Sociologist says dominant groups threatened by social change find support from President Trump

Record ID: 1952121

  • Title: Sociologist says dominant groups threatened by social change find support from President Trump
  • Date: 22nd January 2025
  • Summary: VALLEY FORGE, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - JANUARY 5, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN, SAYING: "And he promised to pardon them if he returns to office. Trump said that there was a lot of love on January 6. The rest of the nation, including law enforcement, saw a lot of hate."
  • Embargoed: 5th February 2025 01:59
  • Keywords: Democrats January 6 Republicans Trump consensus divisions pardons political divide
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: US
  • Topics: North America,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA00C517421012025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: In a few pen strokes, President Donald Trump reversed the largest U.S. Justice Department investigation and prosecution in history, as he attempted to rewrite what happened during the violent riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
    As he took office for a second term on Monday, Trump continued to claim, falsely, that the 2020 election was rigged and that he was the rightful winner. He has described the riots as a peaceful “day of love” rather than a melee aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
    For the convicted Jan. 6 defendants, and for the Trump faithful, the pardons were vindication for unjust persecutions by the president’s political enemies.
    "As the demographic composition of the country changes as a result of long-term immigration trends, as we move to a majority-minority society, this can create anxiety, and concern about groups that again, were formally dominant in American society and who may feel that their group position is undermined or threatened by these demographic changes," Chad Alan Goldberg, Professor of Sociology at The University Of Wisconsin, Madison told Reuters TV.
    Among the pardoned were more than 300 who pleaded guilty to either assaulting or obstructing law enforcement, including 69 who admitted to assaulting police with a dangerous or deadly weapon. Trump’s order commuted the sentences of 14 convicted of serious crimes, including Stewart Rhodes, former leader of the Oath Keepers. Trump also issued pardons for others, including former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, sentenced to 22 years for seditious conspiracy.
    Nearly 300 rioters had links to 46 far-right groups or movements, according to a study from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, a University of Maryland-based network of scholars that tracks and analyzes terrorist incidents.
    (Production: Deborah Lutterbeck)
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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