President Donald Trump late on Sunday pardoned 77 individuals who were accused of participating in a plot to install alternate electors who would cast votes for him in states he didn't officially win, guaranteeing that they will not be charged with any federal crimes. 

Among those pardoned were close associates Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, according to a Justice Department announcement on X that was captioned, "No MAGA left behind."

All of those pardoned were Trump's co-defendants in criminal cases related to post-election activities.

“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continues the process of national reconciliation,” Trump wrote in the pardoning document.

A symbolic gesture

At this point, the pardon is largely symbolic because none of those to whom Trump gave a “full, complete and unconditional” pardon has actually been charged with a federal crime.

To this point, all of the charges these individuals have faced have been at the state level.

Trump made it very clear that he was not including himself in the pardons.

“This pardon does not apply to the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump,” the document said near the end.

To the breach

Democrats allege that the so-called scheme to install alternate electors led to the January 6, 2021 Capitol breach, which they call a riot and an insurrection.

In reality, most people didn't even know about the attempt to install alternate electors or that there was any attempt to keep Trump in office after the 2020 election.

The waters are somewhat muddy because most Republicans were convinced that Trump actually beat Joe Biden and that there was either fraud or some other kind of cheating in play.

It's not much of a leap from that viewpoint to convening electors who would, in Republicans' eyes, right the wrong that was the 2020 election.

We now know that some of the reports circulated about fraud were not true, but very few people knew it back then.

It was a fluid situation, and I do agree that people should not be held responsible for what they didn't know at the time. Unfortunately, this has only added fuel to the fire of Democrats' arguments that Trump wants to end democracy, even though I believe that's the last thing he actually wants.