§70 —
On law and order
Democrat
FULL, COMPLETE AND UNCONDITIONAL
The paperwork. On January 20, 2025, a proclamation commuted the sentences of 14 named January 6 defendants and granted everyone else convicted for the events at the Capitol a "full, complete and unconditional pardon" 1. The Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney lists the grants since, with each offense as recorded: on March 27, 2025, a pardon for Trevor Milton, "Securities fraud; wire fraud (two counts)"; on October 17, a commutation for George Santos, "Wire Fraud … aggravated identity theft"; in October, a pardon for Changpeng Zhao, "Failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program" 2.
The page is still growing: 23 pardons and 6 commutations on September 3 of this year, and another on September 8 2. Law and order is the promise on the podium. The pardon attorney's page is where the second word gets its edits.
Sources
- Commutations for 14 named individuals; a "full, complete and unconditional pardon" for all others convicted of offenses related to the events at or near the Capitol on 6 January 2021 — proclamation, 20 January 2025 — The White House ↑
- Clemency grants, 2025–present, with offenses as recorded, including grants of 3 and 8 September 2026 — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Pardon Attorney ↑
Republican
LAW AND ORDER
The phrase has been his for six years. In the Rose Garden on June 1, 2020: "I am your President of law and order, and an ally of all peaceful protesters" 1. At a dinner for law enforcement officials on May 11 of this year: "I deployed our National Guard and federal law enforcement to restore law and order to our most dangerous cities" 2.
And the year's biggest crime number is on this side of the page. The FBI's 2025 data showed murder down 18.1 percent and robbery down 18.5 percent — by CBS's reading, the "biggest one-year drop on record" 3. A president who ran on order and presides over the largest single-year fall in murder in the record has a claim to the phrase, whatever the cause. The other half of the phrase is the law, and its paperwork is on the other side.
Sources
- "I am your President of law and order, and an ally of all peaceful protesters" — statement in the Rose Garden, 1 June 2020 — Trump White House archives ↑
- "I deployed our National Guard and federal law enforcement to restore law and order to our most dangerous cities" — Rose Garden dinner for law enforcement officials, 11 May 2026 — transcript ↑
- FBI 2025 data: murder down 18.1 percent, robbery down 18.5 percent; the "biggest one-year drop on record" — CBS News, 14 August 2026 ↑
“I read the pardon attorney's clemency page, because it's public, and the offenses are listed right there in their own words. March of last year, pardoned: "Securities fraud; wire fraud (two counts)." October: commuted, "Wire Fraud … aggravated identity theft." October again, pardoned: "Failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program." And the first day, the proclamation: everybody else from January sixth, "full, complete and unconditional." Then September third of this year, twenty-three more pardons. Sorry, before you go. Law and order — which of those two words does the clemency page belong to?”— Lou
“"I am your President of law and order." Murder's down eighteen percent, a record, and he'll take a bow for that. Then read the clemency page at his own pardon attorney's office. First afternoon: "full, complete and unconditional" pardons for January sixth, all but fourteen. Then securities and wire fraud, pardoned. Then wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, commuted. Then a failure to maintain an anti-money-laundering program, pardoned. The law is for the street. The order comes on letterhead.”
“The president believes in law and order, and a pardon is the law, and the order in which he issues them is his business, so every single entry on that page is law and order in its purest form.”