Shortly after Donald Trump walked onstage at a recent rally, the voice of an announcer instructed the crowd to rise “for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6th hostages.” Trump saluted, and the loudspeakers blasted a rendition of the national anthem performed by people accused or convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump then kicked off the rally with a promise to help the defendants — a group that includes violent offenders he has glorified as “patriots” and “hostages” and pledged to pardon if he returns to power. “We’re going to be working on that the first day we get into office,” Trump said at the rally this month in Dayton, Ohio.
That vow is part of a broader renewed emphasis by Trump to align himself with Jan. 6 rioters, as he intensifies his use of dark, graphic and at times violent language as he has closed in on and secured the Republican nomination. Until November, he called the Jan. 6 defendants, some of whom have been detained by court order or are serving sentences, “political prisoners” before introducing the term “hostages,” according to a Washington Post analysis of his speeches this campaign cycle.
The analysis also showed an uptick in his references to Jan. 6 defendants, as well as the word “criminals,” which Trump has used to describe prosecutors, political opponents, the press and undocumented immigrants.
The escalation overlaps with his own mounting legal jeopardy — a more than $450 million bond his lawyers say he has been unable to finance, while he appeals a civil fraud verdict against his businesses, and four separate criminal cases charging him with paying hush money to an adult film actress, mishandling classified documents, and interfering with the 2020 election results.