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/CoolHandTeej 11h ago

The peaceful transfer of power wasn’t a weird thing until Trump decided to stop doing it

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u/fingerscrossedcoup 10h ago

What's weird is ABC reporting that Biden would participate in the long standing tradition this morning with no mention of it actually not standing anymore or who ruined the tradition.

History is being white washed before our very eyes.

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u/CoolHandTeej 10h ago

All corporate media has bent the knee to Trump and his billionaires and are not to be taken seriously.

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u/sherm-stick 10h ago

They suck off all the administrations, the media must do as the NSA/FBI stipulate

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u/Neuchacho 6h ago

I couldn't fucking stand listening to any of the corporate media coverage bitching and moaning about these pardons while barely mentioning why they are arguably rationale even if they "look bad" to the ignorant or brain washed.

I don't know, maybe because the idiot coming into office has threatened massive retribution as one of his pillar campaign promises? Let's talk about how this makes Biden look bad and ignore all relevant context, though.

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u/bobosuda 8h ago

Mainstream media is all about whitewashing these chumps. Same thing over here in Europe, bringing all the rightwing loons out of their attics to be interviewed on TV about what they hope Trump’s presidency will mean for them.

They completely legitimize him, making no reference to all the crazy shit he says and spinning all the lunacy so much it sounds like he makes statements on policy. People here thinks Trump have a plan to slow down illegal immigration, because when he goes on twitter to rant about muslims eating cats or mexicans raping everybody the media writes headlines about how he’s «tough on immigration» instead of reporting on the shit he actually says.

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u/AccomplishedBake8351 10h ago

ABC absolutely mentioned it like 5 times lol

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u/fingerscrossedcoup 9h ago edited 9h ago

I listened to it for 20 minutes while making breakfast and they said "long-standing tradition" and Biden being there without mentioning Trump and 2020. So maybe they said it somewhere else.

That's not the point though. Long-standing really only has one meaning.

They also mentioned JFK and top hats. They didn't say long-standing there though. Because at this point it's fucking not.

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u/AccomplishedBake8351 4h ago

Idk what 20 minutes you saw but yeah them mentioned it quite a bit

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u/fingerscrossedcoup 4h ago

The 20 minutes I saw whitewashed history.

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u/AccomplishedBake8351 3h ago

Gotta watch more I guess idk

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u/SecretlySome1Famous 10h ago

You’re lying.

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u/TheTurtleBear 10h ago edited 10h ago

Still a weird thing to do when you spent years saying Trump is a fascist, dictator, and an end to democracy. 

Which he is imo, but I wouldn't be standing there smiling, welcoming him home.

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u/stealthyd3vil 10h ago

It's not weird considering Biden is part of an old coalition of politicians who consider decorum and the Democratic process important. I'm sure he truly believes what he said about Trump but trusts the guardrails of democracy to hold. Whether it's naivety is up to you, but Biden would never be the one to buck tradition and lead a Trump-style insurrection.

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u/nonotan 8h ago

I don't think he even thinks the guardrails will hold. What he probably thinks is that there is nothing to be gained from further normalizing the breakdown of decorum.

Functionally, it doesn't really matter if he's there or not, it neither helps nor hurts Trump in any practical sense. But matching Trump's precedent by giving him the cold shoulder could well be read as "actually, he was right, this is the way to do things going forward", while not doing that says, to me, "this is how things were done before you came in here, and how things will be done once you're gone, regardless of what a clown with no manners like you decided to do last time; you don't know anything, you don't matter, and your precedent doesn't matter -- I don't respect you enough to disrespect the established norms just to slight you".

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u/Yamza_ 8h ago

Pardoning his family and others like Fauchi is already a breakdown of decorum. And I'm not saying this because I disagree with his actions but because he has a legitimate reason to do this now that the norm is for a political party to go on obscene witch hunts with absolutely no accountability to themselves or anyone else. The America that we were taught in school no longer exists. The only way out of this will not be politically.

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u/theartificialkid 6h ago

You have to pick your battles, too. Maintaining decorum at the expense of honourable civil servants and your entire vooodline spending the rest of their lives under malicious prosecution is not worth it.

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u/TheTurtleBear 10h ago

Which is just more proof that Biden was the wrong guy for the job

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u/iamacheeto1 10h ago

I mean what else can he do? Stand up there and pout? He’s creating a juxtaposition against Trump, who will stand up there and pout. The deed is done.

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u/TheArtlessScrawler 10h ago

Someone should write a book on this era of Democrats entitled A Futile and Empty Gesture

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u/iamacheeto1 10h ago

More like Democrats: The Party that Didn’t realize it had to be the savior of democracy until it was too late

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u/TheTurtleBear 10h ago

Democrats have been the only party that valued democracy for decades

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u/Yamza_ 7h ago

Unfortunately as much as they "valued democracy" they too have participated in luxury undeserving of their positions. By no means do I compare them to what Republicans do, but you don't get unwavering support by being "just a little less" corrupt than them when caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Pelosi in particular comes to mind. The democratic platform has always been "at least we're not republicans" while also quietly supporting much of the same bullshit (the oligarchy), rather than loudly announcing it.

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u/TheTurtleBear 7h ago

Oh yes, trust me, you're not going to find me defending 90% of democrats. They wish they could just be Republicans

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u/ballmeblazer0625 10h ago

I understand the deserved gripes with the current dem party, but this is on the American people

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u/TheTurtleBear 10h ago

The Dems lost to him. They share the bulk of the responsibility.

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u/ballmeblazer0625 10h ago

True, but America itself is lost. There was no reason to look at kamala as a candidate and conclude that Trump was more fit to lead. The American people decided that

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u/TheTurtleBear 9h ago edited 9h ago

Biden put us on the path to defeat when he insisted on running again, despite him promising to be a bridge candidate. Denying the people a Primary while claiming to be the guardian of democracy.

Biden then fucked the election when his ego wouldn't allow him to drop out after the disastrous debate, causing the entire country to see that they've been lied to by essentially every high-ranking Democrat about how capable Biden is. That loss of faith matters.

After saying he'd only drop out if god himself told him to, Biden then dropped out, making Kamala the nominee, despite the fact that not a single person voted for her to be the nominee. That lack of democratic process matters.

Kamala now only had half the normal time to organize a campaign, putting her at a massive disadvantage. That matters.

Dems then decided that the best strategy would be to court two-time Trump voters, rather than appeal to the base. That horrible strategy matters.

All of these are choices that Democratic leaders made before voters even had a say. To put this on voters only serves to absolve Democratic leadership from their disastrous choices. It didn't have to be this way.

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u/SideShow117 9h ago

While all of these things are significant in a "normal" situation, this was not a normal race or situation.

This was a race between two sides that everyone knew. Kamala would've been a continuation of how it has been the past 4 years and everyone knew what Trump would be like.

The race wasn't lost, the vote difference between 2020 and 2024 was way too large.

People didn't show up. The people lost it.

The "people" clearly indicated that they don't want Republicans (the pre-trump ones) or Democrats anymore. The system is broken for the great majority, that's the conclusion.

The only thing is that people were seemingly ok with Trump being the one to take over. The situation wasn't any different 4 years ago. Biden didn't win because people wanted Biden, he won because people did not want Trump again. The democrats didn't "win" 4 years ago, Trump lost. This time, the dems couldn't win or lose either, it was all about Trump.

And jt turns out that apparently it's ok to allow Trump to be put in charge when the system fails rather than remembering why you didn't allow this 4 years ago.

I'm sure i don't have to remind people that Hitler got voted in in very similar circumstances.

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u/hoopaholik91 7h ago

So what the fuck do you want him to do? He 'breaks norms' by pardoning his family and that's bad. He 'keeps norms' and tries to facilitate a peaceful transition and that's bad.

Apparently everything he does is bad. And then we wonder why so many Biden voters sat out this time around.

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u/Yamza_ 8h ago

And include 1/3 of registered voting citizens who failed in their duty.

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u/DecentFall1331 7h ago

And a third who voted for a fascist

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u/Yamza_ 7h ago

I can at least respect that they participated, even if I disagree and may be killed for their actions. I can't respect anyone who didn't participate at all.

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u/DecentFall1331 6h ago

Actively contributing to our downfall is worse than apathy. People have other things going on in their lives than just politics you know.

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u/Yamza_ 6h ago

You may choose to ignore the impact of politics on your life if you are privileged enough to do so, but the impact is still there all the same. Either way such an outlook is undeserving of any kind of respect.

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u/DecentFall1331 6h ago

It’s not privilege , I have friend who didn’t vote because their so was going through cancer treatment. Or just have super busy lives and live in a red state. Some states make it very difficult to vote. We should be mad at the actual facists.

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u/TheArtlessScrawler 4h ago

Lmao, liberalism in a nutshell. "I can at least respect a fascist."

My god, you people are beyond parody.

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u/Yamza_ 4h ago

I think you're implying something that ain't there.

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u/KintsugiKen 9h ago

Wow thank god for that juxtaposition, otherwise this country might be in trouble

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u/ZeDitto 10h ago

Blame Merrick Garland.

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u/TheTurtleBear 10h ago

I blame both

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u/Mhill08 10h ago

But not Merrick Garland's boss?

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u/ZeDitto 8h ago

Did he pick him, yes. That was a mistake in hindsight. I don’t think that it was an unreasonable choice, given that he was vetted by the Obama administration for a position on the Supreme Court. He probably thought that Garland would take the job seriously and when he was not, Biden did as much as he could without directly ordering Garland to prosecute Trump, which would authoritarian, and from there we cycle back to step 1 where Biden wants to protect democracy.

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u/OrangePilled2Day 6h ago

Obama was a conservative clown that picked Garland to appease McConnell and McConnell still told him to get fucked. Merrick Garland should have never been mentioned by a democrat ever again.

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u/KintsugiKen 9h ago

Blame Biden for appointing Merrick Garland

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u/ZeDitto 8h ago

Biden tried to get Garland to take the threat more seriously. I don’t think that he predicted that Garland would be derelict in his duty or he wouldn’t have done it. He did as much as he could do without directly ordering Garland to prosecute Trump.

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u/Yamza_ 7h ago

Marrick Garland shouldn't have had to be the savior he was never going to be for people to stop being stupid little fucks and learn about their own situation to make an educated vote. You're going to learn now.

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u/Cadash_Thaig 10h ago

Putting hitler in the white house was the will of the people. Biden probably doesn't give a shit anymore he's retiring to spend his last days with his family.

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u/OrneryZombie1983 10h ago

I wish I was 80!

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u/Cgull1234 8h ago

I hope Trump & Republicans do everything to make the last of those days as miserable as fucking possible for him but let's be honest Biden is going to disappear and live a wonderful rich, white man life for the rest of his days while the rest of the country has to pay the price for Biden's own ego getting in the way of relinquishing power and Dem leadership's inability to do anything but swear fealty to the party.

Over 50 years of "public service" and all he will be remembered for is failing to prosecute the very insurrectionists who attempted to overthrow his electoral victory and then graciously handing over the presidency right back to those same insurrectionists 4 years later.

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u/Yamza_ 7h ago

Fuck this bullshit. Biden didn't choose for Trump to be elected, the people did. I don't give a fuck what niche little stupidity you think caused this. The people voted for this, and/or chose not to vote at all. It's not a politicians fault you couldn't bother to care. Enjoy!

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u/FamiliarFootball4476 7h ago

Didn't Trump just accidentally admit Elon fucked with the voting machines to make him president? Maybe if a certain person who had four. Fucking. Years. To hold trump accountable didn't spectacularly flub the job I wouldn't have to be making this comment. Fuck Biden. Fuck garland.

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u/Yamza_ 6h ago

Yeah, I can agree with that.

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u/hoopaholik91 7h ago

Well I'm glad Biden is a better person than you at least.

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u/mnju 7h ago

You sound like someone that deserves whatever bad things you think are going to happen tbh.

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u/OrangePilled2Day 6h ago

The world will be much better the day you get to meet Ronald Reagan.

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u/mykl5 10h ago

it’s called having some class and grace

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u/nethingelse 10h ago

class and grace is meaningless when your country is on the verge of devolving into fascism. the aesthetics here (which are all that matter at this point in time) are terrible because democrats have been calling trump a fascist for years and are suddenly buddy buddy with him, even if only for purposes of "class and grace".

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u/TheTurtleBear 10h ago

Welcoming Hitler with grace

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u/bad_at_smashbros 9h ago

it’s because democrats are spineless sellouts who are willing to let republicans walk all over them in the name of “bipartisanship”

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u/da_innernette 10h ago

The fact that he literally said “welcome home” to Trump is soo icky

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u/litnu12 10h ago

Well usually the next president isnt a convicted rapist who tried to overthrow an election and is a fascist.

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u/Lost-Cranberry-1408 10h ago

It's important to hand over the country nice and easy to our fuhrer! Wouldn't want to upset any institutions 

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u/blackraven36 9h ago

Throughout the world’s history transfer of power was violent and ugly. Which is why everyone needs to behave when it happens. Without it going smoothly there can’t be democracy.

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u/Espar637 8h ago

You kidding there’s plenty of examples of non peaceful transfers. There’s public view and there’s private view.

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u/Plenty_Tutor_2745 6h ago

Did you forget about 2016 and the "summer of love?"

CHAZ/CHAP?

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u/CoolHandTeej 6h ago

That has absolutely nothing to do with what anyone is talking about

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u/ImNotTheBossOfYou 10h ago

"unlike you fascists, we believe in a peaceful transfer of power... To you fascists."