After four years of “resisting” President Trump with meaningless recounts, rogue electoral voters, groundless impeachment and specious claims of Russian collusion, not to mention unending name-calling and harassment of him and his family, the Democrats now urge the country to heal, to come together, to unify.
Behind them, that is.
In fairness, that’s what the winner always does in politics. The winner smears his opponent right up to election day. Then he forgives the target of his smears for being smear-worthy, and graciously invites him and his supporters to unify behind the smearer. This is politics, after all, where hypocrisy is an art form.
At least they’re mostly competent and honest about their hypocrisy, unlike their intellectual and ethical inferiors in what used to be called journalism.
This time, however, a unique opportunity presents on the political stage. But it will require elements that are missing from both journalism and politics. It will require compassion, cleverness and courage.
Joe Biden should pardon Donald Trump. You say Trump has done nothing to be pardoned for? Fine, I agree. But it would be compassionate, clever and courageous for Biden to pardon him anyway. Here’s why.
It would be compassionate because it would spare Trump and his family the angst of being unjustly prosecuted in the criminal justice system for what are really political matters. Prosecuting one’s vanquished opponents is what they do in banana republics, not in the United States of America.
I know there’s an element on the left that aspires to banana republic status, complete with Mao jackets, bread lines and firing squads. But most of us don’t.
If Biden wants us to unify behind him, what better way than for him to offer the first step? I’m old enough to remember when sports involved sportsmanship. The winner always offered his hand to the loser. It’s what ladies and gentlemen do, or at least they used to.
A pardon would be clever because it would put Trump in a difficult position of accepting or rejecting the pardon. Accepting implies that he did something wrong. But rejecting means he might then suffer a prosecution by politically motivated people. After the bias of the Mueller team which at the time of their appointment were highly regarded professionally, and the incompetent pettiness of Michael Flynn’s judge, no one doubts the existence of such creatures.
And it might indeed serve to unify some Trump supporters behind Biden, or at least serve to convey the message that Biden wants a respected and effective presidency, not distraction, vengeance and blood.
But a pardon would also require Biden’s courage in resisting the clinical hysteria of the hard left. They would protest in the streets, mostly peacefully of course, by setting fires in what used to be called arson, collecting reparations in what used to be called looting, and destroying property in what used to be called riots.
College classes would be cancelled because students would think they’re too distraught to attend, or at least that’s what their lefty professors would tell them to think.
Denied the blood of Trump and his family, the left would go after the blood of his supporters, and they’ve already put together lists. Hell hath no fury like a compassionate liberal who’s angry that he’s been denied his pound of flesh and equally angry that he’s been forced to admit that he wants it.
The old empty suit that is set to assume the presidency of the United States is a lot of things, or used to be, but courageous is not one of them. He won’t stand up to the leftist mob that now constitutes the Democrat base.
But what a compassionate, clever and courageous move that would be.
the Aspen beat 
You are right again!
Ah, Glenn leave it be… :<) Trump is much more of a champion at exposing Weasels than they are at smears, hypocrisy, and hoaxes…
Very well put! No question that Trump is great at exposing weasels than Biden is at anything, except maybe staying in his basement and having sex with himself! Thank you!
I doubt Obama would let Biden pardon him.
Nice thought, but Biden must be elected first. He has not been, and there is some doubt whether he will be.
Well I wouldn’t suggest Trump pardon Biden! Let’s wait and see who sits in the White House next February.
Indeed, at this point Biden has all the status of The Old Pretender (I refer to James Stuart), emphasis on old). Of a changeling. A chimera. A will-of-the-wisp. This fraud will not long endure, and Glenn is out over his skis on this one.
Trump should resign a few day before Jan. 20 and let Mike Pence pardon him. Give the Democrats another mega-dose of the same ratchet politics they have always practiced. However, and don’t forget, a federal pardon does not stop New York from going after him on state charges.
You’re out over your skies on this one, Glenn.
At this point Biden is little more than The Pretender (I refer to James Stuart, the Old Pretender — emphasis on old). He has all the status of a changeling. A chimera. A hologram. A wiil-of-the-wisp.
The fraud that has pronounced him our future president cannot long endure, if the nation that Lincoln spoke of is to endure. The blood of the martyrs revolts at the prospect of the tyranny he will usher in.
Rightfully, The Pardoner will be a President Trump, not this pathetic, propped-up pop-up figure, who will be easy to pardon since he apparently knows not what he does.
If I didn’t regard you so highly, Glenn, my first sentence above might have sounded more like some of the responses I’ve read subsequently on Lucianne.com:
— “Another defeatist.”
— “Has Glenn turned into Drudge?”
— “defeatist crap.”
With the lawsuits stacking up and the evidence of fraud pouring in through a fire hose, as Sidney Powell is fond of saying, how is it that you find yourself resigned to a Biden presidency? We should be fighting this on the beaches and in the streets. I never took you for a disciple of realpolitik. Very disappointing.
Well Chad, if “realpolitik” means being realistic, as the word was coined by Henry Kissinger, then I suppose I would plead nolo contendere.
If we’ve going to name-call for disagreement, Dr. Kissinger and I have several names to suggest for those who refuse to engage in realpolitik. The bluntest one would be “losers.” You don’t win by tilting at windmills.
Yes, I’m speaking of realism, sometimes associated with wisdom, but always entailing a certain deficiency in idealism.
I’ll start with your allusion to Don Quixote. What few people appreciate about Cervantes’ masterpiece is that, while Quixote is portrayed as a comic buffoon — the butt of scorn and ridicule — for 90% of the story, It becomes clear that the only “losers” are his exploiters and companions who find their lives utterly barren once his delusionary condition is “cured” and he “wisely” repents.
Even less recognized is that Quixote is a parodic version of Jesus, vainly striving to maintain a “chivalric” idealism in a fallen world. Much as Quixote lived, Jesus died surrounded by the laughter of fools, thinking that he was calling for Elijah — a “quixotic” vision indeed. (In fact, he was quoting the 22nd Psalm — a word Biden repeatedly pronounced the other day as “Palm,” revealing, I guess, the depth of his “devout Catholicism.”)
Interesting, isn’t it, that Trump is also regarded by many as an Alec Baldwin-style comic buffoon — an Orange Mock-Hitler tweeting out his unsophisticated fantasies about America First.
The thing is, Trump isn’t tilting at windmills, but at an evil empire dwelling among us. God help us if we cast him aside so easily, without a fight.
Trump should not pardon Biden.
I see a comment about Obama, who has come out of the woodwork, just like the herpes…just keeps coming back with his silver slippery tongue as ever. Reminds so of Mussolini in oratory mode (which is most of the time) when he purses his upper lip.
You are proposing something very interesting that would never have occurred to most of us, which is what you are good at, Glenn!
On the other hand, we are mystified by your statement that pardoning Trump “…might indeed serve to unify some Trump supporters behind Biden, or at least serve to convey the message that Biden wants a respected and effective presidency,”
To which we respond, 1. why would any of us clear-thinking Trump supporters unify behind one of the present maximum supporters/promoters of the lib/lefty/”progressive”/moral relativist/subjectivist/humanist/secularist/Democrat insane policies which were intended to reduce the United States of America to the level of the decadent, confused, effeminate, European natuons? why?, and 2. we believe Biden has neither the intellectual nor moral ability nor the manhood to want “a respected and effective presidency”–all he wants, now that he has gotten himself, by default, into a mess that surely he must suspect is too big for himself and his 47 years of leeching of the American taxpayer, we believe all he wants is to get out of the mess with the hair, that is, the plugs, he still has.
And finally, wanting “a respected and effective presidency” implies that he has some minimum morality, but we say, let’s be realistic, a person who denies any problems exist relative to his son, or abortion, or who wants to kiss China’s and Iran’s fannies 24 hours a day, simply has no morality.
But don’t get us going on the ugliness, the filthiness of Biden.
And, we add, for anyone who might think that we are emphasizing Biden’s lack of morality too much and either not being aware of, or ignoring, Trump’s and our own moral condition: not at all. Not at all. We are very much aware of both moral conditions and work hard to overcome our own moral problems, while Trump has done enough in the area of correcting the historical mistake in Roe v Wade for us to accept that he has overcome, as much as possible, his own moral probems.
And all the while, Biden, professing to be Catholic, has been, is, and delcares himself a slave to Big Abortion and in particular, the cesspool known as Planned Parenthood.
Fair points, Luis. In answer to your question why, I’ll say this:
Because a lot of people don’t vote their minds, they vote their hearts. If they were to see Biden reach out Trump with an act of compassion (even if underneath the compassion is cold political calculation) they may well put aside some of their antipathy to Biden’s policies.
I’m not saying they should. Note that I didn’t include myself in that cohort. But it’s a fact that many would.
Pardon him for what? Fighting for America and not bowing to you globalists? Not bowing to the politically correct, baby killers? What is his crime again? Being crude? What a pompous ass you must be in real life and how little you view your personal freedom and mine. What sick little people and sick little lives you and your followers must lead.
I don’t think you read past the headline.
Read the ENTIRE article before spewing.
Great article, I never thought Americans could be as lacking in soul and grace as Democrats, but they’ve showed us something new. You described the present day situation precisely.
Dr. Beaton, No no no no … I want one of these trials to go to discovery, Trump has enough money to find out lots of things, like take depositions from the IRS folks who leaked his tax records, disbar a few lawyers in SDNY, etc…. on the political side, Biden is already overplaying his hand: a couple of his nominees are going to be gutted in public, Cocaine Mitch should tell him he gets no nominees for anything or legislative agenda unless he goes close to 50-50 on everything … Biden didn’t run on anything but TDS, he has no agenda and he should be forced into that box. PS wait until Trump gets his Nobel Prize.
I’d probably agree with you, if knew what TDS meant.
Trump Derangement Syndrome
Figured that out eventually. There are thousand of acronyms each with dozens of meanings. I don’t recommend AP (Associated Press) style for online comments. I either spell out the acronym or if don’t want to do so put the full name in parentheses after the acronym.
AP style calls for the full name to spelled out on first reference with the acronym in parentheses after, as in the Boston Sewer District (BSD), Later you might say, “according to a BSD spokesperson….”
In an online comment the way I do it, I might say something like, “According that buffoon from the BSD (Boston Sewer District) even the discharge from the sewer plant has to be politically correct or else.”
I believe he’s referring to TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome).
It’s an intriguing idea, but pardoning Trump probably exceeds Biden’s present mental capacity. He’d end up pardoning George Bush or get Trump confused with Boris Johnson.
I respectfully demur, on the basis that Biden is not making any decisions; he is merely the sock puppet being used by his deep state controllers to put a public face on their decisions. Those truly in control of his “administration”, that is, the globalists whose instructions are carried out by the anonymous apparatchiks burrowed into the upper echelons of the administrative/regulatory/security state, will never forgive Trump for exposing them. To imagine they have any interest in unifying this terminally splintered country is, I am sad to say, laughably wrong, notwithstanding the very understandable and patriotic sentiments that prompted you to consider recommending such a course of action. Of course, I also note that you recognize the likelihood of a Biden pardon (assuming he is in a position to do so after all the current litigation over his fraudulent electoral “victory” has played out), is nil.
What crime has president Trump committed that he would need to be pardoned? And in case you missed it, Joe’s under indictment in Ukraine.
Congratulations on winning “Best Columnist of 2020” in the Aspen Times Best of Aspen Reader Poll!
Sincerely,
Lorenzo 🙂
Imagine my winnings if I still wrote one! Anyway, thanks, Lo. G
You’re welcome, and have a nice weekend!
Lo 🙂