# Can Biden revoke any of Trump's Presidential Medals of Freedom? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 14, 2021, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515 "2021-01-14T14:00:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/1 "2021-01-14T14:00:32Z")
Trump has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to some truly despicable and undeserving people, such as Rush Limbaugh and most recently Gym Jordan and Devin Nunes. There is probably no precedent for a President revoking a medal awarded by a previous President, but could Biden do it if he wanted? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/2 "2021-01-14T14:13:59Z")
Not acted on. > **[To affirm the power of the President to revoke the Presidential Medal of...](https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr4354)** > > A bill in the U.S. Congress. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/3 "2021-01-14T14:55:28Z")
So that was a bill to revoke Bill Cosby’s medal, which apparently never went anywhere. So it would take an act of Congress, signed by the President, to revoke one? That actually makes more sense rather than via Executive Order or something, it lessens the potential for abuse. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/4 "2021-01-14T15:20:44Z")
Most bios about a recipient specifies which president awarded it to them. So, it can be a badge of shame as well as an honor. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/5 "2021-01-14T16:59:48Z")
I think revoking the medals would be petty even though I agree they really weren’t earned. Unless there’s some major perk of having a medal that I don’t know about I vote we ignore them and move on. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/6 "2021-01-14T17:16:59Z")
As I mentioned in one of the other threads, I’m kind of surprised he hasn’t tried awarding himself the Medal of Freedom. Maybe he’ll do that on the way out the door, along with issuing himself a pardon. Perhaps, he can throw in an honorary degree from one of the service academies for good measure. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/7 "2021-01-14T17:30:24Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Most bios about a recipient specifies which president awarded it to them. So, it can be a badge of shame as well as an honor. Most people who got the Medal of Freedom from Trump are people who would have been proud to have been awarded it by Trump. I can’t see Rush Limbaugh, Jim Jordan, or Devin Nunes feeling ashamed of having been Trump-awarded the medal, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/8 "2021-01-14T17:34:58Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Most bios about a recipient specifies which president awarded it to them. So, it can be a badge of shame as well as an honor. I think revoking them would set a precedent, leading to a lot of what would be seen as "dick move"s in the future (“Cool, I’ve got a medal… until the next Prez strips it from me, and then the next one gives it back…”) But I love that they’ll always have “Trump Medals of Freedom”, kind of like an asterisk on a home run record… ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/9 "2021-01-14T17:43:00Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I think revoking them would set a precedent, leading to a lot of what would be seen as "dick move"s in the future (“Cool, I’ve got a medal… until the next Prez strips it from me, and then the next one gives it back…”) Agree. Imagine if Trump had revoked Obama’s medal of Freedom for Stephen Hawking (Trump was already on a spree of reversing many Obama things.) That would have been really ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/10 "2021-01-14T19:11:17Z")
And then there’s the whole issue of, with the award having been revoked, how do you get it back from the recipient? ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/11 "2021-01-14T19:32:10Z")
Receiving a medal from a disgraced president is no honor. Enjoy the taint, boys. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/12 "2021-01-14T19:40:29Z")
Retire it, and start a new one under the premise that the medal has been forever tarnished. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/13 "2021-01-15T01:53:40Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I think revoking them would set a precedent, leading to a lot of what would be seen as "dick move"s in the future That; plus I think Biden’s got more important things to spend his time on. > [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Retire it, and start a new one under the premise that the medal has been forever tarnished That wouldn’t go over well with the people who’ve been awarded one they actually deserved. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/14 "2021-01-15T02:25:39Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > . . . plus I think Biden’s got more important things to spend his time on. That’s it for me. With both a pandemic and a depression going on, the median voter optics of openly spending time revoking medals are terrible. P.S. Not just optics. I don’t like the feel of it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/15 "2021-01-15T16:49:35Z")
Hey, I didn’t say it had to be done right away! He can work on it after COVID is cured and the economy is fixed and the Supreme Court is packed. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/16 "2021-01-15T17:01:08Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Retire it, and start a new one under the premise that the medal has been forever tarnished. Maybe they can name the Mystic Order of the No Trumps. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/17 "2021-01-15T17:24:16Z")
Biden _has_ to give one to Barack Obama, though if he could find a way to surprise him with it, that would be even better. I remember the sadness in the nation as we lead up to the Trump admin. and Obama stunned Biden by giving him one. When I watched it, I teared up, not just because I think Biden deserved it, but because of their friendship and the end of decency in the White House that we were about to go through. [If you haven’t seen it, it was amazing.](https://youtu.be/d3UCW_AV93M?t=798) ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-biden-revoke-any-of-trumps-presidential-medals-of-freedom/930515/18 "2021-01-15T18:05:47Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Most people who got the Medal of Freedom from Trump are people who would have been proud to have been awarded it by Trump. I can’t see Rush Limbaugh, Jim Jordan, or Devin Nunes feeling ashamed of having been Trump-awarded the medal, for instance. More than that, they’d _also_ see the ‘theft’ of it by a libtard president as a badge of honor - or at least they wouldn’t see it as an indication that they’re not worthy of the award. They would consider its rescinding as illegitimate, in much the same way that decent people see its _awarding_ as illegitimate. There are two types of people - those who think a Trump award is a badge of shame (or at least, has no inherent meaning at all) and those who think it being taken back by Pence _wouldn’t_ be a badge of shame.