The new Presidency will absolutely spin and use this event.
No need to spin. I think we can all agree that pardoning Hunter after saying for years that he wouldn’t is bad.
I don’t blame him because…fuck it, the system’s broken anyway…but I’m not gonna pretend like I support it
They will spin it regardless:-P.
Not everyone seems to be agreeing that this is bad.
Yes the system is broken but the optics here look REALLY bad.
I liken it to what happened to the post office: first they shoot it in the leg, then blame it for being slow, then move to kill it off, citing how poor its performance is and thus deserving of blame and yeah sure “that” is why it must be killed off.
Now they have that much more support to kill off the DOJ - b/c despite how the President can do whatever he wants, now the previous President also did whatever he wants too (not really but again, optics, especially to those who will refuse to dig deeper into learning about something, even prior to showing up with a gun to help “defend democracy”).
Yes the system is broken but the optics here look REALLY bad.
I’d say this is far worse:
To do the things they would have done anyway. This is what we chose for ourselves.
Yes but now it will be that much more difficult to fight against it - assuming anyone even tries.
Hunter himself pleaded guilty, and this pardon is prior to sentencing (there are reasons for such obviously), and the justification is not that he is innocent, but that people who commit this crime usually are punished in a civil rather than criminal manner. Plus Biden seemed to be firm that he would never do this, until then he changed his mind and did - which on top of “DOJ bad” adds a measure of “President can do however he pleases”. Especially for people who aren’t paying attention, these are powerful symbols.
Conservatives were going to try, and who are we kidding almost certainly will have succeeded (definitely eventually anyway, even if heavy pushback might have lengthened the timetable more than they would have preferred), but their chances of succeeding right away are now higher than they were last week.
I wonder what the alternative would have been - 16 months in jail for the crimes he committed (that was only for one of the two though), vs. what now that will shake the foundation of our nation?
It’s clear from Trump’s first term that he is not constrained by “optics” or “precedent” at all. He already pardoned a large number of his allies for personal gain. He was always going to abuse the system regardless.
I think he was going to do that regardless and come up with a bullshit excuse. Now he doesn’t need a bullshit excuse and he’s still going to do it. Big deal.
I mean, it’ll make it harder / less likely for people to oppose things. Unless I’m still way too naive even after this last term. I’m still way too naive even after this last term aren’t I!?:-(
On a more personal level, I think any parent would’ve given that pardon if they felt their child was targeted for their political career. I think he would’ve always regretted not putting his pride aside. On a political level, holy shit. Brace yourselves, folks, and take lots of notes.
Ya, next thing you know they’ll pardon Charles Kushner and make him ambasssador.
