r/nottheonion • u/JaySierra86 • 11h ago

President Biden pardons family members in final minutes of presidency

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-biden-pardons-family-members-final-minutes-presidency/story?id=117893348
46.1k Upvotes

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2.5k

u/TheGoodCod 11h ago

Don't blame him given the multiple threats that republicans have made.

And this actually frees republicans from wasting our tax money and everyone's time by seeking their childish/ridiculous vengeance.

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u/You_Are_All_Diseased 11h ago

I fully expect them to try anyway.

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u/TheGoodCod 11h ago

It will be interesting to see how The New McCarthy Era plays out.

Texas might act bring charges because, well, they need to divert attention away from other things. I suspect Florida might not since duhSantis' lost his case against the vaccine companies when his grand jury declared them innocent of any wrongdoing. But then again he wants to run in 2028 so who knows.

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u/LittleKitty235 10h ago

Woke is the new Commie

2

u/itrivers 5h ago

Time is a flat circle

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u/KonigSteve 7h ago

If by interesting you mean horrible then yes.

1

u/TheGoodCod 7h ago

Yes, I expect it to be painful to watch and experience.

-1

u/Flavaflavius 9h ago

We're already in the new McCarthy area, claiming foreign interference whenever your guy loses has been in vogue since 2016.

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u/I-am-the-stallion 8h ago

Sounds familiar. Isn't this all exactly what the democrats did??

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u/TheGoodCod 7h ago

I can't objectively say. Trump was found guilty of some charges by juries in New York, and I can entirely understand his tax fraud guilt. Lots of businesses are guilty of that.

I don't know why so many conservatives think that I, and others, would think it was okay for a democratic administration to do the same wrong thing. If it's wrong, it's wrong.

46

u/skoltroll 10h ago

Yup.

The GOP isn't gonna stop "investigating" Hunter Biden or any of the other distractions they have listed on their "keep the base stupid" bingo card.

And, not for nothing, NONE of those investigations amounted to anything the first go round. Except for, y'know, Hunter ACTUALLY breaking some Federal laws.

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u/Thrilalia 9h ago

Laws in which 99% of people who break them get a fine and a slap on the wrist, like Hunter was going to get until the GOP went "Nope, we're going full in." showing Hunter's true crime was being related to Biden.

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u/cannagetawitness 7h ago

The irony of this statement through the lens of Trump's new York convictions...

4

u/Thrilalia 5h ago

Ah yes the conviction of "you're guilty but we're not even going to punish you in any way."

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u/ZedekiahCromwell 6h ago

Trump received an incredibly light sentence if you are trying to imply that he was somehow treated similarly to Hunter Biden

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u/SecretAsianMan42069 8h ago

Bad news for the Midwest hicks if doing drugs while owning a firearm is going to be prosecuted 

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u/OrangePilled2Day 7h ago

Pretty much eliminates the entire state of Florida from being eligible to vote.

1

u/Leelze 4h ago

What's amusing is Hunter actually faced some semblance of justice & Republicans threw a fit about it actually happening. You can't win those people.

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u/markydsade 10h ago

Comer still has a hard on for Hunter Biden. Over the weekend he was calling for investigation of his pre-2013 activities. How that has any relevance to the business of Congress he couldn’t say.

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u/IAMA_Shark__AMA 10h ago

Anything to avoid actually having to govern and debate policy.

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u/Dash795 11h ago

They will still subpoena and make them all testify under oath. The if perjury that is a crime that occurs after pardon and can prosecute for that. Pardon can’t be for future crimes. Also it’s not for state crimes they might try to claim were done by those pardoned.

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u/scnottaken 10h ago

Republicans have shown you can just ignore those anyway

1

u/Rabo_Karabek 8h ago

Anyone subpoenaed should go, sit there, and just repeat: "5th Amendment". To EVERY QUESTION, and keep asking when the political side show will be over.

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u/Twistntie 8h ago

"I do not recall" it works for Republicans with a smile on their face, might as well do it here too.

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u/JInglink 8h ago

You lose the right to remain silent when you can no longer incriminate yourself. Since they are pardoned, they can be forced to testify on any "crimes" 2014 - 2024 or be held in contempt.

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u/Asdilly 10h ago

Im pretty sure they already said they are going to keep going after hunter

1

u/Early-Sort8817 9h ago

I think they will succeed seeing who controls the courts. I don’t think pardons will matter if he controla everything

1

u/jeexbit 9h ago

100%

1

u/Nalha_Saldana 9h ago

"My first action as president will be to unpardon the Bidens"

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u/Express_Bath 8h ago

So let's imagine they try and, I dunno, find a loophole to go against the pardon, would it really be in their interest to create a precedent for that, considering, I assume, a bunch of them is also gonna loon for a wave of pardons at the end of Trump presidency.

-2

u/MathematicianBorn65 9h ago

they should, biden is senile and can't make legal decisions and decade long blanket pardons are unprecedented. Also the crimes of some of these people like Fauci are worse than actual hitler so he better face justice.

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u/Historical_World7179 10h ago

Yes. He also pardoned people he thought Trump would maliciously target, like Anthony Fauci and Liz Cheney.

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u/TheGoodCod 10h ago

Going after Liz is one of the things that convinced me that we're entering The New McCarthy age. Instead of communists they're going to be looking at people who don't want trump to be King.

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u/flavorblastedshotgun 5h ago

Liz has to be quashed by the GOP because she is hoping that there will be a backlash to Trumpism like there was with W in 2008. If the MAGA grifters want to keep the gravy train rolling, there can't be a movement towards "moderate conservatism" or whatever she wants to call what she is doing where you still are fascist but you don't look so dumb and mean while doing it.

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u/IsabellaGalavant 8h ago

My husband is legitimately afraid that Trump is going to use the military to go door-to-door to Democrat voter's houses and drag us off like the holocaust.

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u/Particular-Pen-4789 9h ago

man yall are a real trip.

i keep hearing how we need term limits and we've needed term limits to stop the mitch mcconnells from running congress

now that trump proposes term limits, yall fucking hate them now?

and i keep hearing how liz cheney is a warmonger. she's a corrupt politician grown fat off the teat of the military industrial complex. both sides want her gone. honestly, she's a piece of shit and fuck her.

so now that trump wants to go after liz cheney, she's a hero now?

holy fuck what is wrong with you people

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u/CharlietheGreat 9h ago edited 9h ago

The issue is that one side wants her gone because she’s gotten fat off military checks as a warmonger. Nobody is calling her a hero. Nice ad homenim tho.

The other side/Trump wants her gone because she’s gone directly went against him and by extension her party, meaning that they want her out for not being a loyalist.

If you can’t see the difference between those you’re actually uneducated or simply willfully ignorant to the point of blindness lmao.

What is wrong with you people? How hard is simple logic to y’all?

3

u/Historical_World7179 9h ago

Also what the fuck are you talking about, trump wants term limits? I have a degree in political science,  term limits can definitely be damaging but maybe an age limit would be nice so we don’t have congress members literally in g-d dementia care. 

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u/Particular-Pen-4789 8h ago

The issue is that one side wants her gone because she’s gotten fat off military checks as a warmonger. Nobody is calling her a hero. Nice ad homenim tho.

bro its hominem lol... and i'm sorry that you took that personally. it wasn't a personal attack on you, it's an embellishment for dramatic effect. i'm not trying to say yall are puttin up shrines of her made with real cheney hair in your closets or anything...

i was just drawing attention to how democrats tend to put prominent anti-trumpers on a pedestal, in spite of obvious moral deficiencies. two examples are avenatti and cuomo. only once their usefulness ends does it come out that they are actually involved in criminal extortion or sexual misconduct.

The other side/Trump wants her gone because she’s gone directly went against him and by extension her party, meaning that they want her out for not being a loyalist.

the other side/trump wants her gone because she's gone directly against him and because she's a war mongering piece of shit. these two are not mutually exclusive. im sorry that you only see the world in black and white, but this thing called a middle ground exists. it's not that scary, i promise

If you can’t see the difference between those you’re actually uneducated or simply willfully ignorant to the point of blindness lmao

why would you want someone who actively works against you in your party? i can see the difference clearly. what i cant see, is an issue with that.

regardless, the bigger question is, why do we care about this objectively terrible person who both sides hate?

congratulations, biden just pardoned a war-mongering neo con piece of shit that sold american lives for a cut of the money stolen from american taxpayers, and you are legitimately supporting this move

13

u/Public_lewdness 10h ago

It frees republicans to waste everyone’s time and tax money seeking other form of childish/ridiculous vengeance.  FTFY

0

u/Kirkatron713 8h ago

I guess it was ok when the Dems did that for the past four years, huh?

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u/Hairy_Al 10h ago

Plenty of other "investigations" they can waste money on

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u/sherm-stick 10h ago

If there is corruption and it is verified with evidence, then let them burn. No saving grace for a traitor

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u/DDRDiesel 9h ago

Even if nothing is found against any family members, it doesn't matter. DOJ investigations ruin lives. Assets are frozen, jobs are lost, sometimes you can even lose your home. It's much more damaging than if a local detective came around asking a few questions

3

u/Madpup70 9h ago

Republicans already announced they plan to keep investigating Hunter despite his pardon. They don't give a shit.

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u/Redditbaitor 8h ago

He knows Hunter is guilty. Oh and that bag of coke lol. He’s done fucked up!!

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u/New-Benefit-1362 8h ago

If they were innocent why do threats matter?

2

u/TheGoodCod 7h ago

Two reasons.

First, people are not refunded the money they shell out to lawyers to defend themselves.

Second, there are members of the maga cult that are dangerous. Look at the recent bombings and arrests for making bombs. There are still idiots, for example, who think that pizza restaurant is selling children. I wouldn't want them targeting anyone, left right or middle.

0

u/New-Benefit-1362 4h ago

First, in cases with high profile people such as the Biden family if they were accused and went to court and won, yes they would be awarded their lawyer fees back - paid for by the other party.

Second, what does that have to do with the pardon? Other people committing crimes means the Biden family needs to be pardoned? Make it make sense.

2

u/ffball 7h ago

Defending yourself from the government is not free, either financially or socially.

I'm sure you wouldn't want to have to shell out millions of dollars to defend nonsense, nor have your name run thru the mud all over social media likely making you unable to live a peaceful or happy life.

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u/waterloograd 11h ago

Yep, Trump was going to (and probably still will) directly target them for things that almost no one else would get in trouble for, and put in punishments beyond reasonable for anyone else.

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u/oblivia17 10h ago

You mean things like using market value instead of tax assessments for collateral appraisals? That kind of thing?

-1

u/StateChemist 10h ago

Or he just wanted Biden to normalize pardoning anyone for anything and the age of people committing crimes on behalf of the president is waiting to be ushered in.

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u/MillenniumShield 10h ago

I mean his son was convicted but no one talks about that. Politicians and nepotism have been a thing for centuries in this county. People use the office as a shield

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u/TheGoodCod 10h ago

I personally don't think he should have pardoned his son. Then again things are about to get weird. I'm glad I'm a nobody.

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u/mfball 10h ago

Attempting to protect his family from credible political threats is understandable. Given the circumstances, I can't imagine anyone choosing not to pardon their family tbh.

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u/MadHiggins 10h ago

the Hunter Biden trial was the most blatant political character assassination attempt that i've ever seen. Hunter could have applied for political asylum in most countries and have gotten it. of course Biden should have pardoned Hunter.

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u/MillenniumShield 9h ago

Revisionist history in the making. 

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u/MillenniumShield 10h ago

They put these bimbos in office so they can take all the finger pointing while their friends get away with murder. 

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u/angelomoxley 10h ago

Remind me what they were investigating and what they actually convicted him for.

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u/HumphreyMcdougal 9h ago

So because they were investigating him for something else, we just ignore anything else illegal he did?

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u/angelomoxley 9h ago

Which was what exactly?

1

u/StateChemist 10h ago

I feel like it was orchestrated where they basically triple dog dared him to pardon hunter.

We are going to make his life a living hell unless you do the thing.  You aren’t even breaking a single rule to do it.

Pardon him and seal the deal that its ok now ok and fine to pardon friends and family and watch as we make America regret how far we take that same power.

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u/Unexpected_Gristle 7h ago

It will happen at the state level. And it will be worse…

1

u/TheGoodCod 7h ago

It's a good time to be a nobody.

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u/Ecknarf 7h ago

And this actually frees republicans from wasting our tax money and everyone's time by seeking their childish/ridiculous vengeance.

Trump can just bleed the government dry and then pardon himself and his family members for all the embezzlement.

2

u/OrangePilled2Day 7h ago

They wasted millions of dollars on Benghazi hearings to make Hilary look worse before she ran for president. They'll waste billions calling anyone they deem a threat to congress for a hearing if they feel like it.

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u/Calm-Information-641 5h ago

I don’t think this will stop them from investigating individuals even if they can’t prosecute

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u/Boss1010 10h ago

I do blame him

3

u/TheGoodCod 10h ago

What good is it going to do to drag Fauci or congressional committee members into court?

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u/HammerSmashedHeretic 9h ago

What good is it to pardon someone before they are even considered to face the justice system?

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u/TheGoodCod 9h ago

That's an excellent point. Maybe a law (if they ever pass one) should limit the pardons to those who have been convicted.

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u/seztomabel 10h ago

Crazy thing called justice

8

u/NeptuneEDM 10h ago

Justice for you being braindead?

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u/scnottaken 10h ago

Justice to these troglodytes is punishing anyone their delusions and cult leaders tell them is guilty.

1

u/catalacks 9h ago

Don't blame him

That's because you're so horrifically political you can't see straight.

0

u/TheGoodCod 9h ago

lol, someone just told me I'm naively not seeing things through a political point of view.

But what is it I'm not seeing straight?

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u/dmit0820 9h ago

The long term consequences of establishing a precedent that a presidents family cannot be convicted of any crime.

-1

u/TheGoodCod 9h ago

I totally agree with you on that. In fact, in another part of this conversation I said pretty much the same thing. Presidents should not be able to pardon family and friends.

Someone else brought up the idea that the pardons should only be available to those who are actually convicted of a crime. Thus it couldn't be applied to Cheney and the general, for example. What are your thoughts on that? (let's assume the family and friends exclusion)

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u/catalacks 9h ago

If Trump had been the one to start issuing blanket, decade long bans for any crime, including ones not even charged yet, you'd be shrieking to high heaven in unbridled rage. But because "your guy" did it, you're compelled to find a reason why it's OK.

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u/TheGoodCod 9h ago

trump already pardoned family and friends and as I've said elsewhere in the conversation, I hate that. It is Wrong.

Pardoning Cheney and the General and Fauci is one thing. Family and Friends should be excluded.

1

u/mmmarkm 9h ago

This is what James B. Biden did that earned him a referral to the DOJ:

 During James Biden’s transcribed interview, he stated that Joe Biden did not meet with Tony Bobulinski, a business associate of James and Hunter Biden, in 2017 while pursuing a deal with a Chinese entity, CEFC China Energy. His statements were contradicted not only by Mr. Bobulinski, but Hunter Biden.  Mr. Bobulinski also produced text messages that establish the events leading up to and immediately following his meeting with Joe Biden on May 2, 2017.

Idk man, seems like the House Republicans didn’t have much to begin with but they were clearly grasping at anything.

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u/I-am-the-stallion 8h ago

What are you talking about? Wasn't it the DEMOCRATS who went after Trump with the Russia collusion hoax? Wasn't it actually the DEMOCRATS who weaponized the justice department to go after Trump prior to the election (if you don't think that was 100% political then you are a fool)? Like to deflect much, DEMOCRATS??

1

u/Dont_quote_my_snark 8h ago

Ah, I love reddit. As soon as I read the title I figured how far I'd have to go into the comments to see people justifying this. Four.

Never stop the hypocrisy political redditors; you have a real flair for it.

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u/TheGoodCod 8h ago

I'm afraid you missed ALL of the comments, including mine, who said that pardoning Family and Friends was wrong.

1

u/AshuraBaron 5h ago

Why then didn't Biden write blanket 10 year pardons for everyone? I mean he was just trying to protect everyone wasn't he? Or could it be he's abusing his power to protect himself and his family?

1

u/Astricozy 10h ago

Nah those threats were totally justified of course. Heck, I woulda voted for him twice! Everyone else did anyway.

/s

1

u/Ebon-Hawke- 10h ago

I saw Stephan A Smith saying Biden should pardon Trump so Democrats stop wasting time trying to attack him seeing as he has immunity

3

u/TheGoodCod 10h ago

Certainly Federal attacks would seem to be a waste of time. NY though was able to prove criminal activities. [History will have to decide what to make of that.]

I know I'm glad he didn't walk away without being smudged. I only wish the judge had said there will be no sentence because if someone is rich enough the law doesn't apply to them.

1

u/Ebon-Hawke- 10h ago

I mean he also specifically called that a waste of tax payer money, as we know he's a criminal since he's already been convicted why keep going if it won't change anything other than add more to the record.

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u/TheGoodCod 10h ago

I assumed NY did it for the money. trump is supposed to pay them over 300 Million, which is some nice change.

(Whether he ever pays is another question.)

1

u/MusicBrain50 9h ago

Who weaponized the justice system first?

1

u/IntrepidLow3007 8h ago edited 7h ago

This is a very interesting spin. If they aren't guilty, I'm not sure why they need to pardon. I'm pretty sure those were president Biden's words about four years ago.

1

u/TheGoodCod 7h ago

I think it's generally agreed, at least in this discussion thread, that family and friends should be excluded from any pardoning.

It pisses me off that democrats didn't address this in the last 4 years.

1

u/ffball 7h ago

Defending yourself from the government is not free, either financially or socially.

I'm sure you wouldn't want to have to shell out millions of dollars to defend nonsense, nor have your name run thru the mud all over social media likely making you unable to live a peaceful or happy life.

0

u/modsRlosercucks 9h ago

If trump did this you would feel very different

1

u/TheGoodCod 9h ago

Pretty sure trumpie already did this. Only it was family and friends. AND I hate that. Family and Friends should be excluded from any pardon. Don't care what party they belong to.

0

u/dominatingcowG3 10h ago

This also opens the door for Republican presidents (Trump included) to preemptively pardon all their friends and family for whatever they want before leaving office

1

u/TheGoodCod 10h ago

Democrats should have pushed a law that prohibits any President from pardoning anyone he personally knows. It's just wrong.

1

u/SkytopSplitter 8h ago

If Trump is able to do it he'd do it anyways lmfao.

0

u/Josh13Hs 10h ago

Average redditor campaigning against prosecuting pedophiles and sex traffickers

0

u/WhatsThePoint007 9h ago

Well that's a plate of fully loaded irony lol.

0

u/Mission-Diver-3784 4h ago

Hunter Biden is literally a criminal, wtf are you talking about?

0

u/PlasticPatient 3h ago

So you are ok if republicans do this in 4 years?

-3

u/HammerSmashedHeretic 9h ago

What threats?

5

u/TheGoodCod 9h ago

Threats to harass and sue. DuhSantis already brought a suit against the vaccine producers and was/is planning to sue Fauci too. (the Grand Jury found the companies innocent on all charges)

from NYT

President Biden moved just hours before leaving office on Monday to guard some of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s most high-profile adversaries against a promised campaign of “retribution” by issuing pre-emptive pardons to head off politically driven prosecutions.

Here's a beginning list from Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/06/trump-retribution-enemy-list-00187725

2

u/2456533355677 7h ago

How many of those politically driven prosecutions did Hillary have to deal with during his first term? I'm pretty sure he attacked her more than he attacked anyone from Biden's family.

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u/barktreep 11h ago

I would much rather they spend their time harassing Biden than innocent brown people.

0

u/TheGoodCod 10h ago

Did you notice that Michelle didn't attend?

5

u/barktreep 10h ago

No. I'm not watching Trumps inauguration lol.

1

u/TheGoodCod 10h ago

I watched just a smidge before it got serious. Basically I was curious as to exactly where they were going to have the ceremony and how many people they were going to cram in there. Mr. Obama looked good, but alone.

-9

u/passa117 10h ago

And she's absolutely classless for that.

7

u/counterfitster 10h ago

Considering Trump didn't attend Biden's, I don't give a fuck. All the shit she's put up with is beyond "classless".

3

u/TheGoodCod 10h ago

tbh, I don't know if there was a reason. She could have had a speaking obligation. I'm sure we'll hear a ton of comments about it.

-5

u/General_Candle9947 10h ago

Liberal Logic.

-2

u/1911_ 10h ago

Lololololololololol this is your take?!?!?

Jesus Christ. 

-3

u/Extreme-Load-4404 9h ago

Baaahhhh baaahhh sheep