My Thoughts On Calls By Beltway Elites To Pardon trump

So now that the indictments are starting to pile up, the Who's Who among the "centrist" (actually conservative) punditry in Washington are calling on President Biden to "become the statesman" and offer donald trump a blanket pardon for all sins "in order to unite the nation."

There are so many things wrong with that Beltway opinion it took me forty-two minutes to puke my guts out. I'm better now, still angry about it though...

The first thing wrong with Marc Thiessen and Danielle Plekta's proposal is that trump himself would never accept a pardon. Even he would recognize the pitfalls that would put him in. Above all, he loses the Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination on anything that pardon covered. If that covers his tax evasion stunts, that can block him from every business scam he knows to pull off. trump himself may remain protected but everyone who worked for him - could work for him - is screwed. It would cut himself off from every lackey he needs. It also opens him to Civil lawsuits on everything considered under the pardon. He will be stuck in courtrooms until the end of his days.

(There's a reason trump never issued a blanket pardon to the January 6th rioters and even his congressional allies who begged for them: They would have been compelled to testify on him as the DOJ/Special Counsel Smith's office went after trump for inciting it)

The next reason trump would never accept a pardon is that accepting such a thing would be an admission he did something criminal. It would go against his years-long screaming about "WITCH HUNTS" that fuels his "I'm the victim" narrative. He and his MAGA followers could pretend otherwise, but the mainstream media and millions of other Americans - not to mention the world - will never let trump live it down.

Somewhere in the back of trump's mind will be the thought that someone like Joe Biden can use that pardon to exact concessions from trump. Ever the mob boss, trump thinks in terms of "kompromat" all the time (one of the big reasons why trump held onto valued classified documents against foreign powers). Even if Biden takes the high road as Thiessen and Plekta suggest and issue a blanket pardon with no conditions, it will gnaw at trump that he will somehow owe Biden on this and trump's pride will make him reject that pardon.

But those are not the reasons why the Beltway pundits pushing for a pardon are wrong on this.

Above all, these pundits are wrong to claim that a pardon will "unite the nation" and let us "move on."

There are at least 81 million Americans - the number who voted for Biden - who will never accept trump escaping the justice of a courtroom and conviction. All they will see is a system of justice that punishes the lower rungs of the nation - the poor, the ones who can't afford lawyers, the low-ranking members of the military or civic administration who broke espionage and obstruction laws committing fewer crimes than trump has - while the power elites give themselves "Get Out of Jail Free" cards in order to continue their criminal acts down the road.

There will be at least 74 million Americans - the number who voted for trump - who will celebrate and crow that "their" boy donald trump "outwitted" the libruls who "hunted" trump as though winning cheap political points were the objective instead of upholding the Constitution and our belief in justice for all. Their behavior - already bullying and offensive towards those they hate - will get worse with the idea that as long as their Patron Saint trump is untouchable they can do whatever they like.

There will be no peace if trump is pardoned. There also will be no peace if trump is convicted in a court of law, there are no illusions about that, but at least there will be justice done.

No, the only real reason why the Beltway media is eager for Biden to issue trump a pardon is that it gets themselves - the blowhards, the opinionated, the often-wrong - off the hook for wasting 40 years of everyone's time on a Reagan Era Fantasy of (Conservative) Prosperity and Happiness that was never real.

These "Pardon trump" pundits are the same ones who went after the Clintons - especially Hillary - for slights and misdeeds without mercy or reason, they're the same ones who attacked Obama for any perceived flaw. These are the same pundits who gave Bush the Elder a pass when he issued pardons to everyone convicted or facing investigation into Iran-Contra. These are the same pundits who failed to go after Bush the Lesser for covering up the Plame Scandal by getting Scooter Libby commuted to time served, and told Liberals to "let it go" when they screamed about investigating Bush and Cheney for their lies that led to an unwinnable occupation of Iraq and a torture regime - that Thiessen himself cheers on - that blemished our global prestige.

Lemme ask you this, Mr. Thiessen: If Hillary Clinton had been charged and convicted on her secret server and her emails back in 2017-18, would you be calling on then-President trump to pardon her for the good of the nation?

What's happening here is that the Beltway talking heads, having built up their careers pushing a "Both Sides" narrative that equated Republican corruption to Democratic corruption, are running out of excuses for their lazy work. If they could point out the flaws and follies of Democratic elected officials, they did so in the desire to downplay or negate the sins committed by their Republican counterparts.

But they can't do that with trump's pending criminal charges on espionage, obstruction, and (hopefully soon) incitement to insurrection. There are no equivalents among the Democrats that make trump disappear from the judicial media coverage, there is no story out there to distract the Right-leaning media elites from the reality that their conservatism is clearly more corrupt than liberalism.

trump himself is trying to get the media to carry the stories about Bill Clinton keeping his memoir audiotapes in his socks drawer (which was investigated and the DOJ determined no laws were broken), and doing his damnedest to indict Joe Biden for having his Senatorial papers stored in a car garage (ignoring the reality that congressional paperwork follows different federal laws and guidelines). The wingnut pundits would love to spread those stories in the court of public opinion, but they are going to go nowhere in a real-life court of law where trump's crimes will attract attention across every corner of the globe.

So, I would say "HELL NO" to any attempt by Biden to pardon trump. President Biden, you will not be doing this nation or the world any favors by letting donald trump off the hook for the crimes he's committed.

You will only let the useless talking heads in our national media off the hook for being wrong for so long.

How Republicans Want Justice: For Themselves Alone

Update: Many thanks again to Batocchio for adding me to Crooks & Liars' Mike's Blog Round-Up. Please take the time to look at the other articles on this site, and please support the pro-choice groups out there as the wingnut Republicans take away women's rights, especially here in Florida as the idiot governor sneaks in around midnight to sign a restrictive anti-abortion bill without media fanfare while Ft. Lauderdale floods, the bastard...

You want to see the real weaponization of the American justice system?

It's not from state district or federal attorneys going after donald trump for illegal misdeeds he's openly committed (and in the case of the stolen classified documents, something he still brags about).

Watch as the Republican Texas governor openly - HAPPILY - plans to pardon a Far Right shooter who killed a Black Lives Matter protestor right after a jury convicted that shooter for murder (via Bill Chappell at NPR):

One day after a jury convicted U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Perry of murder for shooting and killing Garrett Foster at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he wants Perry to receive a pardon.

Perry, 35, hasn't been sentenced yet, but the state pardons and parole board is already starting to review his case, at Abbott's request.

"I am working as swiftly as Texas law allows regarding the pardon of Sgt. Perry," Abbott said over the weekend, via Twitter...

The governor didn't go into detail about why he believes Perry should be pardoned, but he cited Perry's attorney's explanation that Perry shot Foster in self-defense.

"Texas has one of the strongest 'Stand Your Ground' laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney," Abbott said...

The thing is, that jury weighed the evidence presented in court, and didn't believe Perry's claims of self-defense because eyewitnesses testified that Foster wasn't threatening Perry in that moment. It didn't help Perry that he bragged before going to the rally that he "might have to kill a few people." The jury did its job, and yet Abbott declared it 'nullification'.

One of the things I've heard and read about the legal system is how sacrosanct jury decisions are (just Google "juries are the bedrock" and see the results). The appellate system is loathe to overturn jury rulings unless there's proof the jury was tampered with or didn't receive the full facts of the case, and even then it's like moving mountains for the higher courts to do so. 

The matter has barely been settled in a court of law, and already Abbott wants to overrule the whole trial. It's not the jury committing nullification (the refusal to accept the legal facts of the matter and rule in contravention to what the court instructed), it's the state governor. 

Abbott is essentially guaranteeing a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for Perry, and signaling that he will offer the same deal to any other Far Right gunman eager to disrupt any protest or rally that offends their extremism.

Abbott isn't doing this because the trial was unfair, or because Perry is suffering any form of injustice (or requires some form of mercy due to medical emergency or personal loss). Abbott is doing this for partisan reasons, for pandering to the rabid Republican voting base convinced there's a shooting war between themselves and the dreaded Other (liberals, Blacks, immigrants, women, college students, and more). Abbott is doing this to "own the libs," and to make it clear that any protest - even peaceful ones guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution - can become a shooting gallery for MAGA wingnuts.

The Far Right meme of "Librul Hunting Licenses" just got real.

Abbott is doing this because Republicans don't believe in justice for all: Republicans want a skewed legal system that protects only them and punishes everyone else.

Gods help us.

Settling All trump's Business

As mentioned before, we're at the point where if trump is going to pay back his lackeys for their criminal misdeeds done in his name, the last 30 days before he gets dragged - literally by the sounds of it - out of the White House is when he's going to do so. Using the one tool in the Presidential arsenal he can deploy with no limit (he thinks, the law might disagree on some of them) or punishment: Pardoning his crooked buddies.

It makes a twisted kind of sense for trump to do all these near Christmas time, as though he was offering out gifts of mercy and justice. Except that he's not: He's handing out gifts to his grifters and even to war criminals. As Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo points out: 

What Trump has found time for is granting pardons and commutations to, among others, four Blackwater mercenaries who massacred civilians, three corrupt former Republican congressmen, and two former Border Patrol agents who shot fleeing suspects. Among the 26 partridges and pear trees in Wednesday’s tally are longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and Charles Kushner, father to Trump’s son-in-law, Jared.

Foreign agent and former sometime national security adviser Mike Flynn got a pardon. So did “coffee boy” George Papadopoulos, and more...

The ones in trump's orbit were the obvious ones, not just the lackeys who helped him cheat in 2016 with Russia's help but also the inner circle members who had family members, personal allies, or employees that needed a favor done.

The pardon to Charlie Kushner was a long-delayed payoff to trump's most loyal - and most incompetent - underling Jared. When you see what Kushner had been convicted of - massive acts of fraud, tax evasion, witness intimidation, and campaign fraud - you'll notice Charlie and donnie are pretty much brothers-in-crime cut from the same cloth. It's not surprising trump pardoned Kushner Senior: Not just because he's family by marriage, but because trump would think Kushner did nothing wrong since he does those things himself.

The Blackwater mercs seem to be a payoff to Erik Prince, one of trump's closest political and financial allies, but it also fits into trump's world-view that violence and cruelty towards others is perfectly acceptable. Those four war criminals had opened fire on an Iraqi public square at unarmed civilians back in 2007 and killed 17 people, it had taken years by 2014 for justice to be served, and now with a stroke of his pen trump undid all that. Without caring how this would look not only to Iraqis now betrayed by trump's callousness, but to a world that can no longer look to the United States as a beacon of justice.

It's not just the killers whom trump pardoned that underscores that cruelty:

Among the lower-profile pardons: one for Stephanie Mohr, a former Maryland police officer. Mohr was convicted for setting her K-9 partner on an unarmed homeless man who had surrendered to police during a burglary stakeout. Ricardo G. Mendez, a Mexican national, was not a suspect. He and another man had been sleeping on the roof of a printing shop in Takoma Park. She served ten years for a felony civil rights felony. The dog “bit a chunk out of the man’s leg.”

There wasn't a huge outcry for leniency towards Mohr, it's not like there was a constant drum-beat on even the Far Right media outlets defending her case. Yet trump found out about her and her act of cruelty somehow fit trump's ideal of how law enforcement should be encouraged to behave. Horrifying doesn't begin to describe the result this pardon deserves. Back to Sullivan:

The New York Times Editorial Board believes Trump “has made a mockery of mercy, doling out clemency to some of the most deplorable people in the country, an alarming number of whom happen to be his friends, while ignoring tens of thousands of more deserving applicants.” Trump has pardoned “a rogues’ gallery of wrongdoers who shouldn’t have been on anyone’s mercy list.”

But of course he would. Immediate family members are next, we suspect...

trump may be publicly claiming he's "won a second term" but he's governing this month like he's running out of time. That he'll offer pardons to his own kids and in-laws - who are currently under investigation and likely facing future criminal charges once they're out of power - even without specifying what they're needing pardons for will underscore the truth that everything trump and his people have done the past four years was run a criminal regime. Of course, trump and his children are too shameless to admit that.

The scary/funny thing is the likelihood trump will pardon himself. The one line that's NEVER been crossed even when the temptations were there for previous amoral/immoral Presidents facing their own fates (Nixon seriously considered it, but even he stepped back... and got Ford to do it instead). It's a line no ethical person ever conceived would be crossed: Taft, the only man to ever be President as well as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, never imagined the pardon power would be abused this way, and so granted that power a lot of leeway in its use.

But this is where power corrupts: When power is used for personal gain and avoidance of accountability.

And trump is going to do it. Everything points to him pardoning himself before he gets dragged out of the Oval Office. There is no norm of political protocol he won't break, there is no line he won't cross if it meant saving his own ass.

It will be the ultimate legal test of our Constitution, the limits of power itself when it is bent so far it becomes broken. It would be unlikely trump can pull it off: Most legal experts argue the concept of pardoning prevents it from being self-serving.

But trump has defied political and legal logic before. It is terrifying to think if trump gets away with this final act of firebombing our political reality.

Here Come The Pardons: The Beginning of the End for trump

(Update: Thanks this weekend to Tengrain for including this article in Crooks&Liars' Mike's Blog Round-Up! Have some pardoned turkey while you're here...)

And no, this is NOT the annual pardoning of the turkey I'm talking about. Per Ryan Lucas at NPR:

President Trump has pardoned his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who spent years enmeshed in an often bizarre legal war with the government that sprang from the Russia investigation.

Trump announced the news Wednesday on Twitter as Americans prepared to observe the Thanksgiving holiday this week.

So, yeah, he just... tweeted it out. Again. Back to Lucas:

Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador and then cooperated extensively with prosecutors. But he ultimately reversed course and accused the government of trying to frame him.

Flynn went so far as to withdraw his first plea of guilty and substitute a second plea of not guilty, even though he'd acknowledged the underlying conduct that was against the law and been close to receiving a sentence...

The Justice Department was not consulted about the Flynn pardon in the way it often takes part in the preparation of presidential pardons, a department official said on Wednesday. The official described the situation on the condition the person not be identified.

The Justice Department did get a "heads-up" on Wednesday, the official said, and the person said "this is obviously an appropriate use of the president's pardon power."

Justice Department leaders would have preferred, however, for Flynn's case to have been resolved in court, where federal Judge Emmet Sullivan still had not ruled on the government's request to abandon its prosecution...

It's that ongoing matter that may still be an ongoing matter even with this pardon. It all depends on the exact wording that will end up in the paperwork. For more, let's head over to Emptywheel who's been covering the Michael Flynn case for the past few years and (catches Emptywheel finishing off a once-full bottle of scotch) uh let's give it a minute, okay here we go:

None of the outlets reviewed how complex successfully pardoning Flynn will be, without making Trump’s — or Flynn’s son’s — fate worse. That’s true because the posture of the Flynn case before Judge Emmet Sullivan is such that Sullivan has multiple possible options for holding Flynn accountable, depending on when Sullivan moves and when Trump does.

If Trump pardoned Flynn for the crimes to which Flynn pled guilty, false statements, today, a Foreign Agent of Turkey pardoned right alongside a Thanksgiving turkey — then DOJ’s motion to dismiss the prosecution for Flynn’s false statements charges would likely be mooted. But there’s still a pending motion to withdraw Flynn’s plea before Judge Sullivan, which by itself mooted DOJ’s promises not to prosecute Flynn for hiding that he was working for the government of Turkey rather than just a foreign business in a FARA filing in March 2017. Plus, when Flynn pled, it was understood that would end the investigation, but given that he reneged on his plea, there’s nothing stopping DOJ from investigating Mike Jr for his involvement with Turkey, if Flynn were pardoned.

But that’s still not adequate. Flynn made multiple materially conflicting statements before Judge Sullivan and the grand jury. When directing amicus John Gleeson on what he should consider, Sullivan asked whether he should hold Flynn in contempt. Gleeson said that, instead, he should consider those additional lies when sentencing him on the charged crimes. DOJ argued that Sullivan should, instead, refer the charges to DOJ. Even if Sullivan referred those charges today and Bill Barr declined prosecution (as DOJ made clear in hearings they would), Biden’s DOJ could reopen the case. So to get Flynn out of trouble for his efforts to blow up his own prosecution, Trump would have to pardon those crimes as well. But if Trump pardoned Flynn today, Sullivan could wait and ultimately hold Flynn in contempt; while Trump succeeded in freeing Joe Arpaio of criminal contempt with a pardon, it’s not clear whether that could work preemptively.

Assuming Trump does pardon Flynn for some or all of these crimes, it would add several overt actions to obstruction charges against himself. So unless he’s sure that Mike Pence would give him a last minute pardon (or certain that his own self-pardon would withstand legal review), then pardoning all Flynn’s crimes would pile up his own exposure.

Then, if Trump does pardon Flynn, it will surely become a matter for a hearing before one or the other of the Judiciary Committees into Trump’s abuse of the pardon power. Flynn will have no Fifth Amendment privilege and Biden’s DOJ will have the ability to enforce contempt motions from Congress. As I have noted, in the process of attempting to blow up Flynn’s prosecution, Ric Grenell and Sidney Powell and DOJ have released documents that will make it far harder for Mike Flynn to sustain his claim not to remember what Trump’s involvement in the “collusion” with Russia was. Public testimony (or even depositions run by staffers) might elicit evidence that would subject Trump himself to conspiracy charges or might result in new false statements charges...

Not that any of this matters to trump. What's happening here, since there's little Flynn can do for trump personally anymore, is that trump is starting to clean up as much evidence of his criminal misdeeds that he can. For all of trump's bullshit about the 2020 election results - that Biden "stole" the win from him - he can't avoid the facts that Biden honestly won the Popular and Electoral votes and that no matter what Biden is getting sworn into office January 20, 2021. trump has a deadline now, and even he knows it.

This pardon is one in a long line of expected moves involving many of trump's handlers - Manafort, Stone, etc. - designed to "pay off" or confirm the loyalty of these corrupt people to the corrupt lord for whom they've done the dirty work. Even with the arguments about the Fifth Amendment and what these crooks may face in future criminal investigations, this is trump's way of making sure they remember they are all in the same boat and that they'll need to keep their damn mouth shut, any investigations and legal systems be damned.

This is all for show, political kabuki, trump giving these men a "clean bill" that they can then use to crow to trump's base. You can see it already with other Republicans hailing Flynn as a "victim" of wanton librul witch-hunting. This is trump playing to the cameras, not to the legal system or the history books. 

But like everything else trump does, as Emptywheel is pointing out, it's being done in a haphazard way, without much thought or care into the process. Meaning that, despite all of trump's hopes, his pardon power doesn't have the reach he thinks it has. Flynn is still vulnerable to jail time. Prosecutors are bringing up their arguments that Manafort should face his state charges - which had been dismissed earlier - because the federal ones he's been convicted for are about to get washed away.

And has been noted before, any pardons trump thinks he can make for himself isn't going to save him from New York's legal system: Rumors abound that both the criminal and civil investigations into possible tax evasion and fraud are set to go out the second trump is no longer in office.

trump's faithful can yell and scream all they want. The media punditry chiding Biden into offering trump a pardon so "we can put this behind ourselves for the good of the nation" need to recognize that JUSTICE should matter more than their fantasies of bipartisanship (THAT ship sailed the minute Mitch decided to obstruct Obama 24/7 back in 2009). trump's caused too much damage to our political norms, trump has committed too many crimes in office and beforehand to be so easily forgiven.

trump is at the end of his last big con. This is all just him flailing about as he falls into the deep pit he deserves. It's now a question of how many deluded souls fall in with him.

trumpian Abuse Of Power, Expected And Still Shameful

This was, to some extent, expected.

Through all the buildup, through all the arrests...

Through all the trial hijinks...

Through all the facts, and the presence of justice with GUILTY verdicts for Roger Stone's misdeeds...

trump is still trying to wipe away all evidence of his sins with his abuse of pardon powers, by commuting Stone's sentence late Friday night. Via Maanvi Singh at the Guardian:

The commutation does not erase Stone’s felony convictions the way a pardon would, but it allows Stone to avoid setting foot in prison for his crimes.

Echoing the language that Trump has used in tweets and speeches, the official White House statement attacked the “witch-hunts” led by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, who was investigating Russian interference in the 2016 elections...

While not unexpected, Trump’s move to spare Stone from prison will only increase alarm among critics concerned that the Trump administration has interfered with the justice system in order to shield the president and his friends...

A lot of this has to do with Stone, being one of trump's longest-standing partners and supporters, dropping enough hints to trump that he didn't want to spend one day in a jail cell. A lot of this has to do with trump sending more signals to others - Mike Flynn, still awaiting judgment despite all of Bill Barr's meddling; and Ghislaine Maxwell, a person who can link trump to suspiciously-dead Jeff Epstein involving sex trafficking of young women - than he will commute and pardon them as long as they play ball and keep their mouths shut.

trump and Barr and their Far Right allies can yell and scream "witch hunts" all they want, the thing is when it came time to present trump's cronies and buddies in a courtroom to face accusations, almost all of them were found guilty of at least one criminal offense. We are talking about a group of power elites who used and abused the legal system to use and abuse the worlds of finance and business, wrecking human lives in the process and not giving a damn because someone was always covering their asses. Quaint little quid pro quos to let them keep their hold on power going.

It would be pretty to think that the Democratic House can reopen impeachment hearings, this time involving Barr with his intentional sabotaging of the legal process, to confront trump on his cover-ups and his sins. They still should do something about the findings of the Mueller Report, if they've gotten the unredacted parts of it there is still a chance that could go public.

But it will go nowhere because a Republican Senate will NEVER hold trump accountable. The likes of Mitch McConnell profit from having that crook in the White House. The Republican Party cannot admit to their own crooked passions as they hypocritically and falsely accuse the Democrats of being the "real villains" in all of this.

This is why it matters more than ever to get the damn vote out, America. This is why it matters to vote FOR the Democrats to stop the Republicans from their continued criminal misdeeds. Even in the face of obvious electoral suppression and interference by trump and every other Republican official, voter turnout is the one thing they can't control, they can't cheat if it's too big for them to lie about.

Everything's at stake now, America. trumpian abuse of power HAS to end, and you're the only ones who can stop him.

NSFW You're DAMNED RIGHT I'm Cursing trump For His Corruption of Pardon Powers

Just a few notes to consider:

trump's recent use of pardons - freeing white collar criminals and political scandal figures like Blagojuice, Blagomeister, DAMMIT lemme speel it right Blagojevich (!) - is essentially the Shitgibbon signalling to the federal Judiciary that he can fuck up any criminal accountability and free anybody - especially his own lackeys facing jail time like Flynn, Manafort (already in jail) and Stone - he likes. trump is basically attempting to shove every one of his scandals under the rug so he can crow about it to his MAGA fans during the 2020 campaign.

Never mind this exposes his "drain the swamp" campaign "pledge" for the fraud it has ALWAYS been. His base will never question it and the Mainstream Media will gloss it over, normalizing the new reality that JESUS GODDAMN CHRIST WE HAVE A GODDAMN MOB BOSS IN THE OVAL OFFICE.

Jesus. I didn't think I'd ever have to stumble over spelling Blago's name ever again. Christ, this is going back to 2009, before I was more serious about hashtags. DAMN YOU trump!

Today is apparently the big day. Roger Stone is facing his sentencing hearing, something trump and his AG lackey Bill Barr had been meddling in during the past week. The over/under on trump issuing Stone a full pardon by nightfall would be good betting odds.

Goddamn us. We are heavily royally motherfucking screwed.

Every Violent Man trump Will Set Free

I dread this year's Memorial Day - usually meant as a moment for Americans to honor war veterans (albeit slightly different from Veterans Day) - because of the way the Shitgibbon-in-Chief is going to desecrate the purpose of today.

For some background, let's refer to Aaron Rupar's article at Vox.com:

Taking cues from Fox News, President Donald Trump is reportedly considering commemorating Memorial Day by pardoning several American troops accused of war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan...

On Monday, the Daily Beast reported that Trump’s interest in the pardons is in part a result of “a months-long lobbying campaign” by Iraq War veteran Pete Hegseth, a Fox & Friends weekend co-host who doubles as an informal adviser to the president.

Hegseth reacted to the Daily Beast’s report by tweeting it with hashtags calling for pardons for Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL leader who is awaiting court-martial on charges he shot unarmed civilians and stabbed a defenseless teenager while deployed to help Iraqi forces fight ISIS in 2017; Mathew Golsteyn, a Silver Star recipient (the honor was later stripped) who admitted to killing a Taliban bombmaker in Afghanistan in February 2010 and is scheduled to be tried on charges of premeditated murder; and Clint Lorance, who is serving a 19-year sentence following his conviction on murder charges stemming from the shooting of three Afghan men in July 2012...

But it is not “the left” that has accused the troops in question of war crimes — it is the military justice system. While Trump seems to view the pardons as a gift to the military, it’s actually the military that has decided to prosecute Gallagher and Golsteyn. Pardons, in short, would interfere in prosecution instigated by the military, which is an extremely unusual thing for the president to do.

“Absent evidence of innocence or injustice the wholesale pardon of US servicemembers accused of war crimes signals our troops and allies that we don’t take the Law of Armed Conflict seriously,” Gen. Martin Dempsey, who served as President Barack Obama’s senior military adviser, tweeted on Wednesday. “Bad message. Bad precedent. Abdication of moral responsibility. Risk to us.”

These violent men - who'd have been charged with serial murder and other acts of violence if they did any of this as civilians - are going to get pardoned by a well-documented draft dodger (Google "President Bone Spurs") who seems to think that regular soldiers - our best soldiers - go around like pumped-up Rambos shooting everything in sight.

trump is openly interfering with ongoing military trials - Gallagher hasn't been convicted yet making his possible pardon an unjustifiable preemptive move - all to score political points with a voting base who eagerly cheer on any act of violence against anyone not of their tribe (and Iraqi and Afghani civilians fit that definition).

And if trump thinks this will mollify or encourage greater acts of violence from our troops, he's only stirring more intraservice dread and disunity. If you read the reports on Gallagher, his fellow Navy SEALs were horrified by his blood-thirst and kept reporting him up a chain of command that didn't want to hear any of it. That his own unit turned him in and are willing to testify shows how twisted Gallagher got... and now trump's planned pardon will mock their honor in doing so. As John Cole - a battlefield Iraqi War veteran - notes at Balloon-Juice: 

...pardoning war criminals doesn’t honor our troops regardless what fucking day of the year it is done. It’s a spit in the face of every man and woman who served honorably in the military. It’s saying “hey- you’re all murderers anyway.” It’s fucking disgusting.

There is a genuine threat to discipline here: Commanding officers will find it harder to keep the more violent soldiers on a leash if those men believe trump will issue them a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. The troops who don't agree with that violence will realize their military legal system is useless and take matters into their own hands. We'd be bringing back the worst traits and behaviors of Vietnam...

Despite what trump and his Fox Not-News buddies think, our military takes the status of "Noncombatant" civilians seriously nowadays. They want to avoid random acts of bloodshed against innocents, and not because we've been there before with atrocities like My Lai. 

It's because of the very nature of the ongoing War on Terror we're in right now. The enemy we're fighting isn't troops on a battlefield, it's mad bombers and snipers hiding among the civilians using them as human shields and daring us to kill 'em all in order to make their war zone a quagmire to trap us until we're broken. Every time our side commits an atrocity the terrorists win. It makes it harder for the United States to justify its actions overseas, alienating our allies on the ground and converting more people to side with a devil they know (the terrorists).

But trump doesn't care about any of that. he's all about appeasing his base and rewarding those he thinks will serve himself.

An honest Commander-in-Chief would never go this low.

And GODS HELP US how these pardoned killers will get feted and honored by the Far Right when those pardons clear.

We are so very royally violently fucked.

And We're At the Point In the trump Criminal Proceedings Where the Crook Is Desperately Bullying His Way Out of Certain Doom

I'm gonna throw this up here:

You might notice a few things.

Yeah, I have the fucker Blocked. I had to crawl through Anne Laurie's link at Balloon Juice to pull this up.

Second, trump argues "stated by numerous legal scholars" but fails to mention even ONE by name. This is a strawman defense: if he even succeeds in finding one legal expert to back his claim, I guarantee you there will be five others arguing that a President cannot self-pardon based on the legal premise that a person cannot serve as a Judge (and by example, provide a legal decision such as pardons) in his own case.

Third, he tries to wiggle out by saying "when I have done nothing wrong." But has any other person sitting in the White House ever bring up such an argument to self-pardon before? Innocent people don't beg for pardons, only criminals do. I know Obama hadn't, because Fox Not-News/Limbaugh/Breitbart/D'Souza and the rest of the Far Right Noise Machine would have thrown the biggest conniption in history. I don't think it ever came up as an issue for Dubya. although it should have regarding the blatant human rights violations of torture he oversaw his tenure. It may have come up during Clinton's impeachment, but to be honest I don't recall if it had, and again the goddamn Far Right Noise Machine would have pulled that conniption bit.

Finally, he ends his pity party tweet by claiming the Mueller investigation is - once again - A WITCH HUNT, which is generally offensive to actual witches and ignores the fact that Mueller is actually catching people with indictments and guilty pleas.

What this tweet represents is a warning flag from trump's camp, trying to rally other Republicans to defend him when (not if) the situation gets to where trump makes his attempt to self-pardon.

Again, this would require enough - even ONE - Republican Party leader to step up and slap trump down for his criminal hubris. That will never happen. This party is led by cowards afraid of their angry wingnut voter base AND their greedy wingnut SuperPAC funders.

In the end, this really requires enough American voters - ALL of us not beholden to trump's lies and destructive ways - to step up this midterms and VOTE THE GODDAMN REPUBLICANS OUT OF OFFICE. Get Democrats in control of the US House. Do what we can to swing the US Senate Blue. Get enough state legislatures and Governor seats under Democratic majorities.

This is war, where trump is firing off every tweet to burn a section of our Constitution away with his ignorance and hate.

Stand up. Vote Democrat. For the LOVE OF GOD, STOP trump at ALL costs.

trump Is Destroying Everything? Must Be Thursday

Oh lord, this was a crazy day.

Trump started the day off with a trade war, not with China not with Iran not with Russia not with North Korea, a trade war with Canada, Mexico, and much of Europe. Basically, pissing off our allies. Via Business Insider:

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Thursday said steel and aluminum tariff exemptions for the European Union, Canada, and Mexico would expire at the end of the day. Starting Friday, he said, steel imports from those countries will be subject to a 25% tariff, and aluminum imports will be hit with a 10% tariff.

The US put in place exemptions for key allies after first announcing the tariffs in March. But the exemptions were designed only to be temporary reprieves.

With negotiations going nowhere, Trump decided to go forward with the tariffs...

trump apparently wasn't getting the kickbacks or Quid Pro Quos he wanted, so BOOM goes the economy. Canada is bound to retaliate, Mexico is in no mood to play nice with trump already, and Europe? Well:

The EU is expected to respond with tariffs on a little more than $3 billion worth of American goods including motorcycles, bourbon, and blue jeans.

Considering how our economy has NOT gotten the promised boosts from Paul Ryan's godless Tax Cuts For the Rich - the 2.2 percent GDP this quarter is middling - the hit we're about to receive is gonna sting. Combine that with the fact that these tariffs are raising prices on ourselves on these imports, this is essentially the nation as a person punching ourselves in the face. Back to the Insider:

By increasing the cost of imported steel and aluminum, companies that rely on the metals will be forced to either accept the higher costs and lower profits or pass on the price increase to consumers.

For instance, the Beer Institute — an industry group that represents US brewers — warned that aluminum tariffs would drive up the price of beer cans. The Beer Institute estimated that the increased costs would in turn force brewers to save money in other areas, such as by laying off workers or raises the prices paid by consumers.

Again. We're punching ourselves in the face here.

The stock market - which didn't respond too well to trump's earlier plans to tariff the United States into Third World status - took a noticeable nosedive today much like they did they last couple of tariff announcements. You'd think Congress would notice these things and send up panic flares to their deep pocket SuperPACs to, you know, serve their own economic interests and cut trump's base off at the knees...

And that was just before 10 AM.

trump followed that up with making plans to pardon the likes of Dinesh D'Souza. I dunno if I mention him much here, but D'Souza is a failed academic who keeps selling himself as a conservative intellectual who spends far too much time insulting the ever-loving hell out of liberals like it's his only mission in life, using that reputation to shill himself to the Far Right media outlets needing an ethnic person to deflect accusations of racism that D'Souza himself revels in.

trump's pardoning is not out of any actual injustice - D'Souza was caught and plead guilty on campaign finance fraud - but because D'Souza is a political hack on trump's side of the fence. It's also rubbing this in the face of prominent trump critic Preet Bharara, the federal prosecutor who sent D'Souza to the big house (D'Souza is actually taunting Bharara about this).

But this is more than just trump giving out pardons like candy at Halloween. This is trump sending a clear message to the nation and to his political and business cronies. Via Slate.com:

First and most obviously, by pardoning D’Souza, the president is signaling—and frankly, let’s just call it shouting aloud—to the Michael Flynns and the Paul Manaforts and the Michael Cohens in his world that Everyone in America Who Helps Donald Trump will eventually get a pardon. This is how he has previously deployed his pardon power, and it is not a complicated message when there are several people around you who are contemplating plea deals versus lengthy prison sentences.

And as Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall was quick to point out, by pardoning someone as usefully racist and homophobic as D’Souza, Trump is also winkingly letting America know that this sprawling tribe of conspiracy theorists and racists and provocateurs and misogynists and performers of casual hate will always have a champion in the White House. Solid...

...While Trump’s pardon of D’Souza grows, in part, out of Republicans’ broader war on the fundamental legitimacy of campaign finance law, now is an opportune moment for the president to explicitly hop on that bandwagon. Investigations into his close allies keep centering around possible campaign finance violations in which Trump may have been complicit. By dismissing the prosecution of D’Souza’s illegal straw-donor scheme as somehow unfair and ideological, Trump is pardon-signaling, setting the table for a next round of campaign finance pardons...

The crook in the White House is letting the crooks on his team know they can get away with robbing the liquor stores and banks and pension plans of the nation.

This is all on top of how trump is abusing executive powers on immigration - #WhereAreTheChildren - and failures of leadership - we are now getting estimates that the actual death toll in Puerto Rico is over 4,600 - which have been news stories deserving far more attention than the mainstream media is giving them.

We are so very extremely royally fucked going into June.

The Friday Night Trumpster Fire

Fridays at 5:00 has turned into the Infodump Hour in American politics. Government agencies or officials would just throw out there some scandalous tidbit or perform a questionable act before rushing off to hide until Monday. Let's be honest, most people just shut their brains down for the weekend and when they have to go back to work they'll get distracted by something else.

This particular Friday August 25th was noteworthy because that day the Texas coastline was getting slammed by Hurricane Harvey, a Cat 4 storm that promised to linger over the eastern half of the state for the entire weekend, which anyone with any experience with storms will tell you was going to cause massive floods, serious damage, and loss of life.

So what does Loser of the Popular Vote trump do before he heads out for yet another golf holiday?

he drops the mother of all Infodumps, with the knowledge that most of America is going to be focused on the Texan catastrophe.

• trump issued an executive ban on transgender troops in the military, causing untold havoc. he's intentionally kicking out those who would WILLINGLY SERVE THIS NATION WITH HONOR all to placate the religious wingnuts who can't handle gender identities. This also underscores how trump - who begged out of the Vietnam War and got a deferment for bone spurs no one has ever verified - is a goddamn gutless coward not fit to lick a transperson's marching boots.
• Just after that, trump pardoned convicted ex-sheriff Joe Apraio, who was facing six months for ignoring federal court orders trying to stop him from violating Hispanic Americans' rights.

The transgender ban will likely get delayed: organizations like the ACLU are already heading to courts to stop it. The most shameful and horrifying act was the pardoning of Arpaio, for two key reasons. First, referring to guest columnist Charles Kaiser at the Moderate Voice:

Here is the most logical way to view his pardon of Sheriff Arpaio: It is the latest and gravest step he has taken in his continuing efforts to undermine the rule of law. Obviously Trump delighted in fueling the racism of Arpaio’s supporters by pardoning this convicted criminal — he made that clear earlier this week during his repellent speech in Phoenix. But I am certain that is not the main reason for this heinous act.

For many weeks, Washington has been swirling with rumors that Mueller already has secured the cooperation of Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort in his investigation of the president. And Trump undoubtedly is more vulnerable to the testimony of these two men than he is to that of any other players in this fearful drama. Therefore, Trump must feel compelled to send this message through Arpaio’s pardon: The president is eager and willing to do the same thing for anyone who might be pressured into testifying against him...

Second point: Arpaio is one of the worst persons in American history in terms of his racist and criminal misdeeds as a county sheriff in Arizona. How bad was he?

The Phoenix New Times ran a list. It's horrifying:

• He ran his prisons like concentration camps... and bragged how he did so.
• He left prisoners out in the Arizona heat, or stuffed into cells without air conditioning.
• He would publicly humiliate prisoners beyond anything the Eighth Amendment allowed.
• An alarming number of hanging deaths - suicides? staged? - happened in his jail cells.
• Female prisoners are denied access to medical care, to the point where pregnant prisoners lost their babies.
• He obsessed over arresting Latinos to where even bystanders at crime scenes would get rounded up.
• His department routinely under-investigated other crimes such as rape while he posed on the national stage over his anti-immigrant acts.
• He oversaw a department of like-minded sadists. How else to describe what the hell they did to a poor dog?! JESUS...

THIS was the piece of shit trump pardoned. This is a guy who gives John Chivington a run for Worst American Ever. And trump pardons him to appease the hater base.

Because as a like-minded bully, trump didn't see anything Arpaio did as wrong. Because trump wants to do exactly those things to everyone of his own critics and targets.

So that was what happened Friday night.

As for the weekend?

Everyone's pissed about Arpaio. Everyone's horrified by the mass flooding that's wiping out Houston. trump is busy bragging about a book getting published by one of his sadistic buddies.

We are so royally fucked, America.

What If: trump and the Pardon Power

So hey, if it's time for some Game Theory (as Eric Garland would put it), how do we game out this ongoing disaster that is the trump Administration?

Right now, we're in the middle of an ongoing and expanding special counsel investigation into potentially criminal ties between Russia and trump's Presidential campaign.

As it stands now trump himself is "not the target" of the investigation, but so many of his people in his Inner Circle are - Mike Flynn, Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, and more - that there's every likelihood that trump is tied to at least one felony violation. Given trump's history of questionable business deals, that likelihood jumps higher.

And let's include the Obstruction of Justice situation over trump's firing of FBI Director Comey.

So let's just say the Progressive/Democrat/Sane Person's Fantasy comes true to the last detail: That Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigations into trump-Russia-Gate prove that trump's campaign actively colluded with Russian spies and hackers to subvert the 2016 Elections (including hacking into electronic voting machines to skew results); that the active collusion not only involves trump but also VP Pence, Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and various other Republican Party leaders and campaign experts in a massive conspiracy (that itself can be a criminal charge); that there were acts of bribery, slush funds, illegal payoffs, and money laundering INVOLVING FOREIGN DONORS (an electoral No-No); that there were acts of extortion involving hacked emails of both Democrats and Republicans; and that trump actively Obstructed the investigations by firing not only Comey but also other government officials such as Sally Yates (who warned the White House that Flynn was compromised).

So there's about five felony charges at the least facing President Loser of the Popular Vote donald trump.

What the hell happens next?

In a sane and just world, Congress would move to Impeach trump (and other high-level officials) to prevent his further abuse of power.

But a Republican-controlled Congress - especially with Ryan and McConnell at the helm - will likely not do so. Even if Ryan and McConnell are dragged off in handcuffs, the remaining majorities in the House and Senate will likely remain Republican. And the Republicans are cowards.

In the meantime, since the investigation would reveal trump's criminal misdeeds, the federal agents authorized to arrest him on those charges - I dunno if it would be the FBI or the US Marshals, what the hell let's make it Gibbs' team from NCIS - are hurrying over to the nearest trump Golf Course to slap the handcuffs on him.

But before Gibbs can get through the door, trump rushes over to a table and fills out official Presidential Pardon papers that he issues to himself regarding those crimes and any others he may have possibly committed beforehand. Essentially giving himself a "Get Out of Jail Free" card (he may include everyone else arrested, but knowing trump he'll likely let most of them hang for "their failure" to serve him).

Can trump even do that? Can ANY President pardon himself?

It's a serious question, and it's come up often during major scandals like Watergate, Iran-Contra, and Whitewater.

It starts off with the question if Presidents can be charged while in office. Given the nature of their duties, there's a likelihood they may violate laws both domestic and foreign - such as war crimes - and if they can be charged on even a minor issue it could prove distracting. However, previous Supreme Court decisions argued that the President is NOT above the law, so if there are felonies involved - especially ones that threaten the Constitutional system - this situation may fall into precedent and trump can get charged.

If we go to Brian Kalt over at Foreign Policy:

I have been writing about presidential self-pardons for years. My position has always been that they would be legally invalid. I have also believed that a self-pardon is unlikely to ever happen because there are too many incentives weighing against it. But I am not sure that applies to Trump, who has proved he has a high tolerance for personal risk and a taste for attempting the never-before attempted.

So what would happen if Trump attempted a self-pardon? First, some pardon fundamentals: Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution gives the president the power to “grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” Pardons thus can only cover federal criminal offenses and cannot thwart an impeachment (which technically is not a criminal prosecution anyway)...

...If a court ever did consider the issue, the decision could go either way because there are reasonable arguments on both sides. The president (or ex-president by the time he would be prosecuted) would have a very simple case that his self-pardon was valid: There is nothing in the Constitution that explicitly forbids it.

The prosecutor’s argument, while much more complicated, is a stronger one. First, a textual argument: The word “pardon” means something inherently bilateral, something that a sovereign bestows upon a subject. Consider more colloquially that you can beg someone else’s pardon, but you never seek or receive one from yourself. While there is admittedly no explicit limitation on self-pardons, there is no need for one, because a self-pardon is by definition not a “pardon...” 

...The prosecutor can also appeal to the venerable maxim that no one may be the judge in his own case. If a federal criminal defendant feels unjustly accused, he must convince one of the following to back him: the U.S. attorney (who can drop the prosecution), a majority of the grand jury (which can refuse to indict), the judge (who can dismiss the case), any member of the trial jury (which can fail to unanimously convict), or the president (who can pardon). But people cannot prosecute, judge, or sit on juries in their own cases. Like a judge who would have to submit to the authority of another judge if he were being prosecuted, a president must seek a pardon from his successor...

Again, considering trump, his need for self-preservation would still compel him to attempt a self-pardon, but the damage from that move wouldn't be worth it. Again to Kalt:

Besides these legal arguments against self-pardons, there are also some practical reasons why a president would not want to pardon himself even if he thought he could. The most important is that it would look so craven and corrupt that it would greatly weaken the president’s political position with all but his most die-hard supporters. If he were facing impeachment, it would increase his chances of being removed from office. If there were an election anytime soon, he and his party could pay a tremendous price.

The subsequent election after Nixon's resignation and Ford's pardon of him in September 1974 over Watergate was the 1974 Midterms Election (November). Republicans lost seats in both the Senate and the House, and Ford narrowly lost to Carter in the 1976 Presidential. Political experts agree the pardon ruined the Republicans' chances both times.

If trump does this for himself, he may remain in the White House but he'll be terribly alone. Accepting the pardon is an admission of guilt: It's a "Yeah I did the crime, but I won't do the time" move. No matter how he'll sell it to his base, everyone else on the planet will know him for what he is: A crook, and not a very smart one at that.

No sane person will want to work for him (which is already a problem his administration has), fearing the likelihood of getting caught up in other criminal misdeeds. Meaning an already-understaffed West Wing will get worse, and sloppier, with failures and disasters of mismanaging the state of affairs that would harm the nation even more. There would be at least two years of death, war, and mayhem before a Democratic Congress could challenge trump's destructive ways.

It would be possible for a Republican-controlled Congress to turn on trump if he abuses his office with a self-pardon move. They may fear their own Far Right base but they're not all idiots in Congress: They've seen what happens to the Party associated with scandal (SEE 1974 results) and know if they stick with trump throughout the midterms they will lose every Independent non-wingnut voter out there even in the "safe" gerrymandered districts. Impeaching trump would be the only way to save their skins in November 2018 (if they can last that long).

There's even a slight possibility that if the scandal is seriously bad, enough Republicans in Congress will flip parties - it can happen during the congressional sessions - and give control to the Democrats now, who would gladly Impeach trump even if they still end up with Pence in the Oval Office.

Both those scenarios, however, are pretty weak Ifs. The modern Republican Party is craven, dogmatic, and obsessed with their tax-cut deregulation agenda of doom. Even the "moderates" in the Party won't bolt.

This can well go down to the Supreme Court to determine if a President can self-pardon. That could still take years to reach that level of the legal system, and it still boils down to whether the conservative Republican-backed Justices side with the Constitution or with trump.

We are so royally fucked.

Thanks W., You've Just Killed the Rule of Law

From Firedoglake: Bush commutes Scooter Libby's sentence to no jail time.

Ever since before the trial, people knew this outcome was coming. Bush would never allow any of his top insider people see the inside of a jail cell (they know too much: one hour of jail and you know these babies would be blabbing their heads off for leniency). And while the Scootster had been convicted months ago, it wasn't until the recent appellate rejection of Libby's request to await final ruling on bail that Bush realized Scooter could be jailed soon and so... this.

And while the GOP elite will be celebrating that one of their own is free, refusing to recognize their hypocrisy, their self-serving greed and illegality, that their party now has no shred of integrity left, the rest of us who have to abide by the laws of the land will have to just sit here and vote them out of office next year.

Oh, there are things we can do: we can push harder for impeachment proceedings against Cheney and Bush; we can call the Congressional Judiciary committees and demand further investigations into Bush's criminality; we can go (we OUGHT to go, where the hell is everybody?) into the streets to protest. But it's not really going to do much to change the fact that Bush, Cheney and their cronies have broken nearly every security law on the books, and shredded the legal system in the process.

One thing this action has done, it has highlighted one of the absolute powers that a President has: to issue pardons and clemency except in cases of impeachment. This is one of the few powers where Congress has no say, where they cannot pass legislation limiting who and when a President can invoke this right. This is one of the few powers that the courts cannot block, if the President pardons or commutes someone's sentence that's it end of the case.

The only thing that can limit the President's power of pardon is the Constitution itself. Which needs to be done in one very specific area: limiting the ability to pardon your own friends, cronies, and underlings.

This happens often enough, and I didn't even think first about the pardon Ford issued Nixon regarding Watergate, which was the last time a pardon created massive political backlash (it cost Ford his own election in 1976). There's also been:

• Bush the Elder's pardoning of people, including friends and coworkers, for their roles in Iran-Contra.
• Bill Clinton's pardoning of colleagues of his brother-in-law (the Gregorys), Susan MacDougal from the Whitewater scandal, and Marc Rich a wealthy fugitive whose wife made large campaign contributions to the Clintons.

I was sure Lyndon B. Johnson would have questionable pardons under his belt, but dang I guess all his cronies got off scot-free.

Something to point out with the Iran-Contra pardons and the Clinton pardons was how many of those benefiting from this Presidential power were close allies to the same President who issued the pardons, commutations, and other acts of clemency. Which smacks of two things: cronyism and conflicts of interest. It's a great way for a President to commit criminal acts:
1) get your buddy underlings to do something illegal;
2) when the crime leaks to the press, blame said underlings;
3) manipulate the investigation one way or another to ensure the whole truth never comes out, leaving said underlings held responsible;
4) wait out the trials to see if your buddies get off;
5) if they get convicted, use your power of pardon to clear their records and close the investigation.

This needs to end. The President and his administration must always be held accountable to the law. He, and his friends, should not benefit from a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. There needs to be an amendment to the Constitution spelling this out:

• The President's power to issue pardons and other acts of clemency cannot be granted to people who worked for that President's administration at any level, nor to people who financially contributed to any political campaign run by that President at any time.

If people from the White House break the law, they're going to have to pray for mercy from future administrations: they should not have to count on an easy exit from their patron when the bill comes due. It should be that simple. And now is a good time to pursue this much-needed correction to the Constitution to ensure all future Presidents respect the Rule of Law.