How much could he make selling pardons outright? Over 800 people have been arrested. Most of them aren’t rich, but that’s why God invented home equity loans.
Just a WAG here, but I think the reason why Trump didn’t preemptively pardon the 1/6 rioters while he was in office was because he didn’t think they had done anything wrong, and wouldn’t need pardons.
This is quite plausible. In the documentary Unprecedented (which, disappointingly, didn’t have much new in it) the final interview with the Orange Peril had him opining that January 6 was an uprising of legitimately angry patriots who had a lot to be angry about. In fact, a likely pardon for these traitors is perhaps one of the least frightening prospects of Trump unleashed in a nothing-to-lose second term. The damage from the first term is already turning out to be incalculable; the potential damage from the second defies imagination.
He probably also thought there would never be an actual court case. Bunch of weak ass democrats are just gonna “let bygones be bygones” or some such.
He didn’t for a couple of reasons. First off, the arrests didn’t happen right away and its hard to pardon people that you don’t know who are. Second, the Republican spin on the riot hadn’t coalesced. People on both side of the aisle were initially in a state of shock. It looked like this might finally be a bridge too far, and would be the point that would finally make extreme conservatism unpalatable to main stream Americans. It even looked like McConnell might vote for Trumps impeachment. So in this environment the last thing that Trump would want to do was to tie himself more fully to the rioters.
Eventually they got enough polling to show that the base supported them even despite the violence, and with memories fading the Republicans have been able to pretend that, nothing bad happened, and that the insurgents are patriots who are being persecuted for legally expressing their first amendment rights.
But in the first couple of weeks after Jan 6th it wasn’t clear that that would work.
I’m curious because I honestly don’t know; when Carter pardoned all of the draft dodgers in 1977, was each one pardoned by name, or was it just written that if you committed that crime, you were pardoned? I thought it was the latter, but I can’t seem to find the answer. And if that’s the case, Trump wouldn’t need their names. But again, that might not be the case.
Good point. At first the story was that it was all Antifa in disguise doing it. Trump wouldn’t be pardoning Antifa superspies.
That’s still the story. The insurrectionists were Antifa false flag agents. The insurrectionists were also Reich Wing fascist Trump supporters.
You may think this sounds mutually exclusive; but Trump supporters can and do believe both, depending on what the puppeteers tell them to believe at any given time.
I think in Carters case he could just specify the crime of avoiding the draft between such and such years and you would get precisely the effect he wanted. With the insurgents Trump would have had to give a blanket pardon with respect to both crime and name. Basically, he would have to pardon anyone who was charged with anything in the vicinity of the Capitol that day, and that would have a huge probability of blowing up in his face.
But I think the main reason was that the riot just wasn’t as popular among conservatives back then as it is now.
He knew Garland better than we did.
Orwell’s doublethink.
We have always issued pardons to the patriotic Americans who did absolutely nothing wrong on Capitol Hill that day.
And there was always one person that Trump couldn’t pardon - himself. He could’ve tried, but the prevailing legal opinion was that it wouldn’t work.
And if he pardoned everyone else, there would be only one avenue left for any kind of justice, and law enforcement and the DOJ would be freed up to focus all their efforts on him.
Besides, the coup didn’t work and Trump’s not the type to reward failure.
He doesn’t reward success either, but Great points.
Whether or not they are going after the big guns it can’tI be denie that Garland’s DOJ is doing a pretty good job going after the rank and file who are the focus of this pardon discussion.
looks like georgia is the tipping point.
Oh, please please please…
With all of the disappointments (I’m lookin’ at you, Mueller and, Garland, you’re next) I’m hoping, too, but not expecting.
Georgia prosecutors say all 16 fake Trump electors are targets in criminal probe - CNNPolitics
one or two of them have got to take a deal to squeal, yes?
Oh, for sure. Each of them gets told that the deals only go to the first one or two people to flip, but feel free to roll the dice and take your time thinking about it.
I wonder what they will be charged with? Election tampering? Fraud? I would think at least that much. Hope they come up with some other stuff too.
And really, that’s one of the stupidest schemes I’ve ever heard of.
Gotta give Trump an A+ for effort.
