Pardon Palooza!

Costco sized packages of pardons available on Aisle 9 for a limited time only!

I had an unexpected experience today when a Democrat acquaintance with whom I trade good natured text barbs on policy and party politics sent me an interesting text.

Previously, he excused Hunter's pardon with the media line that Poppy Joe just loved his only son and if I had a felonious unregistered foreign agent/tax evader/bag man as a son, I would do the same thing. Not sure if that is true, I love my children but I’m going to say I probably would draw the line at a pardon.

Just this morning, he meekly excused the pardons of the J6 Committee members and staff, and Milley's pardon as well by claiming Trump was a threat to get his DOJ to go after them but the meekness was, I think, a function of him knowing that is exactly what Biden did to Trump and his family. I think he was beginning to see the family pardon coming and Biden’s transparent excuses for other pardons were beginning to bother him.

In the last text, he told me that he never believed anything I said about Biden – or Trump - until it was revealed Biden had pardoned his own family as the shot clock was running out today.

I'm not sure he really gets it, I think he knew how bad Biden was all along but was OK as long as Biden wasn’t getting caught - and now that this Costco family-sized pack of pardons dovetails with what Republicans have long been saying. It looks damning and directly goes to Biden doing things he condemned and said he would never do, but mostly, it makes Democrats look bad, so now he is concerned.

I’ve said it many times that my Mississippi granddaddy used to tell me that if you start bad, chances are you will end bad - and that is a perfect summation of the past four years of the Biden/Harris administration, the Democrats in Congress who supported them, and the shadowy cabal behind the public chained in Plato’s cave.

Biden’s regime was undoubtedly the most dishonest and duplicitous from top to bottom, from stem to stern, of any presidency of my lifetime. Nixon can’t even come close to the constant lying, the turbocharged gaslighting, and the complete dishonesty that permeated every single function of these past four years. Biden said he would never pardon his son – and when given the opportunity, he did. He said he would never pardon his family, and fifteen minutes before his awful reign ended, he did exactly that – and his willing accomplices in the media used those false pledges to beat anyone who openly suggested he was lying.

Speaking of Nixon, President Gerald Ford issued Nixon a pre-emptive pardon in 1974 under serious, but vastly different circumstances.

I can come up with five reasons why I think pardoning the J6 Committee and staff, Mark Milley, and his family members, especially at the eleventh hour, damaged the presidency, the Constitution, and the nation:

They undermine accountability and the rule of law. Preemptive pardons can be perceived as placing individuals above the law, potentially allowing them to evade responsibility for their actions. This perception can erode public trust in the justice system and the principle that no one is above the law.

They set a dangerous precedent. Issuing preemptive pardons may establish a precedent where future presidents feel justified in using pardons to shield allies from potential legal consequences. This could lead to the normalization of presidential clemency as a political tool, further eroding the integrity of the office.

They imply guilt of the recipients. Accepting a pardon can be interpreted as an admission of guilt as a matter of fact, the Biden/Garland DOJ specifically told J6 targets that accepting a pardon was an admission of guilt because without a predicating crime, there is no need for a pardon. By issuing preemptive pardons, President Biden suggests that the recipients have committed offenses – and he knows they did.

They politicize the power of presidential pardons. Using pardons preemptively, especially for political allies or family members, can be seen as an abuse of presidential power. Such actions may be viewed as attempts to protect individuals from legitimate legal scrutiny, thereby politicizing the justice system and undermining its impartiality.

They invite backlash and division. Preemptive pardons deepen political divisions by creating perceptions of favoritism and unequal application of justice. This can lead to public cynicism and distrust in the legal system and diminish the moral authority of the presidency.

While the president possesses the constitutional authority to grant pardons, the preemptive use of this power raises significant ethical and legal concerns. Once again the question of just because one can do something, should they do it comes into play.