The Case for Biden Mass Pardons

 President Biden appears to be setting off on a orgy of pardons before he leaves office. Aside from taking some attention away from the Hunter Biden pardon, Biden reportedly is seriously considering pardoning anyone and everyone he suspects the new Trump Justice Department may be intending to prosecute. If he does, there may be a silver lining.

While I believe in accountability for those who broke the law and/or abused their power in trying to put Trump behind bars, what I really want to see is reform as opposed to retaliation. Clearly, the Department of Justice and FBI are in need of serious reform.  Will that be accomplished by the Trump administration trying to do what the Biden administration did to him, or to parents speaking out at school board meetings, or non-violent January 6 offenders? (In my view, those who committed vandalism and mayhem, not to mention assaulting police on January 6 at the Capitol, deserved to be prosecuted as opposed to those who merely strolled past guards and took selfies while standing around.) 

Do we risk falling into a pattern every 4 years of an incoming administration trying to put the past administration in jail? That’s what third world countries do. Trump has stated that the best revenge is success on the part of his second administration. I hope he sticks to that. 

But the point I am driving at is that if Biden wants to pardon people like Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Andrew Weissman, Peter Strzok, and the whole gang who tried so hard to submarine Trump, I say let him. All that will do is cement his legacy as the worst, the most corrupt president in US history. It would also cement the dark cloud that will follow these characters the rest of their lives. I have thought long and hard about this because I really believe that some of these people committed crimes and betrayed the public trust. Having said that, I really fear that this could become a recurring pattern in US politics.

I say let Trump take the high road and task his new AG, who I believe will be Pam Bondi (a good choice), and whoever the FBI director turns out to be, with bringing true reform and public trust back to DOJ and the FBI. Let Biden take the low road and further embarrass himself by giving out blanket pardons to his team of miscreants. Hopefully, it will leave such a bad taste in the public’s mouth that we will do away with presidential pardons once and for all. It’s one part of our Constitution I think needs to be changed.

Of course, Trump could leave egg on my face if he comes into office and issues a mass of questionable pardons himself on Day One.