Biden needs to issue blanket pardons for Trump’s enemies
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Michelle Goldberg lays out why:
Patel’s 2023 book, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” purports to show how government employees who defied Trump constitute a shadowy cabal that is “the most dangerous threat to our democracy.” The “deep state,” in Patel’s telling, is “as treacherous and evil as the villains portrayed in books and movies.” Virtually every investigation of Trump and his allies, Patel suggests, is part of a monstrous plot against “the people’s president.” The book strongly implies that Jan. 6, “the insurrection that never was,” was encouraged by “deep state” agitators and then used as a pretext to persecute patriotic Trump supporters. In a blurb on the book jacket, Trump wrote, “We will use this blueprint to help us take back the White House and remove these gangsters from all of government!”
Since this evil toad helpfully names 60 people that are part of the Deep State Conspiracy, Biden should start by pardoning all of them, but he shouldn’t stop there:
Except for himself, Biden should pardon them all, along with pretty much everyone else Patel has singled out by name and those who worked on the Jan. 6 committee. On Wednesday, Jonathan Martin reported in Politico that there’s a “vigorous internal debate” among Biden aides about issuing pre-emptive pardons to officials likely to be unjustly targeted by Trump. A drawback of such pardons, Martin wrote, is that they “could suggest impropriety, only fueling Trump’s criticisms.” After all, Biden may struggle to explain why he’s pardoning people who have done nothing wrong.
Ya think? Such an explanation would be extremely simple for even the 2024 version of Joe Biden to crank out, if it wasn’t an iron law of elite politics in this country that uttering the truth is the one crime for which there can be no forgiveness. The truth is that Donald Trump is the autocratic head of a vast criminal conspiracy, a Mafia in which capos like Patel are assigned the task of kicking up to the Boss, and part of that conspiracy includes perverting the criminal justice system to persecute Trump’s personal and political enemies for imaginary crimes, in the classic style of corrupt autocrats everywhere.
But again, it isn’t possible to say the simple truth, when, for example, Barack Obama insists on being all gracious and high-minded and conciliatory (Mafia bosses are famous for their love of reasonable conciliation, as we are all reasonable men):
Over the last few weeks and through Election Day, millions of Americans cast their votes — not just for president, but for leaders at every level. Now the results are in, and we want to congratulate President Trump and Senator Vance on their victory.
This is obviously not the outcome we had hoped for, given our profound disagreements with the Republican ticket on a whole host of issues. But living in a democracy is about recognizing that our point of view won’t always win out, and being willing to accept the peaceful transfer of power.
Michelle and I could not be prouder of Vice President Harris and Governor Walz — two extraordinary public servants who ran a remarkable campaign. And we will always be grateful to the staff and volunteers who poured their heart and soul into electing public servants they truly believed in.
As I said on the campaign trail, America has been through a lot over the last few years — from a historic pandemic and price hikes resulting from the pandemic, to rapid change and the feeling a lot of folks have that, no matter how hard they work, treading water is the best they can do. Those conditions have created headwinds for democratic incumbents around the world, and last night showed that America is not immune.
The good news is that these problems are solvable — but only if we listen to each other, and only if we abide by the core constitutional principles and democratic norms that made this country great.
In a country as big and diverse as ours, we won’t always see eye-to-eye on everything. But progress requires us to extend good faith and grace — even to people with whom we deeply disagree. That’s how we’ve come this far, and it’s how we’ll keep building a country that is more fair and more just, more equal and more free.
My own view is that in a country as big and diverse as ours the Trumpists are animals anyway, so let them lose their souls.
As for the inevitable reactionary centrist mewling about “precedents” and “norms” and “two wrongs don’t make a right” — actually one wrong and one right but math isn’t their strong suit — I don’t remember asking you a goddamned thing.
The precedents and norms that are relevant here are those that apply to war, which involve doing things that one normally doesn’t do, because the alternative is letting the enemy win, which is unacceptable. Except it’s obviously very acceptable to very many very important and serious people, as evidenced by the fact that we’re even talking about whether or not Biden should do this thing.