'Real political risks': CNN host says Trump's latest move 'will come back to bite him'
Donald Trump made a risky decision right out of the gate that could come back to haunt him, according to CNN's Michael Smerconish.
The newly inaugurated president carried through on his promise to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters – including individuals who violently attacked police officers – on the first day of his second term, and Smerconish said Trump had a busy and controversial first week.
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"It's been a fire hose of information thus far, and, yes, the day is young – who knows what today brings? Smerconish said. "But what occurs to me is very few surprises. In other words, the things that are getting so much attention, for those who paid attention – obviously, you and the panel did to the campaign. He told us about DEI, he told us about birthright citizenship, he told us his definition of two genders. For me, the big surprise, the item on the agenda that causes the most risk of any blowback from his base [was] the J6ers. I thought that the breath of the clemency that was granted to the J6ers, in the end, if you believe the news accounts, he just said, 'Eff it, I'm going to take care of them all,' instead of going through a case-by-case basis, and I think it carries real political risk, as borne out by the fact that the largest police union in the country, which supported him in the past three elections, drew a line in the sand on that, and you look at those personalities who were just released from prison this week, they're not going quietly into the night. They want to be players."
"I think it's going to come back to bite him," Smerconish added. "I think there will be recidivism from some of the 1,500 or 1,600 who've been released, and what worries me most about that move is the message that it sends not only to those individuals, but the people who support them, that Trump has their back. So for me on this Friday morning, that's the headline of the week."
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