Even the most casual observer probably realizes that the Trump Presidency will go down as the worst in American history.
Malfeasance, in-your-face-corruption, disregard for the Constitution, disrespect of Congress, and blatant self-dealing will be among the legacies of this disgraced leader. And, of course, we can’t forget the President’s total lack of compassion for his fellow Americans during a terrible pandemic: the only thing he cared about was himself and his re-election.
And yet, the Trumpian nightmare continues on: there is still one month to go until the National Enema is completed.
Thirty days. How can Donald J. Trump further debase himself and the office of President in such a short amount of time?
Answer: He could pardon a whole lot of people.
Of course, the self-centered lunatic wouldn’t be doing this for compassionate reasons: he doesn’t roll like that. No, his motivations would likely involve (a) protecting himself, family, and loyal followers from criminal prosecution down the road, and (b) making money.
Accordingly, the last sad gasp of the Trump Presidency will (I predict) involve some outlandish pardons that will stretch to the maximum the Constitutional power of the Executive Office. It’s possible that Donald Trump will attempt to pardon everyone in his orbit…because they’ve all done some dirty shit…prospectively, i.e. in the likely event that crimes are identified down the road.
The President will also envision a way to pardon himself. He might even resign on January 19th so that bootlicker V.P. Mike Pence can do the honors. (The quid pro quo would be that Trump would have already pardoned Mr. Pence.)
The rationale for these blanket “pre-emptive” pardons will not be because the principals have done anything wrong or have been charged or convicted of a crime but rather, as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) has offered, “the Democrats have a bloodlust” to unearth Trumpian scandals. Thus, the President, guy who is not known for compassion, will do this to save the pardoned from undeserved harassment.
Right.
Trump being Trump he will also find a way to make a shitload of money from “pardons for sale”. I can envision a bunch of eye-popping pardon announcements that will be unknown to Americans until after Joe Biden takes office. These monstrous pardons will have been accomplished at the 11th hour, with only a few trusted (to-be-pardoned) White House officials “in the know”.
Only later, maybe months or years later, will American citizens learn of the quid pro quo. Or perhaps we will never know, because Donald Trump and his family are skilled at hiding things…like actual net worth, how it was acquired, tax liabilities, loan obligations, slimy arrangements with foreign powers, hush money paid to prostitutes, Federal dollars spent at Trump resorts, bribes received for Federal contracts, and so forth.
I would expect that anyone connected to the 2016 campaign’s cozy relationship with the Russians will be pardoned, as will those trusted lieutenants who were involved in Trump’s sloppy attempt to extort 2020 campaign assistance from the Ukrainian government.
Disgraced ex-NY Mayor and lawyer Rudy Giuliani, for sure. Wackadoodle political strategist Steve Bannon, yeah. Anti-American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, uh huh. Special White House Advisor on Fascist Tactics Stephen Miller will definitely need a pardon.
William Barr, soon-to-be-ex-Attorney General (and possibly disbarred)…yep.
As a matter of fact, for all the improper legal shenanigans and turd-polishing that Barr performed on behalf of Donald Trump, the guy might just get an 11th hour Presidential Citation. With the exception of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), probably no one enabled President Trump’s one-man Constitutional demolition like Bill Barr.
There is some speculation that the President will pardon traitor Edward Snowden, a buddy of Russian Premier Putin, who disclosed top secret stuff on a massive scale. Similarly, Julian Assange, who arranged for the WikiLeaks data dump that torpedoed Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016, might be in line for a pardon. Trump owes these guys, as he does Putin.
A bunch of Cabinet officials who have conducted the President’s hatchet jobs on various Federal regulatory agencies might need some Presidential cover via a pardon. As will the officials who arranged to sole-source the Mexico Border Wall contract to a firm who’d never built anything like it. And, the Postmaster General who kneecapped the U.S. Postal Service in an attempt to slow mail-in voting in the 2020 election…he’ll probably need one.
Sex-pervert Jeffrey Epstein, deceased, won’t need one, but his partner in crime, Ghislaine Maxwell, would benefit from a pardon (for child molestation/trafficking), and could fork over millions of dollars to offshore Trump family accounts. Keep your eye on that one.
Speaking of slimeballs with a lot of stashed offshore money, Ponzi scam king Bernie Madoff could provide a monetary temptation that would be hard for Trump to resist.
Another lowlife, Bill Cosby, probably still has a lot of loot from those Jello commercials…and he desperately wants to get out of prison before he catches a shiv.
The possibilities are endless. A news article last week quoted an anonymous White House source who claimed that the President’s closest advisors were sifting through an estimated 45,000 pardon requests.
Thank You, Jesus…one last, beautiful way to monetize the Presidency!
The big question that will remain unanswered until at least mid-January is the potential attempt for Donald Trump to employ the President’s expansive Constitutional pardon powers to shield himself from future scrutiny. The man’s audacity and shamelessness is legend, and it would not surprise anyone if the President gave it a try.
Most legal scholars question the Constitutional absoluteness of a President’s power to pardon. There is bedrock principle of natural justice and constitutionalism which states that “No man should be judge in his own case”.
In fact, in August 1974, when President Richard Nixon was up to his neck in the Watergate scandal, he contemplated a self-pardon and asked his legal counsel to research the possibility.
Just before Nixon’s resignation, and subsequent blanket pardon by incoming President Gerald Ford, the Justice Department Office of Legal Council issued a memo on the subject. “Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, the President cannot pardon himself”, said Mary C. Lawton, Acting Assistant Attorney General.
This legal opinion was not run by the Supreme Court for validation, so the common sense legal principle remains untested.
After Ford left the White House in 1977, he privately justified his pardon of Nixon by carrying in his wallet a portion of the text of Burdick v. United States, a 1915 U.S. Supreme Court decision that stated that a pardon carries an imputation of guilt and that its acceptance carries a confession of guilt.
That’s something to consider as the “pardon season” approaches.
President Trump, who has publicly mused about his “limitless” pardon power and the possibility that he could self-pardon, has said that he could probably pardon himself but, “Why should I do so when I’ve done nothing wrong?”
That’s a very good question Donald Trump will soon answer.