The pardon isn’t going to stop the MAGA batch from continuing to attack Hunter Biden through various outlets etc.
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From all I’ve read he was on track for 36 months in jail. Seems fine to me. if we’re going to do the what about thing, pardon the less privileged in there for longer for less. The system has failed before for them. Why should it’s failing only matter for Hunter?
I do agree people will forget this even if it is bothering me. Both Trump and he have magical brands under which they can operate freely.
I think they will probably move on. They don’t spend much time on Hillary Clinton these days. The likes of AOC are about to be in the crosshairs - and I hope that is merely figurative language.
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Talking about Clinton.
Didn’t Bill pardon his half brother ? It’s a drug related charge.
I just hate the concept of a Presidential Pardon. It can and probably has been misused before as well. None more so than Trump. It’s a broken , archaic concept which serves little more than to say that the system is broken.
I don’t blame Biden for pardoning his son on the firearms case. Assuming that’s what he pardoned his son for. But I don’t like President’s having that power.
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They will go after all democrats. You forget how petty Trump can be.
This (along with good food) is why I am seeking refuge at your home in Hyderabad.
From the Guardian article I posted:
‘Joe Biden’s defenders will certainly contend that, if Hunter had been an ordinary citizen, the gun case would not have come this far, and his father was simply righting that wrong. Republicans spent years hyping investigations into Hunter that failed to produce a shred of evidence linking his father to corruption.’
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Yep, I read that. Thank you for pointing it out. I can imagine Biden’s defenders using that argument and it strikes me as heavily partisan or deluded. There are plenty of ordinary less privileged citizens serving time for having done less. Don’t even get me started on kids being tossed in jail for jumping turnstiles.
I don’t really care about Hunter’s crime. I care about this decision. It rings hollow and hypocritical to me for a man who has always positioned himself somehow and fascinatingly as a paragon of virtue. I just don’t happen to buy his posturing. As I have said, he has never struck me as principled and this is just another instance. If you had asked me a year or even two ago if he would pardon Hunter, I would have said yes. Probably an interesting question to ask oneself.
Perhaps I just don’t see in him what his defenders do. And I have tried for years. If he’s that concerned about exonerating those who have committed crimes that should not have gone far in the justice system, he should be sitting at that desk signing a lot more pardons than just one driven by nepotism for which the American public will yet again forgive him.
@Limiescouse is probably right as usual. Nobody will care much in the future. It’s just an understandably corrupt act by a powerful father. Business as usual these days. Stick it in the annals of decay.
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Fucking loud applause from me ! Hear, hear !
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But the scapegoating of Biden jnr is based on his relationship to the departing president. It’s only nepotism because he’s being singled out by the Republicans due to who his dad is.
Surely the bigger picture here is that a departing president can’t trust the incoming administration to act fairly and according to the law. I have no doubt that if the next president was a Romney, or even a Haley, this action would not have been taken. Trump and his allies are screaming for retribution and threatening vengeance on all those who they see as their enemies, and Hunter Biden is in their crosshairs because, frankly, they have no other stick to beat Biden with.
The appointment of Patel at the FBI was probably the final straw.
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He committed crimes and was found guilty by a jury. When Trump was found guilty and MAGA screamed scapegoating, Biden and the Dems pointed to guilt established by a jury.
And if Trump wants to go after Hunter he’ll do it again for other crimes. He might not even do it. Is Hunter really that valuable or interesting to Trump with Biden out of office?
I’m going to stop on this topic. Seems a waste of time. We live in times where we have to take sides, I suppose, and the country matters less to its leaders and voters.
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I’m not taking sides, I think it’s a very grey area. Precedent has been set with a lot of extremely dubious pardons on both sides. In an ideal world they wouldn’t exist, but to vehemently claim that Biden shouldn’t have done it, in the circumstances, is to ignore the huge number of arguments for and against.
It’s a complex issue and US political discourse can’t deal with nuance, especially right now.
And even after the disastrous debate with Trump when he was still adamant about continuing it was Hunter who was the most influential voice. He of zero political experience but with a serious vested interest in seeing his father remain President. Letting Trump back in by not stepping aside much earlier, as in two years ago , already diminished his legacy. Subverting the rule of law in cahoots with his son on the way out the door just erases any sympathy or understanding that might have remained as far as I am concerned.
I said earlier that Trump’s re-election showed America to no longer be a country bound by the rule of law. Biden’s final act confirms it.
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See what @Limiescouse said about the incoming corrupt administration and its pursuit of personal vendettas. Unless I’m much mistaken, the blanket pardon protects him from those, but there is no way to write a blanket pardon that specifically excludes what he was convicted for?
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No idea if he’s that valuable, but definitely the pardon prevents anything from 2013 onwards from being prosecuted, if that’s what you’re asking.
(These are different excerpts, not one continuous excerpt)
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He should never have been the candidate. He promised a one term presidency and reneged on that promise. The DNC were too weak to oppose him. That was the fatal error. A proper primary season and the selection of a good candidate would have made all the difference.
Trump was definitely beatable, and the Democrats and Biden are guilty in that regard.
There should never be a situation where a father is in the position to pardon his own son though. That’s ridiculous.
Maybe now the Republicans are so incensed about it they can change the law so it never happens again.
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I keep seeing that, especially from @Alright_Now_Legend, but it never happened.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/4718993-did-biden-break-his-one-term-pledge/
Ok, sorry, he promised to be ‘a bridge’.
Either way. There was a (fateful) decision made that he should run again.
What’s the chances they go looking for crimes committed prior to 2014 ?
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Biden does what’s best for Biden.