-pardons
Trump says pardoning Capitol attackers will be one of his first acts if elected again
Lauren Aratani 4-5 minutes 3/12/2024
Donald Trump has said one of his first acts if given a second presidency would be to pardon the insurrectionists who carried out the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, referring to them as “hostages” in a Truth Social post on Monday night.
“My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!” Trump wrote .
Though he has long said he will dismiss charges against the rioters if elected, the post is the closest Trump has come to saying that pardons for the Capitol attack rioters is a first-day priority, along with oil and gas drilling as well as a crackdown at the US-Mexico border. Trump’s post came after he has implied that he plans to be a “dictator” on his first day back in office if returned to the White House after losing to Joe Biden in 2020.
“We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity at a town hall event in December when asked if he would be a dictator. “After that, I’m not a dictator.”
Trump has emphasized his “drilling” plans on the campaign trail as a way to highlight the inflation that has been seen during Biden’s presidency. Trump has promised to start “drilling” for oil to help temper inflation, though gas prices plunged down to $3 a gallon in 2023, down from a peak of $5 in 2022. US oil production has also hit a record high under Biden.
The Truth Social post is not the first time Trump has referred to those prosecuted for participating in the riots meant to disrupt the congressional certification of Biden’s electoral victory as “hostages”. The former president has been using the term for months in attempts to downplay the attack that left 140 police officers injured and has been linked to nine deaths.
In January, a Republican-appointed federal judge – during sentencing proceedings for a January 6 attacker – said that “in my thirty-seven years on the bench, I cannot recall a time when such meritless justifications of criminal activity have gone mainstream”.
“I have been dismayed to see distortions and outright falsehoods seep into public consciousness,” Judge Royce Lamberth wrote .
Since the Capitol attack, 1,358 people from nearly all 50 states have been charged for participating in the riot, and many have been convicted, according to the justice department. Nearly 500 have been charged with the felony of assaulting or impeding law enforcement, with many convicted as well.
Trump himself was supposed to face trial for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. But the supreme court in April is planning to hear arguments over whether the former president is immune from prosecution.
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He can't possibly think this promise will win him votes that he doesn't already have. Even he's not that stupid.
It is called "firming the base"
Anyone who would vote for him because he will free the Jan 6 prisoners is already someone that will vote for him
and anyone who thinks that he will free the Jan 6th people will also be up for a little tussle if he needs it come next November
I doubt it. The people arrested amount to a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of 1% of the population. He wouldn't be counting on them. I think he is counting on about 80 million votes. Unfortunately, I already know the ending. This time 90 million mail-in-ballots for Biden will flood the polling places nationwide. Biden will get his second term.
Where is he going to drill the oil?
Right in the can
"Drill, drill, drill"? Maybe he missed his calling, he should have been a dentist.
And it's only March. He's just getting started.