Harry Litman - Hitler Pardoned His Goons Too
Released from long sentences for seditious conspiracy by the mercy of Donald Trump, the leaders of the January 6 insurrection are flush with triumph and vengeful purpose. Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys whom Trump pardoned for his 22-year sentence, proclaimed, “The people who did this, they need to feel the heat. They need to be put behind bars, and they need to be prosecuted. Success is going to be retribution.” Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes, sentenced to 18 years, lobbied for full pardons for the 14 offenders, including himself, who received only commutations. He left jail a free man and immediately sketched out his plan to investigate police witnesses and prosecutors “on up the chain.”
Tarrio added, with perhaps the most inappropriate words ever spoken by a pardoned convict: “Now it’s our turn.”
Like Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Adolf Hitler came to power through lawful means in a weakened democracy. After a failed putsch and a prison sentence, Hitler emerged from incarceration and revived the Nazi Party. In the wake of widespread public discontent—triggered by both the one-sided Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, and the Great Depression—Hitler consolidated power ruthlessly. He blamed Germany’s woes on the democratic Weimar government, which he called “criminals,” as well as Jews, communists, ethnic minorities, and homosexuals.
The message struck a strong chord with the German people, and by 1932, the Nazis were the largest party in Germany. Hitler’s buffoonish manner led political elites to believe they could control him if they gave him official power. In 1933, they persuaded President von Hindenburg to appoint him as Chancellor of Germany. It was a historic mistake with global implications. First bending the legal system that had brought him to power, Hitler, by 1934, had decimated the rule of law and established a totalitarian dictatorship.
https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/hitler-pardoned-his-goons-too
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