President Biden’s hypocrisy on full display: Pardons his own son after making a point about ‘independent’ justice"
In a move that’s being hailed as a “full and unconditional” pardon, President Joe Biden has announced that he’s granting his son Hunter Biden a free pass for all federal charges related to his time between 2014-2024. Just 50 days before leaving office, Biden had previously declared that he wouldn’t be making the move, stating he’d abide by the jury’s decision. But now, it seems he was just playing a different tune.
TL;DR
President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who was facing up to 25 years in prison for lying on a federal form about his drug addiction. This comes after months of saying he wouldn’t make the move, and is being met with criticism from politicians and others who called him out on his earlier stance. A case of “my family is more important than I am” - how about keeping your promises for once?
Good decision. Trump and his gang promised all kinds of revenge. They don’t play by the rules. So it makes sense to do whatever for your last son.
Agreed. If Hunter Biden’s issues hadn’t been politically weaponized so much, I doubt Biden would have done it, but the truth is, with Trump coming in to office and threatening retaliation, it makes sense to pardon him.
Good decision. Trump and his gang promised all kinds of revenge. They don’t play by the rules. So it makes sense to do whatever for your last son.
I would hope those that oppose Trump do not just adopt all his behaviors.
I mean I fucking hate Biden’s guts but it literally makes no sense to leave his son at the victim mercy of Trump. Whatever Hunter was getting was never going to be justice either way.
Edit: I Engrished.
This shows that none of the 2 parties believe that the democratic system in the USA works anymore.
Which means, it’s dead now.
Fight fire with fire, if you keep going high the other party will realize it means they can go low and you’ll never do anything about it.
I hate this approach and would rather lose. The high road is the only road. I take it not because it is easy, but because it is worthwhile.
If we’re going to start abusing presidential power preemptively, can we get some sort of executive protections for trans rights or waiving student loans? Things that’ll help someone other than the addict failson?
Canceling student loans would be hard to undo though. If we’re shutting down the Department of education anyway… who’s keeping track?
I think the issue a lot of us have with this is less that he’s stooping to Trump’s level, and more that he’s only doing it to help his own family. Abusing the office of the president is apparently fine and good if its done on behalf of someone who’s name is Biden, but the rest of the planet can get fucked.
Is he though? Isn’t one of the purposes of presidential pardons to protect a person from unjust political persecution. If Republicans weren’t Trump’s party I would agree it’s nepotism, but it is Trump’s party who will be in power. Trump has vowed to seek revenge on his opponents. Joe Biden is too old to really be punished as much as the Republicans want him to be, but Hunter Biden has many years left. MAGA Republicans could punish him for their hate of his father for at least four years, if not the rest of his life. Isn’t that one of the purposes of a presidential pardon?
“Unjust political persecution” - in whose eyes? Trump pardoned a lot of his cronies (for a likely quid-pro-quo) that were involved in J6 - is that a good use of pardon powers?
A president’s or governor’s pardon is inherently anti-democratic and political. One person gets to decide if the Justice System is allowed to finish it’s work or not, and thus we avoid having to address the why that in/justice was done by the system in the first place. When Biden pardoned non-violent drug offenders, that was a good use of pardon to reincorporate people who had erred and give them a second chance in society - but it did nothing for those who will fall foul of those same laws still on the federal register. The same with every death penalty clemency - we solve the scenario without addressing the issue.
I mostly agree. This is abuse of Presidential power so it is hypocritical for liberals to deny that… But, at the same time, if I were in Biden’s situation I would likely do the same. And here is why:
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It is his son. His last son. Of course any loving father will do whatever they can to protect their son.
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Why should Democrats care what Republicans think? Democrats are getting curb stomped by fascists who give zero shit about the integrity of our institutions or abuse of political power. They truly don’t. People voted for a pedophile felon traitorous oligarch. If you agree to an honorable sparring match of fisty-cuffs and your opponent pulls out a glock and shoots you in the knees and the crowd cheers for the cheater, do you have any moral or pragmatic reason to keep playing by the rules? No.
Then pardon Vindman, Liz Cheney, and everyone else who didn’t commit actual crimes that Trump will actually take revenge on too. Or just admit this is plain nepotism.
I voted for Harris, but I’m also sick of watching Biden single-handedly prop up MAGA with his ridiculous bullshit. And we’re not doing ourselves any favors by trying to justify this - the election’s over, we can stop pretending we like this guy now. Replace the failed leaders, yell at them until they go into the private sector. Now is the best time.
Well this is just plain nepotism. I don’t think anyone is questioning that. Maga doesn’t need any propping up, they won. They won by doing a lot more than nepotism and promising even more of it. It’s what people want it seems.
A grandpa at the end of his life doing something for his only son, how does that even matter.
If the republicans don’t like this, the democrats will happily support a supermajority legislature vote that starts limiting executive power.
I think he’s concerned Trumps DOJ is going to come after them. Still super shady. But that’d be my guess as to why he did it, beyond the whole, he’s my kid thing.
Should be illegal to pardon family members honestly. If there was ever an easy example of a conflict of interest, this is one.
You mean like Ivanka’s father-in-law who Trump pardoned and named ambassador to France?
Yep, absolutely. Presidential powers should be used for the good of the country, not the good of your friends and family. There are many legitimate reasons to pardon people but them being related to you is not one of them.
So what? Maybe it should be but it isn’t. The Constitution places virtually no limitation on the Presidents ability to offer clemency and no one in the last 250 years or so has seen fit to amend the constitution to change that despite the fact that the Republicans have been abusing the power of the pardon since at least the Reagan years. Now you are complaining because a Democratic President has used it *appropriately *to pardon someone who was convicted in a politically motivated circus?
What’s your point? If you break the law, you should be treated like everybody else, not pardoned by the president. It’s a bullshit ability that should be taken away from the president.
If this was a thread the last time the power was used to pardon friends or family I would be saying the same thing. This instance is not special because of the person who is in office. All instances have been wrong, unless there’s a real justification beyond a personal connection.
Dumpy may be expected to do shitty things in service to himself, his family and his associates but that doesn’t make it right. I believe rules and laws should apply to everybody, not just because they are on one party or another or believe one way or another or are of one socioeconomic status or another.
I’d say make it illegal to pardon people who committed crimes to protect you (Ollie North, half Trump’s advisors) first.
I read over Biden’s statement, and it makes sense to me. Hunter was singled out for political purposes. It would seem weird if Biden didn’t issue the pardon.
False. Hunter was charged and convicted of criminal acts that are generally unenforced for the rich and powerful. The fact that they are generally unenforced does nothing to offset the fact that his actions were ultimately criminal.
Not being given a “get out of jail free” card when all your friends got one for doing the same thing =/= being singled out for your political affiliation.
Selective enforcement is one of the justifications for jury nullification, so it seems that it should apply for pardons too.
It took them 8 years to find something with Hunter to be charged with. It was maybe the biggest political witch hunt ever. If you conduct a witch hunt, you’re going to find “witches”. Is this really what conservatives are scratching at? Because I would love for them to look at the last 5 year of dispensary ID logs and compare them to FID forms.
Again, not being extended a courtesy because you are rich and expect that courtesy to be extended is not the same thing as being the subject of a witch hunt. In EXACTLY the same way a lotto winner might have their old tax records reviewed, people in any kind of spotlight are going to be under increased scrutiny. People like Hunter have access to every resource imaginable to help them stay current on their taxes and avoid violating the law. Problem with people like hunter is that they expect to be treated with kid gloves so they take shortcuts. $1.3 million in back taxes isn’t a “whoopsie” most people get away with, and they shouldn’t. All Joe is showing America here is that the Biden’s are rich people first and American citizens second.
I’m not an American, and as such I don’t think it’s my thing to speak on so do not take this as an instructive comment, but I will reflect on it anyway. I believe that this was, on balance, a bad decision even if I understand it and can find good, honest reasons for Biden to do it. In the end, the POTUS has this power and is free to use it as the president wishes. I hope it will lead to something positive.
The fact that Trump has said that he might pardon Hunter and now is complaining about the fact that Biden did it himself shows once again how everything said by Donald is a convenient temporary truth. Even if this puts the light on Biden also being problematic with this behavior.
edit: a word
It’s a poison pill for pardons. Either they are essentially absolute and irreversible, or they aren’t and all of the ones Trump made and will make are up for debate. He can grumble all he wants but for Trump to call this pardon “such an abuse and miscarriage of justice” is absolutely laughable given the decade of insanity and illegal stuff coming out of his orange anus. The toilet photo of all the documents should have been enough to jail this man for life in a black site but I guess justice is a miscarriage after all.
