Pardoning Trump’s Opponents Isn’t Weakness—It’s a Stand for Democracy

A Pardon for Justice: Isn't it Biden’s Moral Duty in Trump’s America?

President Joe Biden should not only pardon Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney, and the entire January 6th congressional panel, but hundreds more who are potentially in the crosshairs of Trump, Musk, Patel and his other malevolent henchmen.

If you think the chances of Trump’s enemies getting prosecuted are small because, after all, none of them have committed crimes of any consequence, I refer you to Hunter Biden, who was pursued by David C. Weiss, a rightwing inquisitor appointed by the Trump administration under Bill Barr to take Biden down.

Hunter bought a gun and checked the box that said words to the effect of “I am not using illegal drugs” on federal Form 7743. So did millions of other Americans who possess and smoke pot, a federal crime even though it may be legal in their state.

As Jacob Sullum, writes for Reason, the “survey data suggest that millions of American gun owners are illegal drug users, meaning they are guilty of the same felony that Hunter Biden committed by possessing a firearm.”

Yet none of them were prosecuted for checking that box: On average, fewer than 100 people a year are prosecuted for checking the box and — with the exception of Hunter — it’s almost always used to increase the penalty for some other gun violation or for arrests for other things that peripherally involved gun possession.

The one guy in the past decade who was singularly nailed for that check-box violation (in addition to being arrested for criminal possession of drugs), Patrick Darnell Daniels Jr., had his case overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Similarly, Hunter failed to pay his taxes during the depths of his alcohol and drug addiction, but subsequently paid up in full, along with all fines and penalties. Cases like that never produce prosecution unless there are wildly aggravating circumstances (like it was discovered the source of their income was being a druglord). Literally billions of dollars are collected by the IRS this way every year and nobody goes to jail unless there are huge mitigating circumstances.

Nonetheless, and in the face of a court that wanted to cut a deal that would eliminate the chance of Hunter going to jail, Weiss pursued the prosecution that Donald Trump had ordered to put Hunter in prison for years.

As President Biden pointed out in his pardon statement:

“Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given noncriminal resolutions.

“It is clear that Hunter was treated differently. The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election….

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong.

“There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here.”

Every person who’s ever crossed Donald Trump has to be reflecting on what happened to his son with concern. Particularly after Elon Musk tweeted “My pronouns are ‘prosecute/Fauci’” and politicians like Bob Kennedy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Ted Cruz have all called for politically-motivated prosecutions and imprisonment of Democrats.

While these pardons would have the unmistakable flavor of a banana republic, that’s exactly what Trump, et al appear committed to turning America into.

Saying of Liz Cheney “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her,” is about as third-world dictator as you can get. Trump has also suggested he’s considering “executing” General Mark Milley and identified people in the media who’ve called him out with Stalin’s classic accrimination, “Enemy of the people.”

As NPR discovered when they investigated Trump’s threats:

“Trump has made more than a hundred threats to investigate, prosecute, jail or otherwise punish his perceived opponents, including private citizens.”

And pardons like Biden is said to be contemplating are not without precedent. President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon before any charges had even been drawn up, Bill Clinton pardoned his own brother, and Jimmy Carter gave a blanket pardon to 100,000 people who’d evaded the Vietnam draft.

Already, January 6th Committee chairman Bennie Thompson has said he’d accept such a pardon, and believes other members would, too. And former President Bill Clinton said of a Biden pardon for his wife, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, “I think if President Biden wanted to talk to me about that, I would talk to him about it.”

You could say giving and accepting these pardons implies guilt on the part of the recipients and is out of the range of normal, but we no longer live in a “normal” nation and haven’t since Trump took office in 2017.

And forget the argument that such pardons would “empower” or “encourage” Trump to behave in lawless or unconventional ways once in office: That ship sailed years ago.

Along those same lines, it’s important to remember that none of the people Trump has singled out for political prosecution have committed any actual crimes. On the other hand, Trump himself gave politically-inspired pardons to actual criminals who’d committed heinous acts, including Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, and Charles Kushner.

He’s also promised to pardon “on day one” the January 6th insurrectionists who are responsible for killing eight people, trying to murder the Vice President and Speaker of the House, trying to overthrow the government of the United States, and sending over 140 police officers to the hospital.

And now, we’re told, is the time to be abstemious in the use of the Constitution’s pardon power?

If Mitt Romney were about to ascend to the White House, I wouldn’t be making this argument.

But America is now about to descend into four years of terrible darkness and the very least President Biden can do is provide some small level of protection to those in the political and media worlds who have been courageous enough to call Trump out and try to hold him accountable for his many past crimes.

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