A method to his madness
William Shakespeare
Arizona Sherriff Joe Arpaio was known for his racial profiling, anti-immigrant policies, and forcing prisoners to work on chain gangs.
Dinesh d’Souza violated federal campaign finance laws, defended Hitler claiming he was “not anti-gay,” and after the Parkland, Florida school shooting posted a picture of the mourning students with the insensitive caption: “worst news since their parents told them to get summer jobs.”
Rod Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois was sentenced to fourteen years in federal prison for lying to the F.B.I., trying to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat, and extorting state funds.
Martha Stewart was found guilty of obstructing justice, making false statements and committing perjury.
Former heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, a black man, was found guilty of transporting a white women across state lines.
If you’ve been following the news, you will know what all these individuals have in common. They have all been pardoned by President Trump or are under consideration for a reprieve.
Arpaio, and Stewart served time. D’Souza got a five year suspended sentence. And the blundering billionaire who is our 45th president suggested the possibility of his pardoning Stewart and commuting Blogojevich’s sentence.
Why would he do this? Surely, there is no overarching principle which led him to take these actions.
The most likely explanation is that he wanted to send a message to the likes of his personal attorney Michael Cohen and former campaign manager Paul Manafort to remain loyal, even though they might be facing years in jail.
How nice to be able to break the law with the foreknowledge that the president of the United States will set you free.
With this in mind, Congressman Adam Schiff of California introduced a bill called “The Abuse of the Pardon Prevention Act.”
This proposal will not diminish the president’s almost absolute power to issue pardons.
The only limitation is that neither this nor any future president, can grant a pardon in any investigation where the president of any member of his family is a witness, subject or target. Since Trump is a target in the Russia probe, under this bill he could not pardon himself.
With a Republican majority in the House, I doubt if this bill will go anywhere.
Just when you think Trump has miscalculated, and the “good guys” have a slight edge, progressives come up short.
As a kid growing up in Brooklyn, I was a big Brooklyn Dodger fan. When they lost, we always said “wait till next year.”
We did a lot of waiting!
Dr. Hal Sobel
Great Neck
