What did Donald Trump do today?

He said he didn't know why he'd pardoned people who physically attacked police officers.

Trump held a press conference today, during which the following exchange with Peter Alexander of NBC News took place:

REPORTER: You would agree it's never acceptable to assault police officers?

TRUMP: Sure.

REPORTER: So then, if I can, among those you pardoned, D.J. Rodriguez, he drove a stun gun into the neck of a DC police officer who was abducted by the mob that day. He later confessed on video to the FBI and pleaded guilty for his crimes. Why does he deserve a pardon?

TRUMP: Well, I don't know. Was it a pardon? Because we're looking at commutes [sic] and we're looking at pardons.

REPORTER: It was a pardon.

TRUMP: Okay, well, we'll take a look at everything, but I can say this. Murderers today aren't charged. You have murderers that aren't charged. All over. You take a look at what's gone on in Philadelphia. You take a look at what's gone off in L.A. Where people murder people and they don't get charged. These people have already served years in prison and they've served them viciously. It's a disgusting prison. It's horrible, it's inhumane. It's been a terrible terrible thing

Trump then went on to say that the real criminals were the police officers pardoned by President Biden in an attempt to prevent them from being the victim of revenge from Trump because they'd testified in front of the House Jan. 6 Committee.

TRUMP: Joe Biden gave a pardon yesterday to a lot of criminals. These are criminals that he gave a pardon to. And you should be asking that question. Why did he give a pardon to all of these people that committed crimes? Why did he give a pardon to the J6 unselect committee?

It's not entirely clear from Trump's response—"we'll take a look at everything"—that he knew he'd already pardoned Rodriguez, or perhaps thought that the decision could be undone. (It cannot.) 

It's also not clear what "disgusting prison" or "inhumane" conditions Trump was referring to. The convicted Jan. 6 criminals who were sentenced to jail were not held in any particular prison, but were scattered throughout the federal prison system along with all other criminals according to their sentence and their places of residence. (Trump is himself a convicted felon, but has never been imprisoned or jailed.)

Notably, in one of yesterday's executive orders, Trump demanded that the Justice Department make sure that those convicts whose death sentence had been commuted by President Biden were "imprisoned in conditions consistent with the monstrosity of their crimes."

Trump's decision to pardon all of the people who participated in the Jan. 6 coup attempt, including violent militia leaders like Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, came as a surprise to a number of Republicans—including his own vice-president. Barely a week ago, J.D. Vance told reporters that Trump "obviously" would not pardon "violent" rioters who attacked police. It's not clear whether Trump lied to Vance, or whether Vance was never in the loop regarding Trump's actual plans.

Why does this matter?

• Prison isn't supposed to be fun, even if you commit violent crimes on behalf of a grateful politician. 

• Prison isn't supposed to be torture, even if your violent crimes weren't political.

• It's bad if the president isn't sure what he's done or why he's done it by his second day in office.

• Using violence to get political power is the core of fascism and the opposite of democracy.