The pain and confusion of a personal connection to a Jan 6th traitor
I only found out about this 2 years ago. The perpetrator wasn't found for a year or two. We were friends and colleagues for several years beginning over 15 years ago.
I knew they had some slightly off the wall views, but did not know of anything that would bring them to act in the ways that they did that day.
They eventually pled guilty, and they were serving a prison term when pardoned by Trump. They accepted the pardon.
Any chance there ever was of me regaining compassion, let alone any respect for them, disappeared when they accepted the pardon. I was just listening to the one person who refused the pardon in the hearings. I so wish that there was a second person there, the one that I knew. I so wish they had done the right thing.
I've read many news articles on their actions and the superficial commentary in these articles on my former friend's background. There is so much more that no news articles got near. Things that make their actions seem even more irrational.
I drew back from my association with them because I felt and witnessed too many things that were just "off" from them in professional settings many years before Jan 6th. These things were subtle, but there. I was no longer comfortable with them. I don’t think many others noticed the strangeness.
I have my own hypotheses about what may have happened with them. But regardless of rationalizations, it still hurts. Someone I once respected and worked with, and was also friends with went completely off the rails. And they still appear to be there.
= new reply since forum marked as read
