Readers Write: Disavowing Trumpism, Jan. 6 pardons

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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To Peter Bell and Mitch Pearlstein, thank you for your Jan. 22 commentary, “We look forward to the day when we can call ourselves Republicans again.” By now, a few days after publication, you may both be receiving the kinds of criticism and threats that have driven other Republicans to the shadows. You admit that you’ve been “equally guilty in our seeming acquiescence on the subject.” But I beg you now to take the next step beyond speaking out and to use your considerable skills demonstrated throughout your respective impressive careers at the Met Council and the Center of the American Experiment (the careers you were each in at the times I met you), to organize with like-minded Republicans. Don’t just wait for other Republicans to come around to your way of thinking. I fear neither you nor I may live that long and, in the meantime, this country is on a trajectory that makes me fearful for the lives of my three grandsons.

Sheila Miller, Golden Valley

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Thank you, Pearlstein and Bell, for breaking through the silence of the current, loudest voices of the GOP. Having served with both of you on the Humphrey School of Public Affairs Advisory Board, I know you embody the best of the Republican Party’s values. May your fellow Republicans heed your clarion call to make dramatic changes as we witness the cruelty and outrageous actions of the MAGA Republicans who have captured the GOP.

Peg Birk, Minneapolis

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Thank you, Bell and Pearlstein, for speaking up about the current state of affairs in the Republican Party and your hopes for a shift back to normalcy. I have many Republican friends whose values I have always thought aligned more with mine (I’m a Democrat). This election has made it hard for me to reconcile these values with President Donald Trump’s campaign promises. Yet, I am confident that they voted for him. I, too, ask why your comments did not get published before the election? Trump has been an open book for the past eight years. Let’s work together — enough of the party loyalty!

Beverly Fritz, Richfield

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Thank you, Pearlstein and Bell, for having the courage and character to step forward and say what so many of us are waiting for many more Republicans to say about what their party has become. It’s time for our elected Republicans, like Congressman Pete Stauber, to back up their rhetoric about “backing the blue” with a public statement condemning Trump’s pardons of the Jan. 6 seditionists. Either have the guts to say it publicly or shut your mouths about your support for our law enforcement officers. That goes for everyone who voted for Trump, too.

Karl Samp, Brainerd

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All better now — all better, at least for local conservative biggies Pearlstein and Bell now that they’ve sent a “so sorry” to the nation for their “seeming acquiescence” to Trump’s rude rhetoric “and other excesses.”

By “seeming acquiescence” I assume they mean the same cowardly silence shown by most Republicans over the decade during which Trump has been a political player. In regards to challenging rude rhetoric, a writer as talented as Pearlstein could’ve been more specific, reminding us, for example, of Trump mocking people with disabilities, calling political opponents scum and saying what he’s said about women — the crudeness of which protects Trump, because mainstream publications won’t subject readers to the gutter language Trump so casually and frequently uses, including once discussing his daughter as a “piece of ass” on a radio program.

Pearlstein and Bell set themselves up as profiles in courage by writing of how uncomfortably challenging it is to publicly differ with ideological allies or “the good sense, even decency, of half the electorate” who put Trump in office. But the cherry on the sundae is the insipid, self-serving insight that — get ready, because it’s profound — ”sometimes a person reaches a stage” where “they find themselves obliged to say tough things.” With a response time like that, we should all rejoice that Bell and Pearlstein aren’t firefighters or cops.

Steve Schild, Falcon Heights

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It is nice that Bell and Pearlstein could “say tough things” about what has become of their Republican Party under the leadership of King Trump. However, their self-awarded courage would be better deserved had their comments come before the election, or better yet, when Newt Gingrich led the party to the politics of hatred and bile many years ago. Too little, too late, gentlemen. The party is over, in more ways than one.

Tom Salkowski, Buffalo, Minn.

My uncle, Jack W. Starkey, retired United States Capitol Police sergeant and toughest guy I ever knew, cried when the cops were attacked on Jan. 6, 2021. He was in World War II, the Korean War and even flew helicopters in the Vietnam War. Finally, he retired in 1992 from his last job as a sergeant in the Capitol Police, and he died March 17, 2021. He called me the day the Capitol was attacked and was crying. He couldn’t believe police officers were being attacked and beaten. Today he would be crying because Trump pardoned the people who beat cops. I can’t believe it — cop-beaters are pardoned.

Andra Atteberry, Sartell, Minn.

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Does Congressman Tom Emmer really support the police in Minnesota? Emmer, the House majority whip, frequently comments about his support for the police in Minnesotas’ Sixth Congressional District. When he was asked about Trump’s pardon of about 1,500 people accused or convicted of offenses related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack during a recent ABC interview, Emmer stated “that people should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

But when pressed by Linsey Davis to clarify this comment in light of his support for Trump’s pardon of virtually all Capitol attackers, which included convicted criminals who had physically attacked over 140 Capitol police officers, likely contributing to the death of one officer the day after the attack and to the suicide of four additional Capitol police officers, his only response was that the prosecutions “went too far.” He was not willing to admit that violent attackers who had caused physical harm to Capitol police should not have been pardoned.

Even the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right institute for public policy research, in a post by Peter J. Wallison, stated that Trump’s pardon of the Jan. 6 criminals is a stain on the GOP. Given Emmer’s unwillingness to convince me and likely the people of Minnesota that violence against police is illegal and truly needs to be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” I do not think that police in Minnesota should believe that he is someone who can be trusted to support them. His sycophantic support of Trump’s pardons, including of those who were convicted of attacking and injuring Capitol policemen, says it all. Actions speak louder than words. Minnesota citizens and police need to consider this on Nov. 3, 2026.

Stephen Sundberg, Chanhassen

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The day after pardoning almost 1,600 people who attacked our Capitol in an attempt to overthrow the will of the people, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, whose dark web marketplace Silk Road was a major source for buying illegal narcotics and other drugs. Is this what the people want? Pardons for people who riot, attack law enforcement officers and peddle drugs?

Ellen Thomas, St. Louis Park

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Trump’s pardoning the violent Jan. 6 insurrectionists is an affront to our Constitution and American democracy. But, just as dangerous is the Republican Party’s unwillingness to stand up to Trump and denounce this wrongdoing — in essence colluding to rewrite history. It would be interesting to see their reaction if pardons were issued to some of the “fine people” who participated in the “peaceful protest” at the Minneapolis Third Precinct police station.

Dan Nielsen, Maple Grove