Trump Picks Up Police Support Even As He Glorifies Those Who Assaulted Police On Jan. 6

WASHINGTON ― As Donald Trump continues to glorify the accused and convicted criminals who beat and maimed police officers as part of his Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt, he appears to have unlikely allies: police unions, who thus far have not offered a single word of criticism.

One, in fact, has already endorsed the former president as he runs for the White House again. “President Trump’s history of support for the men and women of law enforcement is unmatched,” the International Union of Police Associations said in its Feb. 6 announcement.

An employee at the Florida-based union this week declined to explain why it was supporting someone who describes people who attacked officers ― one died hours after the assault ― as “patriots,” “political prisoners” and, most recently, “hostages.”

“It’s our policy not to comment to press,” the employee said.

IUPA’s silence on Trump’s praise for accused and convicted cop-beaters, though, is not unique. Police unions across the country, most notably the 375,000-member Fraternal Order of Police, which represents the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., and the Capitol Police, the two agencies whose officers were attacked that day, have said nothing.

In 2020, the FOP endorsed Trump over Democrat Joe Biden, even though Biden had often won the support of police unions when he was a U.S. senator and vice president. “The FOP is proud to endorse a candidate who calls for law and order across our nation,” FOP president Patrick Yoes wrote of Trump then.

Yoes did not respond to HuffPost queries about Trump’s praise for the Jan. 6 attackers, which has included a promise of pardons.

Michael Fanone, a former metro police officer who on Jan. 6 was attacked with a stun gun by a Trump