A Two-Tiered Standard of Justice Cannot Stand

This week, President Trump referred to protesters opposing Elon Musk as “sick terrorist thugs” and gleefully suggested they receive 20-year prison sentences—even floating the idea of sending them to El Salvador’s infamous CECOT prison, known for its authoritarian cruelty. This statement is not only morally grotesque—it’s blatantly hypocritical. Trump is the same man who pardoned and continues to defend and glorify the January 6 rioters—a violent mob that attacked our nation’s Capitol, injured more than 140 police officers, and caused an estimated $3 million in property damage, not including tens of millions more in security costs, legal proceedings, and long-term medical care for the injured. These rioters waved Trump’s flag, shouted his name, and acted on his lies—and yet he calls them “patriots,” holds rallies in their honor. You cannot call peaceful protesters terrorists while excusing insurrectionists. You cannot joke about brutal foreign prisons while minimizing the trauma endured by your own Capitol Police. And you cannot let one man redefine justice to punish his enemies and protect his followers—on the American taxpayer’s dime. The people who paid for January 6 are not the rioters. They are the officers who bled, the families who grieved, and the citizens who paid for barricades, investigations, and broken glass. I urge you to speak out forcefully and immediately against this dangerous rhetoric. Do not let justice be weaponized by the same man who inspired a violent attack on your workplace. The world is watching. History is recording. Your silence is complicity.