# Trump Pardons Everyone! **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 18, 2020, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121 "2020-02-18T19:12:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/1 "2020-02-18T19:12:18Z")
This morning, Trump pardoned Edward DeBartelo, Jr., who was convicted of paying a $400,000 bribe to the governor of Louisiana to get a casino license. Then Trump pardoned Rod Blagojevich, who tried to sell a Senate seat to the highest bidder. Proving he’s interested in more than just politics, Trump then pardoned Michael Milking for securities fraud, and former NYC police commissioner Bernard Kerick for tax fraud. That’s one way to clean up the corrupt prison system - just pardon everyone who’s been sentenced! ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/2 "2020-02-18T19:16:53Z")
Blagojevich’s wife was a fixture on Faux News, completely fabricating ties between her husband’s investigators and the Mueller team. And it worked. The only good news is, if Trump thinks this will earn him votes in Illinois, he’s 100% wrong. Pubs and Dems hate Blagojevich equally. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/3 "2020-02-18T19:33:05Z")
It’s not about helping out Blagojevich’s political career. It’s about freeing up a new Attorney General to replace Barr. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/4 "2020-02-18T19:35:55Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > {…} That’s one way to clean up the corrupt prison system - just pardon everyone who’s been sentenced! Only the best people, the rich people, and those lucky few liked by Kim Kardashian. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/5 "2020-02-18T19:38:15Z")
JFC. I was busy today and never read any news. I read the OP and thought it was satire. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/6 "2020-02-18T19:39:00Z")
Putting all the current swamp creatures on notice that he’s got their back. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/7 "2020-02-18T19:42:20Z")
I expect having to explain the difference between pardons and commutations on Facebook but not on here. ---
**Author:** ![MulderMuffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldermuffin/32/2862_2.png) [@MulderMuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MulderMuffin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/8 "2020-02-18T19:43:57Z")
Bribery, extortion, fraud… those aren’t ACTUAL crimes. Just ask Republican members of Congress. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/9 "2020-02-18T19:44:43Z")
One Doper Dollar sez Martin Shkreli is probably on the list, too. Hey, someone who price-gouges elderly and poor people has to be one of his heroes. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/10 "2020-02-18T19:51:45Z")
Jeffrey Epstein must be regretting killing himself about now. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/11 "2020-02-18T19:54:35Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I expect having to explain the difference between pardons and commutations on Facebook but not on here. I think everyone gets it–commutation is “get out of jail free” and pardon “it never happened”. Not being barred up is all that matters to Trump if he needs you to do him a favor outside the joint. I’m sure there is a strategic reason for leaving the conviction in place. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/12 "2020-02-18T19:59:28Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > I think everyone gets it–commutation is “get out of jail free” and pardon “it never happened”. Not being barred up is all that matters to Trump if he needs you to do him a favor outside the joint. I’m sure there is a strategic reason for leaving the conviction in place. A sensible president could say, “I’m not saying he didn’t break the law or do anything wrong. I’m saying the price he’s already paid is penalty enough for what he did.” But I doubt Trump even knows the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/13 "2020-02-18T20:00:09Z")
Well I want a pardon now too, ddammit! ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/14 "2020-02-18T20:01:48Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > I think everyone gets it–commutation is “get out of jail free” and pardon “it never happened”. Except that, I don’t think DeBartolo’s pardon means somebody is going to cut him a check for the $1 million fine he had to pay. ---
**Author:** ![MulderMuffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldermuffin/32/2862_2.png) [@MulderMuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MulderMuffin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/15 "2020-02-18T20:08:20Z")
A pardon doesn’t overturn a conviction. It just makes a person not subject to the punishment for that conviction. They’re still on the books as being convicted criminals unless and until their crimes are expunged. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/16 "2020-02-18T20:10:40Z")
Blagojevich played the game and he won. Good for him. > **[Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich released after Trump commutes his sentence](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=69049748)** > > President Donald Trump said he has commuted the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He was released later on Tuesday. > [@](#): > > In January this year, Blagojevich penned a column on Newsmax titled, “House Democrats Would Have Impeached Lincoln” amid the now-wrapped congressional impeachment efforts against President Trump. While Blagojevich didn’t mention Trump’s name in the column, his wife Patti Blagojevich tagged the president’s name as she retweeted the piece. > > Blagojevich appears to defend President Trump against House Democrat’s efforts in the column, comparing the impeachment proceedings with his own criminal case, and calling the House impeachment vote an “abuse of the Constitution.” > > “No president is safe if a majority of hyperpartisan House members from the opposition party are willing to abuse the Constitution and vote to impeach,” Blagojevich wrote. “And the worst part of it is, that should this happen, those politicians are taking from the people their right to choose their own leaders though free elections.” ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/17 "2020-02-18T20:12:47Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Well I want a pardon now too, ddammit! Trump’s probably jealous of Oprah’s popularity and is doing his corrupt version: Now, you get a pardon! And, you get a pardon! And, you get a pardon! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/18 "2020-02-18T20:17:53Z")
The lesson is that white collar crimes committed by white Republicans are not to be punished. The banana republic is now here. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/19 "2020-02-18T20:27:30Z")
I remember when I was a state employee in IL and ol’ Blago good-hair instituted mandatory ethics training for all of us. Not sure if he had to take it. If yes, it didn’t stick very well. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121/20 "2020-02-18T20:37:25Z")
I assume Blago is some sort of shot at Obama as well. I don’t really care, if he wants to go on Dancing with the Stars or whatever, go for it [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-pardons-everyone/848121.md?page=2)