I must say, this gives me more hope than anything that I have read in quite a long time. The person whose words you will read is a former J6 prisoner who rejected his pardon and who now has come to think very differently about both Donald Trump and MAGA. It sounds like clear thinking to me and clear thinking and MAGA are not two phrases that I put in the same sentence usually. Talk about an oxymoron. Jason Riddle’s opinions are worth hearing.
When President Donald Trump issued more than 1,500 pardons to rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, one insurrectionist who spent time in prison for his role in the attack told the president in no uncertain terms he didn’t want forgiveness.
“I don’t regret refusing the pardon by any means, but I’m kind of stooping myself to Trump’s level when I tell him to shove it up his a–,” Jason Riddle told Raw Story.
“I actually emailed the White House, apologizing for saying that.”
Still, Riddle has been pushing for the White House and the Office of the Pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice to formally acknowledge his refusal of the pardon — because the country is “heading to a real dark place” again under Trump, he said.
“I absolutely want it official that I’m against this because people that support this are going to be complicit with wherever this is going,” Riddle said.
‘Unhealthy obsession’
Riddle knows better than most where Trump has taken America already. He became a Trump supporter after watching him command the crowd during the Republican primary debates for the 2016 election.
In college, after serving in the Navy, Riddle said he and a fellow veteran found following Trump “a way to turn our school experience into just being able to hang out and drink and argue with people.” Together, they traveled to Trump rallies, drinking in the candidate’s promise to Make America Great Again.
Riddle and his friend stayed loyal through Trump’s first term. On Jan. 6, they both attended Trump’s Stop the Steal event in Washington, where the president and key allies pursued the lie that Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory was the result of voter fraud.
Trump told supporters to march on Congress, there to “fight like hell” to block certification of Biden’s win.
When Riddle arrived at the Capitol, he joined the second wave of rioters who went inside.
Now, Riddle says formal acknowledgement that he refused a pardon for what he did there — stealing a bottle of wine and a Senate procedure book — would be part of his process of leaving behind the “unhealthy obsession” with Trump that brought him to that point.
The insurrection failed. Trump faced criminal charges related to his election subversion but never faced trial and returned to power. Riddle was sentenced to 90 days in prison and three years of probation, in addition to paying $754 in restitution.
“You need to be in a state of tension to be a Trump supporter,” Riddle told Raw Story.
“You need to believe in something that’s not healthy to believe in. It’s only a matter of time that either consumes you, or you can free yourself.”
Now, the waiter from New Hampshire has asked members of Congress from his state — Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep. Maggie Goodlander, both Democrats — for help in getting his refusal recognized.
What makes me hopeful about this is that I’m hoping that this is the beginning of a national awakening. Trump has encouraged our worst instincts, our most juvenile and unthinking reactions. That’s the tragedy of this entire passage in America’s recent history.
Riddle, on the other hand, seems to be looking at this in a grown up manner, wanting to take responsibility and knowing right from wrong. I am hoping that at some future date we will look back on this era as America’s childishness, led by the Child In Chief and his tantrums. And I am hoping that we will have learned and grown up. We can always dream right? But in all seriousness, an America worthy of the name cannot endure unless we get back to our values and abandon all this Trumpfoolery. We have hit a moral bottom which is shocking. At least one young man has woken up. How soon before more join him?
Here’s hoping. I’ve been waiting for the Magas I know to wake up, but still waiting after 10 long exhausting years. Beginning to believe they or I will die before that happens.
The Maga movement provides them with an IDENTITY, one, evidently they can’t fashion for themselves. That’s why facts, etc., will not impact them. I joke with my friend that fifty scientists can be stopped with one fact…one cult member can’t be stopped with fifty facts. I respect his turnaround. Since he was on the inside, he should be recruiting Maga members to wake the phuck up. Most won’t but he’s someone they MIGHT listen to…