Pardon my coup
Accurate political journalism requires a bias toward democracy
Five years ago today, a large group of supporters of Donald Trump — who had just lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden — gathered near the White House to rally in support of their beleaguered leader. He urged them to help “stop the steal” by marching to the U.S. Capitol, where the outgoing president would meet them, and together they would “fight like hell” to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
This mob of Trump supporters soon beat back police officers at the Capitol, entered the building, disrupted the business of certifying the election, and forced members to flee the compound through secret underground tunnels. Yet these participants in a would-be coup were unsuccessful. They eventually gave up their search for Congress’s leaders (not before defecating on their desks), were escorted off the property by Capitol police, and the election for Biden was officially recorded in Congress.
Shortly after this, the Justice Department, then led by staffers appointed by Trump, began investigating these members of the public for their actions, most of which were criminal and many of which were violent. Those investigations were continued by Biden’s DOJ, which prosecuted over 1,500 people and put many in prison. Over 600 were charged for assaulting law enforcement officers or interrupting the process of enforcing the law.
This is the official story of January 6, 2021. But President Trump, and by extension his party, would have you believe another story. They style the Jan 6. “hostages” as peaceful patriots who were wronged by Biden’s DOJ, and who only “protested” at the Capitol because of (non-existent) voter fraud in 2020. The White House has even published its own timeline of events on Jan. 6 (which sparked this article).
In January, Trump pardoned or commuted almost every person the government put in jail for crimes that day, including those who were found by judge and jury to have assaulted Capitol police officers. Trump says the prosecution of these “hostages” was “unfair.” This is because the president believes people should be allowed to break the law on his behalf.
This is the ugly truth of an already-ugly event. The president and his party support anti-democratic political violence in the name of their cause. They favored the doling out of presidential pardons for people who attacked police and attempted a coup.
The implications of this are necessary to state clearly and honestly. Too often among political journalists, and especially election analysts (and especially especially among a certain brand of poll-obsessed data journalists), there is a pressure to whitewash inflammatory news for the sake of seeming “objective.” There is an unstated and incorrect belief that truth (and promotions) can only be obtained through dispassionate, neutral observation. This is the business model of most corporate news outlets in America.
In practice, that version of “objectivity” often means treating bad-faith propaganda or a violation of democratic values as just another partisan battle. The problem with mandatory neutrality is that it leaves our democracy vulnerable to partisan asymmetry in commitment to democratic values. Neutrality helps the arsonist.
That is why Strength In Numbers does not play the both-sides game when it comes to democracy and elections. I’m a straight-shooter when it comes to things like political violence, illiberalism, gerrymandering and other cheating, and on democracy in general (see chapters 1 and 2 of my book). So let’s call a spade a spade.
Donald Trump and his supporters do not believe in the fundamental aspect of democracy: the legitimacy of the opposition. Members of the MAGA tribe are authoritarian in their wielding of power. They have a weak, at best, commitment to free speech and expression. They believe in the unrestricted use of military power. And their leader is a liar and a cheater who has teased countless times to remain in power beyond his last term in office.
Trump’s is an unpatriotic, un-American movement. He doesn’t get a pass for that just because we live in a two-party system. If we are going to be honest in our reporting about politics today, we have to be able to say this clearly.
Back to regular programming, with an update on public opinion toward Venezuela, on Friday.
Support independent, empirical political journalism in 2026
If you find my data-driven political analysis valuable, consider becoming a premium subscriber to Strength In Numbers. Over the last year, I have published dozens of exclusive deep dives that beat other outlets to the punch on everything from Trump’s unpopularity and his losses with young people, to the politics of affordability and Trump’s weakness on deportations. Join now and stay ahead of the curve in 2026.
The revisionist history put out by the White House today sickened me. The memory of these traitors rappelling up the Capital ramparts is seared in my brain. They desecrated the center of democracy.
Thank you, Elliott. I am proud to know you.