Trump didn't pardon all those people as just, or even primarily, a PR move. He pardoned them so they could fight on his behalf again, and secure in the knowledge that he'll be there to protect them from any potential consequences (and so that others would come forward to fight on his behalf, emboldened by the same assurance of immunity from consequences).
A student of history would know that Hitler had Röhm killed and the brownshirts disbanded to consolidate power once the opposition and "secular" state were subsumed by the Party. But I don't think these people plan that far ahead.
Iirc He got rid of the brown shirts when he got real control of the military, so he didn't need them anymore. Trump will use the military for "legal" things and use/let the brown shirts do the illegal and messy things that competent officers wouldn't do.
I don't think Trump plans that far ahead either, but that's sort of beside the point, since he does have the right self-preservation instincts to arrive at the same basic conclusion, and for the same basic reasons.
Charles' journey through life has been an interesting one. I remember his blog in the early 00s as being something the right would always point me to in order to try to "school" me.