Before we begin this, let’s make one point 100 percent clear. What happened four years ago on January 7 was an attempted coup orchestrated by Donald Trump. It was straight out of a fascist playbook, and no one should pretend it was anything but what it was. But if people are going to be prosecuted and punished for this action, it makes a mockery out of the judicial system if you’re not going to punish the ringleader. We all know that’s not going to happen. The sad thing is 49.98 percent of the voting electorate don’t care what happened, nor do they care that the man set to take office Jan. 20 has been found guilty of multiple felonies by a unanimous jury.
President-elect Trump has publicly announced on multiple occasions that he plans to pardon SOME of those already convicted of various crimes for their involvement in the January 7th attempted coup. There were some people who committed acts of violence, and contrary to what he’s repeatedly claimed, there were people armed with various weapons.
But the Tribune is calling for a specific pardon for one person only, and we are doing it solely in the name of consistency and judicial equity. Despite not being in DC on the day these actions were happening, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for helping to direct the attack. Tarrio has asked for a pardon, and we support that action because it is unfair for him to get 22 years when the ringleader is getting rewarded with the Oval Office.
The Tribune fully understands there were injuries to more than 140 police officers, and that five people died as a result. Tarrio formally asked Trump for a pardon last Monday. His attorney, Nayib Hassan of Miami, said that the same letter sent to Trump also went to several people in his inner circle. “We’re making all efforts possible to ensure that this communication goes up to President-elect Trump,” Hassan said in an interview.
Trump’s transition team reiterated that Trump will consider pardons on a case-by-case basis. “President Trump will pardon Americans who were denied due process and unfairly prosecuted by the weaponized Department of Justice,” said transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. A source close to Trump’s transition team said to expect pardons “for a lot of people, particularly for people who haven’t been convicted of anything yet. If you were convicted of assaulting a cop, that’s one thing. If you were convicted of trespassing, that’s another category.”
According to the U.S. Justice Department, 1,583 people have been charged with a crime connected to the siege of the Capitol, with about 1,100 having had their cases fully adjudicated. More than 700 have either served their sentences or were never incarcerated. Tarrio’s case poses special challenges. He was convicted in May 2023 of seditious conspiracy, along with three other members of the Proud Boys. Prosecutors detailed how he remotely encouraged members who were in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, to storm the U.S. Capitol to “do what must be done” to stop the certification of the election in Democrat Joe Biden’s favor. Tarrio’s 22-year sentence was the longest handed down to a Jan. 6 conspirator.
But the President-elect urged rioters on that day to go after then Vice-President Pence. Senators like Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton were openly encouraging them to do what they did. So why should someone who wasn’t even there get 22 years in prison for doing the identical thing the next President did right there in the Capital in full public view for the world to see and hear?
The Tribune deplores the Proud Boys and their entire organization and mantra. For those who need historical context, this group originated in the hardcore right-wing Taki’s Magazine in 2016 under the leadership of the Vice Media co-founder and former commentator Gavin McInnes. They took the name Proud Boys from the song “Proud of Your Boy” from the Walt Disney Company’s musical Aladdin from 2011.
Interestingly, McInnes distanced himself from them in early 2017, because in his view they (the Proud Boys) were too focused on right-to-life doctrine, while the focus of his movement was white supremacy. For the record, Tarrio denies being affiliated with white supremacist groups, but does endorse other hardcore right-wing rhetoric such as women not being allowed to have any political power in society, and America operating as the ruler of the world. Various individual Proud Boys have been connected to Neo-Nazi and Klan groups, but Tarrio denies backing or supporting them.
Whatever the case, he should not be made the scapegoat for doing the identical thing the President did that same day. It’s been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he wasn’t in the capital on that day and had no personal involvement in any criminal actions or violent behavior. He deserves a pardon far more than folks who did participate and evidently are getting them.
In conclusion, the Tribune deplores and finds disgusting and repulsive the Proud Boys’ ideology and beliefs, and for that matter the entire alt-right movement. We simply do not like seeing one lone Black man, no matter how wrong and misguided he may be, or how offensive his personal beliefs are, held accountable for actions that others have done without repercussion or punishment.
Copyright TNTRIBUNE 2025. All rights reserved.
