Is Pardoning One of Trump’s Ways of Stomping Out The Rule of Law?
If you are lounging about this Sunday and need a swift kick
to dive into the shower to scrub all the dirt and slime away, the piece below is
sure to do the trick. All of the
characters described in it are as venal (i.e., beyond pardon) as the others. The Washington Post article deals with the latest
of the 140 and counting “Presidential pardons” Trump has issued in 2025 alone.
And, just think, the holiday festivities are only now beginning! The latest lucky fella to receive one is a
felon convicted of $38 million in Medicare nursing home fraud by Trump’s
Department of Injustice. Nursing home
magnate Joseph Schwartz was pardoned by Trump a few months later because
of the able representation of two “lobbyists, right-wing provocateurs Jack
Burkman and Jacob Wohl” who, among other things, were previously convicted of a
robo call scheme in Ohio aimed at deterring and diminishing voters there, and a
similar case is pending against the dynamic duo in Michigan. Schwartz paid the pair $960,000 to “seek… a
federal pardon”, a paltry amount all things considered. The White House flatly denies that Schartz
won his full and unconditional pardon through any sort of pay-for-pardon
exchange. For the sake of argument, I’ll concede that it is a possibility, especially given the ever-abundant emoluments and other perks being readily thrown his way. No, the real problem is not that Trump is enriching himself by handing pardons to whoever he wants, whenever he wants, and for whatever whim or reason that strikes him. Anytime a public official enriches
themselves, it is a problem and an infraction. But what Trump is doing, handing out pardons whenever it suits him, is a way of saying that laws do not matter and that he is the sole arbiter of which laws apply, how they should apply, and when laws must be nulled and void because he decrees it. Pardoning is one of his ways of
incessantly whittling away at the rule of law.
It might seem too cute by half, but symbolically it packs a dastardly wallop. Trump and his gang gleefully point out that the 236-year-old Constitution and subsequent court decisions grant all Presidents broad, some say unlimited, powers to pardon. Kings were once granted unlimited,
inconvertible power to pardon. Trump
seeks such powers not just to pardon but to dictate. Why are the Congress and
the Courts meekly standing by enabling him.
And, most importantly, when do we intend to reclaim our Democracy?
