“We were wrong that day”

If you want a statistical notion of how rare sanity, patriotism and courage are among MAGA stooges, then consider this. Of the 1,600 January 6 insurrectionists pardoned by the Fascist Felon, only one of them refused the pardon. Pamela Hemphill, 71, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 days in prison, told the BBC that there should be no pardons for the rioters of 6 January 2021.
โI pleaded guilty because I was guilty, and accepting a pardon also would serve to contribute to their gaslighting and false narrative,โ Hemphill said. Hemphill, who was nicknamed the “Maga Granny” by social media users, said she viewed the Trump government as trying to “rewrite history, and I don’t want to be part of that.โ Hemphill added, โWe were wrong that day, we broke the law, there should be no pardons.โ
Somewhat less rare but still unusual among Republicans, at least two Republican Senators would agree with much of what the โMAGA Grannyโ said. James Lankford of Oklahoma told CNN, “I think we need to continue to say we are a party of law and order. I think if you attack a police officer, that’s a very serious issue and they should pay a price for that.” Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said he “just can’t agree” with the pardons, adding that it “raises legitimate safety issues on Capitol Hill.โ
In a news conference on Tuesday at the White House, Donald Trump was typically clumsy in his word choice. “These people have already served years in prison, and they’ve served them viciously,โ Trump said. Trump has said over the years he wants to sentence several Democrats, like octogenarian medical doctor Anthony Fauci, to serve โviciouslyโ a similar prison sentence for fuzzy reasons he has never made explicit. He recently referred to Joe Bidenโs prophylactic pardon of Fauci and members of the January 6 committee as โdisgraceful,โ claiming they are โguilty as hell.โ Guilty of what he wouldnโt say.
Pam Hemphillโs story, on the other hand, was unusual among the rioters. While recording video of the insurrection on her phone, she encouraged rioters to surge past the barriers, telling them to โCome in, itโs your house.โ Hemphill was then accidentally trampled by her fellow enthusiastic MAGA cultists. It was a police officer who went to her aid and helped her up and brought her to safety.
From the day that she left prison in the summer of 2022 to today, Pam has spoken out against Trump and the insurrection. She acknowledges now that the notion that the 2020 election was stolen is a big lie. โItโs my amends for what I did,โ Pam says. โItโs the least that I can do.โ Clearly Hemphill is yet another citizen capable of learning something of which Donald Trump is incapable, that the rule of law has meaning, that there is such a thing as right and wrong. In refusing the pardon, she is refusing to participate in a great wrong. She is one courageous woman.
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Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.