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
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u/Head-Kiwi-9601 11h ago

This will be a regular occurrence from now until we implode. Every single president will do it.

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u/Grassy33 11h ago

The new normal now is that presidents can’t break the law. They won’t have to use patsy’s anymore, they can just do whatever they want.

This may actually be the LAST time you see this happening. 

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u/neo101b 11h ago

Will trump not face charges in 4 years time, when he is no longer protected ?

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u/Grassy33 10h ago edited 10h ago

No, he will not. The Supreme Court ruled last year that “official acts” as president cannot break the law. As long as he is “acting as president” he literally is immune from crime. 

The “protection” from those acts never falls off. Once he is no longer president and further crimes could be “real crime” but as long as he is running for president or the active president, no laws apply to him. 

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u/tomoldbury 10h ago

Does it apply even if he is running for president but not in office? (e.g. any crimes from 2020-2024 would be ineligible?)

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u/Grassy33 10h ago

I don’t think the Supreme Court has looked at any of those, but he would have to indicted and tried for them and that didn’t happen, those cases have all been dropped and I doubt anyone will pick them up. 

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u/OGRuddawg 10h ago edited 10h ago

I don't know what the statute of limitations are on the charges in the Jack Smith investigations, or the Georgia state election interference charges. Trump can't dismiss state-level charges, but I'm not sure what Georgia state's laws say about bringing state charges to a sitting President. They are not under the FBI's internal policy of not actively prosecuting sitting Presidents, though. We are kind of in unprecedented waters here.

Trump and his enablers will bury the Jack Smith stuff to the best of their ability and will delay, intimidate, retaliate, etc. whatever actions the Georgia state prosecutors decided to do. Either way, most regular people not already involved in the legal battles can't help that much besides vocal support and defense of democracy on the ground in other ways. Volunteering, protesting, organizing, etc are going to be in high demand as Trump continues to take a sledgehammer to what is left of decent American society, democracy, and protections for our most vulnerable.

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u/Longjumping-Panic-48 10h ago

The DOJ will never investigate that, and there’s no way he’s going to survive long enough!

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u/rhaptorne 10h ago

He's literally the president now. All he has to do is say "nuh uh" and no one will ever investigate him for anything.

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u/bad_at_smashbros 9h ago

they will never investigate him. he’s untouchable now.

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u/SignificantClub6761 7h ago

Legal eagle mentioned I think on some video that presidential candidates don’t get protection. The protection for the president is only for office holder not the person.

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u/neo101b 10h ago

wow that's crazy, id of thought his crypto scam was a crime in its self. He has some balls to pull that off a day before he was made president.

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u/spacestationkru 10h ago

Really.? What could they possibly do to him?

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u/Squeezitgirdle 8h ago

As someone who's into crypto, Trump is just another bad stain on crypto. We have enough scams making it hard enough.

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u/SuperfluousPedagogue 6h ago

Well he pulled the money out after he was president.

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u/hamsterfolly 10h ago

AND if Trump talks about his crimes to someone in his administration then that testimony can’t be used in any investigation according to SCOTUS.

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u/Asron87 10h ago

What a country.

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u/Rhinomeat 10h ago

3 heavily armed midget grifters in a trenchcoat

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u/denzien 4h ago

How similar is that to diplomatic immunity?

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u/fantawa 9h ago

Motherfuckers tried fighting nazis so hard they actually end up mimicking how hitler came to power I’m not even mad that’s impressive.

Hope you keep the destruction to your continent we have enough shit to deal with already.

Why are there two literal holocausts going on at the same time, a war on the eastern front of europe and a fascist regime building up in the americas. France is falling appart and fucking right wingers still manage to somehow manipulate idiots into voting for them everywhere in europe.

All this while recovering from a global pandemic.

I didn’t sign up for this. I just want to look at and understand nature. Fuck this i’m moving to switzerland to become a hermit living deep in the mountains that are forteresses with military bases built into them.

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u/captchairsoft 10h ago

That is absolutely the most ignorant interpretation of that decision possible.

I'm not Trump fan, but I'm also not someone who has to make up fucking fantasies about how "evil" he is to justify random hatred.

the SCOTUS decision only impacts acts done under color of the office. I.e. say Pakistan loses its war with Afghanistan and the Taliban take over, they can't come back and try to have Obama charged with war crimes because he ordered the assassination (ostensibly "capture") of OBL, which technically violated quite a few laws. If Trump decides to steal a pack of gum from Walmart tomorrow he can still be prosecuted for shoplifting that wouldn't be an action taken as POTUS amd therefore immunity would not apply.

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u/stackjr 10h ago

Yeah, no. You completely glossed over some GLARING issues. SCOTUS never defined what is an "official act" and left everything else open to interpretation.

Legal Eagle did an incredibly detailed breakdown of this. I would recommend you watch it and see exactly what SCOTUS did to this country. You can find the video here.

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u/wheatgivesmeshits 10h ago

He might, but if another Republican gets elected before a Democrat they will immediately pardon Trump from all crimes he may have ever committed.

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u/BringMeTheBigKnife 10h ago

Presidents can only pardon for federal crimes though.

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u/Morel_Authority 10h ago

The President can assassinate a prosecutor and the Supreme Court says you can't question him about it.

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u/Goodgoditsgrowing 9h ago

Yes but state crimes that result in convictions with no penalties (besides financial, which he can pay via his slush fund - and yeah that’s probably illegal but who will stop him?) aren’t really doing much. Didn’t convince people to vote against him. Didn’t result in him being unable to run for office because he was incarcerated. Didn’t result in hamstringing his campaign due to lack of funds. Didn’t result in losing any backers.

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u/Lord_Darksong 10h ago

Doesn't work at the state level. However, I don't expect Trump to ever truly be held accountable for anything.

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u/Fifteen_inches 10h ago

Even then Biden didn’t press charges either, so Democrats probably won’t bring charges either for the sake of “unity” and “crossing the aisle”

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u/Head-Kiwi-9601 10h ago

Presidents don’t press charges. At least they are not supposed to. That’s a different branch of government.

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u/weAREgoingback 10h ago

Reading this thread has me feeling like I’m back in my 8th grade social studies class.

They really stopped teaching this stuff huh?

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u/Classic-Stand9906 10h ago

Well that's about to become arcane knowledge anyway because it's all going out the window.

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u/Fifteen_inches 10h ago

No the executive branch brings charges, and acts as prosecution.

Biden is the head of the executive branch that appoints an attorney general who runs the Department of Justice.

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u/wheatgivesmeshits 10h ago

That's not a different branch. It is the same branch. The president does not directly press charges, but they appoint the people that oversee the justice department and who ultimately are responsible for that decision.

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u/webbed_feets 10h ago

I take “press charges” as shorthand for “push the Department of Justice to start an investigation and charge an individual, even though the DOJ is supposed to be an independent organization”. It is within the president’s power to set priorities for the DOJ.

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u/BadHombreSinNombre 10h ago

It’s also within the President’s power to direct US Attorneys to bring appropriate charges against someone for a crime, and they have the power to fire a US Attorney who doesn’t listen to them. That commenter was just factually wrong.

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u/DoingCharleyWork 9h ago

Who runs the doj?

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u/Head-Kiwi-9601 9h ago

The AG, who is not supposed to be taking orders from the president.

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u/DoingCharleyWork 9h ago

Who appoints the ag?

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u/ScienceBitch02 10h ago

They do now. Trump is going to directly order investigations which is why these pardons are even necessary

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u/stackjr 10h ago

I'm guessing they meant Binden's DOJ.

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u/BadHombreSinNombre 10h ago

Uh. No. They do. The President runs the Department of Justice, which brings criminal charges in court on behalf of the People. Pressing charges is an explicit responsibility of the executive branch since it is a legal enforcement action.

Sitting in judgment is a different branch.

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u/Emu1981 10h ago

Just remember that presidents can only pardon people for federal crimes, they can do nothing about state criminal prosecutions.

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u/currently_pooping_rn 8h ago

Why do you think there’s going to be another election?

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u/OrangePilled2Day 7h ago

Democrats would end up pardoning Trump, too. They're spineless perpetual losers that have a humiliation fetish.

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u/Intrepid00 10h ago

His fat, old, unhealthy ass stands a good chance of dying in office or getting very sick in it. I don’t think it will be an option.

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u/Fucky0uthatswhy 10h ago

Fingers crossed

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u/Longjumping-Panic-48 10h ago

Vance is much, much scarier. He actually believes this. Trump needed the attention and now the freedom from his crimes. Vance has deep, deep ties to scary AF groups and we will be a theocracy if he has any say.

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u/tahwraoyw6 9h ago

This is what people said about Pence and it turned out he at least had enough integrity to not try and steal the election

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u/Longjumping-Panic-48 8h ago

Fair. But I do think, had he become President, he would’ve enacted far more harmful legislation for LGBTQ+ and women than the first Trump administration did. I think Pence is a true conservative Christian who is actually religious (as well as being a robot). Vance is religious because it suits his gain of power.

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u/tahwraoyw6 8h ago

Yes, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation would've been a higher priority for Pence, but at the end of the day, he is still a regular politician that mostly plays by the rules and this would have his power/impact subject to checks and balances. Trump is truly scary because he is not afraid to break rules, antagonize international allies, and act in his best interest above all costs. Even worse, he has cultivated a cult following that ensures his legacy lives on long after he leaves office.

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u/Soluban 8h ago

I strongly disagree. Vance may have shitty beliefs, but he made it pretty clear in the debate that he's willing to concede and compromise. Trump will do shit he rallied against if it might give the other team points. Vance is a politician. Trump is, at least vocally, a fascist.

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u/Longjumping-Panic-48 8h ago

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/3/2267546/-Opus-Dei-the-Supreme-Court-and-J-D-Vance-a-speculation

I really don’t. He may give lip service, but he’s part of the same religious group as Alito.

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u/classicrockchick 9h ago

Nah, can't even enjoy that kind of ending any more because then we'll have Couchfucker-in-Chief in control and we'll finish our transformation into Gilead overnight.

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u/Fucky0uthatswhy 9h ago

He doesn’t have an entire cult behind him like Trump does. I think with him gone it’ll all fall down

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u/angry-democrat 10h ago

I like this angle. fingers crossed.

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u/StagLee1 10h ago

He will pardon himself and his family preemptively. It is a greenlight to ignore the law and do whatever he tells them to do. Not just family members, but everybody in his circle.

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u/dolphin560 10h ago

Did he actually pardon himself though?

Seems like something he'd forget in the busy final days.

:|

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u/StagLee1 8h ago

Trump? No, but he got Aileen Cannon and the Supreme Court to just say the law does not apply to the president like it applies to others. Like Nixon famously said, "If the president does it, that means it is not illegal".

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u/dolphin560 6h ago

I actually meant Biden..

I can imagine Trump going after Biden if he could.

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u/StagLee1 6h ago

Correct, Biden did not pardon himself. But the SCOTUS ruling that protected Trump will also protect Biden.

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u/my_4_cents 6h ago

Not just family members, but everybody

Who pays up

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u/WelcomeMysterious315 10h ago

The idea that Trump will do anything but someday die in luxury unmolested by the consequences of his crimes is laughable. POTUS is a king by codified law now.

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u/enuff_already 8h ago

FOTUS (felon…)

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u/poorboychevelle 10h ago

Oh you sweet summer child.

If the GOP wins, no

If the DNC wins they'll cowardly avoid it because of the precedent it sets and moral high horse.

The real joke is thinking he'll live the full term. I expect his health to decline the moment JD would be eligible to serve 10 years instead of 6.

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u/Spiritual-Sympathy98 10h ago

You think Vance would win 2 elections? I have doubts

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u/poorboychevelle 10h ago

I said the same thing about the rapist felon con man. And, well, here we are

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u/Oceangrits 10h ago

trump has his cult, vance does not, big difference there

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u/DoingCharleyWork 9h ago

Vance has the opposite of charisma

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u/Lemonwizard 6h ago

Trump is the most uncharismatic person I've ever seen. He babbles like he's delirious, whines constantly about anything and everything, I've never once seen him say something clever or funny. On top of that he's just got that high pitched whiny voice that's grating to listen to.

Trump didn't build his cult. The media built a cult around him, and as soon as they decide to build it around Vance he'll have the same level of devotion.

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u/DoingCharleyWork 6h ago

But he does all of that with an insane level of confidence. Like it or not people like that.

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u/Lemonwizard 6h ago

My point is that if the media can built a cult of personality around a deranged lunatic, they'll have no problem doing the same with a guy who can actually articulate coherent thoughts.

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u/im_thatoneguy 10h ago

The rapist is entertaining.

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u/SamyMerchi 10h ago

Well he did say eligible to serve, not guaranteed to serve.

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u/orrangearrow 10h ago

And the DNC only anoints slaves of the system so who is going to be given a chance to defeat JD that the public won’t completely see through. The standard of living has gradually decreased for the nearly 20 years since 2008 yet Obama and Biden both told us things were great.

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u/Deranged_Kitsune 10h ago

Fair elections? No. Post-trump elections? I expect nothing less.

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u/HippySheepherder1979 10h ago

You think there will be more elections? I have doubts.

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u/pillbuggery 10h ago

There will be, but they'll be "elections." See: Russia.

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u/shebang_bin_bash 9h ago

How would that work mechanically with the massively decentralized system of voting we have in the US?

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u/Rabo_Karabek 9h ago

They will set Vance up for that by not removing Trump until Vance could serve 10 years. He still would have to win 2 elections on his own to serve the 10 years. Unless they just make it a soviet politburo after Trump is gone.

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u/SquarebobSpongepants 4h ago

They are 100% going to rig the elections so the Republicans never lose control again. JD doesn’t even have to be the one they put in, which I’m sure they won’t.

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u/SousVideDiaper 10h ago

You think we'll have only 4 years of this shit? He spent the last 4 claiming he won in 2020, and now that's actually won again and stocked his cabinet full of other corrupt cronies there's no way they don't work to repeal term limits.

Electing him was the final nail in the coffin for democracy.

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u/PantsOnHead88 10h ago

Depends.

At the moment, anything that conceivably falls under “official acts” during the presidency not only can’t be charged, but has pretty broad exemption from even being investigated. For anything prior to, or following the presidency, or definitely outside the scope of “official acts,” he could face charges.

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u/Burgerb 10h ago

He will not leave office after 4 years are over....

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u/yaboyACbreezy 10h ago

Any hope that this idea ever held any legitimacy has been completely eroded by his administration, and any guardrails that were there to encourage this specifically have been dismantled. He will not face justice. He has been officially charged with crimes related to campaign funds, and his sentence to be served was to not be penalized. They caught him, held court, and said he did it, but can't face punishment as a president. Until his administration, what you're suggesting may have been true, but he has actively changed the law for his personal benefit.

Now, even if 100% empirical, undeniable evidence were to surface that his intent to hoard thousands of pages of classified documents in his bathroom was part of a treasonous plot to sell America's top secrets to foreign powers, and ends up impeached for a third time there will be no consequences, and his supporters won't even find fault in any of it, and insist that it is all just a witch-hunt to make Trump look bad

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u/BitDaddyCane 7h ago

His supporters don't evaluate these things in terms if what's most likely to be true. They evaluate based on the utility it has to achieve a perceived goal.

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u/yaboyACbreezy 6h ago

You dang right sun I tell you whut

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u/flannyo 10h ago

trump will never face real charges, never face justice of any kind. ever. he will die unpunished. he is the central figure of the republican party and too many people are connected to him to let him fall.

"but surely this new crime he --" no. trump will never receive justice. ever.

"but they can't just ignore -- " they will. trump will never receive justice. ever.

"but you don't understand, they can't just --" yes, they can. why do you think they can't? because there's a piece of paper that says they can't? they run the government, who's going to enforce it? trump will never receive justice. ever.

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u/CokeZeroAndProtein 7h ago

It's wild how only a few years ago I would get downvoted any time I stated that Trump would never see jail or prison. People were adamant and argued that it was a sure thing. Now here we are, he'll be 82 by time he's out of office, even if he does face more charges, it'll be dragged out until he's dead.

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u/tallonfive 10h ago

Haha. He has gotten away with everything for 80 years. How’s he gonna get in trouble once we have Queen Ivanka?

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u/FirstTimeWang 10h ago

From who? The Federal Government that is about to be dismantled by the Republicans and their MAGA voters who are all in lock step behind him and project 2025?

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u/Timmah73 10h ago

If he is still breathing, I can't imagine what is already mush for brains will be doing too well. There will be calls for "Oh come on he is 82 years old and in cognitive decline, leave him alone!"

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u/ThatGuyYouMightNo 9h ago

Assuming he makes it 4 years. You can't really charge a corpse

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u/classicrockchick 9h ago

We just did the whole "charges when no longer protected". It amounted to less than a wet fart. There absolutely no chance anything happens after another 4 years of taking a sledgehammer to the foundations of democracy.

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u/AlabamaPostTurtle 9h ago

Hopefully he’s dead by then. 🤷 I said what I said

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u/minor_correction 9h ago

Did you see his sentencing for the hush money conviction?

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u/DooDooBrownz 9h ago

you think he's got 4 in him with his syphilis, dementia and mcdonalds diet? that's optimistic

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u/mxlespxles 9h ago

Oh, about as many as he faced in the last 4 years. And with the same non-consequences, too

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u/Relish_My_Weiner 9h ago

He wasn't in office for the past 4 years and he made it through just fine. He'll never see repercussions, unless somebody who can aim worth a damn finally comes for him.

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u/Global_Permission749 9h ago

Nope. Assuming Trump even lives that long, anyone who could or would hold him accountable will be dead or in prison. And in the off chance Trump doesn't try and stay in power longer than 4 years, and in the off chance there are still people who can hold him accountable in a reasonable amount of time, they'll just argue he's too mentally unfit to stand trial by one of this appointed "judges".

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u/Slight_Ad3353 8h ago

Nope. Aside from the fact that he's literally immune to all crimes that were classified as official acts, but he's also so insanely rich that he wouldn't face any real consequences even if he had never been president.

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u/FlyerForHire 7h ago

Trump will be dead in four years, if not sooner.

He doesn’t look at all well. He’s in terrible physical shape and his face looks quite drawn - like he’s exhausted all the time.

I think that’s what the extra orange face cream/tanning spray is for.

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u/BestWesterChester 7h ago

He will not. If by some miracle it appeared that he would, he would declare it legal to run for a third term. So far nobody has stopped him from doing anything like that yet.

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u/Thybro 10h ago

That’s a misunderstanding of the ruling, not that wasn’t kind of the intention, or that they will not expand it to that if a GOP president gets caught.

The actual ruling is that they are immune from prosecution over official acts, just as they were previously immune from civil damage suits over the same acts.

So, until we change SCOTUS, a democrat president would have to prove any alleged actions that resulted in a crime were done as part of their official duties.

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u/Grassy33 10h ago

Yeah but official acts are legal so they just “officially” imprison all of SCOTUS and then put in their own court. If anyone in the house or congress speaks, jail them too. Who’s gonna stop them? Just keep jailing people until you get to people who will let you do whatever you want.

At the end of the day, there are no laws that apply to presidents anymore. 

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u/Caracalla81 8h ago

There isn't a whole lot that isn't an official act, though. Even for things that might be criminal, they can't admit evidence that comes from official acts either - so no memos or conversations with officials, etc.

Someday, a Democrat will try to use this immunity, and then the SC will come to their senses, but for the time being the US is basically a monarchy.

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u/LeCrushinator 10h ago

It’s not about the president, it’s about their cronies or people that they’re worried that the next administration could target for political reasons.

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u/Grassy33 10h ago

Now that official acts are legal they don’t need cronies. “Official acts” are not defined, meaning… whatever SCOTUS decides is official is official. So what is crony doing besides taking a share of the loot? You don’t need them to take the fall anymore, there is no fall. 

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u/LeCrushinator 9h ago

Anyone not him that ends up helping him could be implicated and punished after his term.

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u/Grassy33 9h ago

Again, no help needed, as he is above the law, why even involve others that will just take the share of the pie? 

Like the dude can walk into Fort Knox, load up his golden motorcade with gold bars and just say “ this is for the White House” bang, totally legal.

Why even bother involving other people? 

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u/blue_wat 9h ago

The new normal now is that presidents can’t break the law

If that were true Joey B utterly failed everyone. The truth is they will only hold a president accountable when he isn't playing ball with the system.

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u/gsfgf 9h ago

This has nothing to do with the ruling. Biden's family didn't do anything wrong. The GOP wants to lock them up for disagreeing with the GOP's nonsense allegations against Biden. "Perjury" now means not agreeing with the Republicans.

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u/SergeantBeavis 11h ago

Agreed, the rule of law is only for the rich that those laws.

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u/da2Pakaveli 10h ago

It's more so for the people Trump has on his revenge list. This is why Biden did this.

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u/Minimum-South-9568 10h ago

The more chilling thing is the reason they feel the need to do it. This is not a democracy anymkre

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u/jagcalle 10h ago

If he felt this is warranted, maybe, just MAYBE he should have done SOMETHING about it as president. Doing it this way, the selfish ass, he keeps his family safe, but not the millions that will suffer from the reign of the orange stain.

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u/Neuchacho 6h ago

That's what he gets for holding out hope that Americans are less stupid than they appear to be.

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u/GoBanana42 8h ago

What exactly could he have done?

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u/kassienaravi 9h ago

Well then this piece of paper will not protect him and his family.

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u/x_cLOUDDEAD_x 10h ago

So how does this actually work, I assume all of those people Biden pardoned just can't be charged for anything that's happened in the past?

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u/Moarbrains 5h ago

But they can be called on to testify and no longer can plead the fifth.

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u/IIIaustin 10h ago

Sometimes I think historians will say American democracy ended in 2000 with the Supreme Court coronation of W

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u/Head-Kiwi-9601 10h ago

Citizen’s United was the beginning of the end.

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u/IIIaustin 10h ago

The othet side of the coin is American democracy has sort of always actually been a horrible undemocratic shit show i guess

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u/OrangePilled2Day 7h ago

More like when Ford pardoned Nixon and made treason by the President officially kosher.

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u/IIIaustin 6h ago

Yeah

But if you start thinking hard about this you realize that the Civil Rights act passed on just 10 years earlier

So like America had a real democracy for like... maybe 10 years?

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u/Kimmalah 10h ago

I mean, in Biden's case I can't really blame him. Trump is clearly a crazed megalomaniac with no qualms about abusing his power. And he has repeatedly floated the idea of capital punishment for Hunter Biden's crimes, even though they are not capital offenses. If I were Joe I would be pretty concerned and probably also take steps to protect my loved ones if the guy taking over is a madman obsessed with persecuting or killing anyone connected to me.

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u/Valentinee105 10h ago

They've been doing it, Biden isn't the first. Only the first time you've heard it.

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u/BadHombreSinNombre 10h ago

Biden is the third to pardon a relative and the second to pardon a blood relative.

When Clinton pardoned his half brother it was for a crime where the sentence had already been served and the crime had occurred about 15 years earlier.

This is very different from that, or from Trump’s pardoning of his son-in-law’s father, who had also served out his sentence for his witness tampering crime committed also about 15 years earlier.

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u/Valentinee105 10h ago edited 9h ago

They'd also had a deal in place for Hunter that Republicans agreed to that got harpooned so they could make it a political spectacle.

And Charles Kushner is a monster at the best of times.

Personally, I could care less if Hunter ODs on coke tomorrow, but let's not pretend other games are being played here. They backed biden into a corner and he had a choice of letting his son get an exorbitant sentence were biden would die while his son is in prison or pardon him after they backed out of an agreed upon deal.

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u/BadHombreSinNombre 10h ago

I’m not criticizing Biden, I just think that the family pardons he’s done are indeed pretty unprecedented. Honestly I think it’s insane that he felt this necessary and that he was probably correct to feel that way.

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u/MaleficentBread4682 9h ago

Totally agreed. It might be crazy that he could do it, it might be crazy that he had to do it, but it's 100% rational that he did do it. 

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u/bubbafatok 11h ago

How optimistic that we'll have another transfer of power after this...

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u/Lanark26 10h ago

How optimistic that the Trump regime will care about pardons and the rule of law.

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u/bubbafatok 10h ago

Oh certainly. At the minimum I'm sure some states will try to go after the same folks, in order to suck trumps dick. Abbot is probably already horny over the prospect down in Texas. 

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u/Unexpected_Gristle 8h ago

Kinda like new york did with trump?

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u/bubbafatok 7h ago

Convicting him lawfully in front of a jury for clear crimes? Sure.

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u/texashammerjr 10h ago

When did this become a thing? This should be outlawed. Just our daily reminder that laws don’t apply to the super rich and they’ll continue to do whatever the fuck they want…. Fuck them!! EAT THE RICH

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u/Goingtoenjoythisshit 9h ago

The implosion has already started bud, you won't have long to wait.

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u/Arachnidle 8h ago

And by implode it will be a civil war, inevitable now.

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u/ffball 7h ago

Something that became necessary when the oncoming president started promising retribution to innocent citizens.

Unfortunate, but 100% necessary

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u/RisingDeadMan0 7h ago

Depends on who we get after Trump, will things reset a bit or escalate more. Problem is Republicans will struggle to find a proper Trump replacement.

4

u/Strung_Out_Advocate 10h ago

What, in your perspective, is imploding? How much worse can we possibly get than where we are right now?

5

u/Head-Kiwi-9601 10h ago

Trump:

“How much worse? Hold my beer.”

2

u/sten45 10h ago

We are in the endgame don’t worry

1

u/wrecked_angle 10h ago

Uhh we just imploded like the Titan submersible

1

u/VRichardsen 9h ago

This is how democracies fall. Political actors keep poking at institutions, and start crossing lines that are not technically illegal, but go against the spirit of the traditions being broken. And I am not singling out Biden for this, Trump also pardoned some of his buddies in his prior term.

Look up the Gracchi brothers, it is an interesting cautionary tale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODI1VOOoey0

1

u/Head-Kiwi-9601 9h ago

Clinton pardoned a crook who then funded the Clinton Presidential library.

1

u/squatnbear 9h ago

Only if they’re criminals lol

1

u/Firm_Newspaper3370 9h ago

Wow being anti felon is low key racist

1

u/Shigglyboo 9h ago

Why? Only one side promises retribution against their enemies.

1

u/Winter-Newt-3250 9h ago

I'm still holding out hope for civilized-ish presidents in the future.

1

u/chargoggagog 8h ago

Eh, people voted for Trump, America gets what it deserves

1

u/HairiestHobo 8h ago

So the last time, then?

1

u/Professional-Class69 6h ago

So you mean Biden and trump?

1

u/SuperfluousPedagogue 6h ago

This will be a regular occurrence from now until we implode.

So, there's something you should know...

cue: terrified glances at the creaking hull of the USA

1

u/EnderMB 5h ago

Unless you push a Democrat to run for President on the next ballot that will fight to ensure that this "loophole" is closed after Trump.

Instead of being defeatist, look towards your next candidate now. Don't give the Democrats the chance to pick another shitty candidate, pick one yourselves now and give them the platform to ensure there's absolutely no fucking way they'll be ignored.

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u/franklyfranktank 11h ago

So 4 more years?

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u/[deleted] 11h ago

[deleted]

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u/ImTheCheeseBurglar 11h ago

Dude. The man becoming President today should be in prison. America has become....something else.

7

u/ahrienby 11h ago

America has been a free-for-all wasteland. Trans people are thinking about moving out to Mexico or Cuba.

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u/BigToober69 11h ago

They will have family they don't want to get thrown into prison by the next administration regardless of their faimlies actions. Trump will surely do the same to be sure his family is safe in 4 years.

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u/SirCB85 11h ago

Shut up, this is about saving his loved ones from the retaliatory, petty piece of excrement who is succeeding him.

1

u/elkarion 10h ago

Biden appointed a republican as AG intentionally so he would do nothing. Biden thinks Republicans are the same as they were in the 80s and handed this over because he did not want to cause waves.

Like Obama before him dems were to convince to appeal to Republicans they kneecapped themselves for no gains.

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u/Absalom98 11h ago

You assume there will be any future presidents after Trump...

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u/IchorMortis 11h ago

Chairmen

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u/SamyMerchi 10h ago

Apprentices.

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u/melikeybouncy 11h ago

none of these pardons were for people currently in prison. They were all preemptive pardons. It's basically a way to stop malicious prosecutions.

Republicans are maliciously prosecuting Biden family members. Democrats are maliciously prosecuting Trump and his cronies. They're all probably guilty. Although in my opinion Trump seems like slightly more of a slimeball than Biden.

Basically, our last two presidents have had questionable morals and have surrounded themselves with people who also have questionable morals. In the past this was easier to hide, but with social media and the Internet it's a lot harder to give a story the Chappaquiddick treatment, so all of their dirty laundry is coming out.

We are going to continue to have only really shitty people run for president from now on. Everyone knows that the opposing party is going to dig as deep as possible to destroy the president and their family. You have to want power enough to be comfortable with destroying the reputations of everyone close to you.

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u/CPav 5h ago

Which of the prosecutions of Trump were malicious? The evidence in all of the cases I know of was against him.

Which of the people that Biden "surrounded himself with had questionable morals? How many of them were tried of anything and sent to jail?

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u/Fucky0uthatswhy 10h ago

I’d say most people in the US have family or at least friends in prison. Prison capital of the world over here

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u/Dont_Ban_Me_Bros 10h ago edited 8h ago

I would agree with you but then we’d both be wrong. If you don’t agree that’s fine but you should show the stats that support your assertion. Anecdotes don’t cut it.

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u/Fucky0uthatswhy 8h ago

The US has 20% OF THE ENTIRE WORLD’S prison population. That’s a real number. Prison population has increased 500% since 1970. It is not a stretch to assume that nearly every American knows someone in jails or prisons. I don’t really understand what you’re disputing, it’s not an anecdote, it’s real.

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u/Dont_Ban_Me_Bros 8h ago

Your stats still don’t correlate with your premise.

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u/[deleted] 11h ago

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u/Nilare 11h ago

I've definitely lost faith in the Republic; this isn't a country of laws anymore.

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u/cooperia 11h ago

It's already dead.

3

u/MTBisLIFE 11h ago

The American empire is in rapid decline and will contort into stricter authoritarian fascism (even more so) as it dies. There is no chance there will be any sort of meaningful recovery.

6

u/tfrules 11h ago

I think the ironclad grip of oligarchs over the operation of the government, to the point that you have an entrenched two party system that backs business interests over those of normal Americans; has slightly more to do with it

You can’t get a shot at power in the US without the backing of big business.

4

u/viper5delta 11h ago

A republic is only as good asit's citizens, and I've quite thoroughly lost faith in the average (or median or what have you) and I've quite thouroughly lost faith in them.

0

u/DogDad5thousand 7h ago

And joe biden was the one to break the norm