Even after Donald Trump incited a historic insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in which hundreds of police officers were viciously assaulted, the vice president was threatened with hanging, the building was defaced and vandalized, and the American flag was replaced with a Trump flag, one of Trump's first acts after taking office a second time was to pardon every last one of the rioters, calling them patriots . All the while, he condemned the police and prosecutors.

As Axios reported at the time, Trump made the decision to do so very thoughtfully:

Eight days before the inauguration, Vice President-to-be JD Vance — channeling what he believed to be Trump's thinking — said on "Fox News Sunday" that Jan. 6 convicts who assaulted police ought not get clemency: "If you

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