At a ballroom in Maryland on Saturday, as Donald Trump spoke to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, pardoned Capitol rioters shouted in adoration for the president, thanking him for setting them free from jail.
At the exact same moment, in a ballroom about 10 miles away in Washington, D.C. — blocks away from the White House — former police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, suggested there was no way to reunite the MAGA wing of the GOP with the Republicans who remain deeply disturbed by the Capitol riot.
“I went through my kumbaya phase, ‘we’ve got to work with these people,’” former Capitol cop Michael Fanone told the crowd. “Fuck that. We need to get everyone from MAGA out, never hold office again.”