32 Million
Dawkins Silenced

Pardon Me

By Jonathan B. Wight

“Pardon me,” you say when you accidentally step on someone’s foot.

“Pardon me” said by our current President means something else entirely!

Beyond saving his own skin, hinting that he might pardon his aides and family members sounds like the first salvo in a Prisoners Dilemma game, in which one party wants to shore up cooperation among one’s fellow thieves to reduce back-stabbing—in this case by becoming a state’s witness and testifying against higher-ups.

Issuing a blanket pardon (or hinting that one will) would mean that conspirators have every incentive to lie and obfuscate to investigators, secure that they will walk free. 

One commentator wrote that issuing such pardons “would destroy any legacy of Trump’s and demean his office.” Has demeaning the office ever stopped this president before?

I’ll never forget the outrage I felt against President Ford when he pardoned Richard Nixon.  Ford was not complicit in Watergate, and thought that a pardon was best for the healing of the country.  But the lack of closure and accountability was equally damaging to our country. 

There are good and legitimate reasons why Presidents might pardon someone.  By contrast, giving an implicit guarantee of pardon to one’s henchmen engaged in dishonest or treasonous activity is an outrage, even if legal.

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Your Information

(Name is required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)