Violence shadows conference on democracy

This past weekend, a group called Principles First, a loose network of politically homeless Republicans and center-right independents in opposition to Donald Trump, held its fifth annual summit in Washington. The dangers to continuing democracy in America were very much a part of the agenda.

But the conference, which I attended, also became a dramatic example of these dangers when it was disrupted by a bomb threat.

The Principles First summit was first held in February 2020, when the presidential election was still several months away and most attendees, whatever their disagreements with Joe Biden, were hoping to see Trump leave the White House. The fifth gathering took place a month after Trump’s return to the White House. The mood this time was much more somber — but also more energetic and defiant. And while the first summit brought together two or three hundred people, this one had more than a thousand.

Speakers included several former Republican officeholders, among them former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele — as well as current Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a centrist Democrat. In many ways, Principles First is a big tent — but it is united in its insistence that integrity in government matters.

Some harsh words were spoken about the Democrats as well as Trump Republicans. Christie, who spoke on Saturday, was scathingly critical of Biden’s last-minute preemptive pardons for his family members as well as several anti-Trump officials and officeholders. Biden’s norm-breaking decision, Christie asserted, spurred Trump to issue a blanket pardon for the people convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riot rather than review individual cases.

But the Jan. 6 pardons ended up being a much bigger topic at the summit than anyone had expected.

Speakers on Saturday also included three former Capitol Hill police officers — Harry Dunn, Michael Fanone and Aquilino Gonell — who had been there during the riot and later testified about it. Before their appearance, the officers had been followed into the hotel by several members of the radical right group the Proud Boys, including leader Enrique Tarrio, pardoned by Trump after being sentenced to 22 years for seditious conspiracy. Tarrio posted a video of himself harassing the officers.

The next day, a message claiming to be from Tarrio was sent to the hotel saying that pipe bombs had been planted at the summit venue, as well as at the homes of Fanone’s mother and former Trump national security adviser and summit speaker John Bolton. Tarrio has denied responsibility. The floor where the summit was held had to be evacuated for a police sweep. No bombs were found, but the conference was interrupted for about two tense hours.

Whether or not pardoned Jan. 6 rioters had anything to do with the threat, these events illustrate a particularly pernicious aspect of the Trump pardons, which also covered related cases: the message of impunity for people who had committed political violence in support of the president, with an implicit license for further violence.

Unpunished violence by private individuals can be a weapon for authoritarian regimes as an effective tactic of intimidation. In America, we are not yet at that point. “America’s democracy,” Principles First organizer Heath Mayo told attendees after the event resumed, “cannot be cowed by threats like this or people like this.”

But we are in a dangerous time when such a principle needs to be affirmed.

Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.