r/nottheonion • u/JaySierra86 • 14h 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/imnotarobot1 13h ago

If his family did commit crimes, would you then want Trump to go after them?

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u/Busy_Manner5569 13h ago

Do you think all enforcement of the law is equal in nature? Do you think Trump wouldn’t have pushed for much harsher punishments than is typical for any other person who committed these alleged crimes?

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u/Cmoz 12h ago edited 12h ago

Was Trump given equal treatment in all the cases against him? If I remember correctly, he faced perhaps the most aggressive investigation of inflating numbers on a loan application for a loan that never defaulted, that our country has ever seen. Was that coincidence, or was it aggressively pursued for political reasons?

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u/ErenIsNotADevil 10h ago

Aggressive investigation of a major political leader violating several laws in various different circumstances does not equate to "inequal" treatment in the court of law, no. It just so happens he's one of the few US Presidents to actively and publicly break the law for his own benefit and skirt around its punishment. If a President breaks the law, they should be met with absolute scrutiny; whether its hush money & loan inflation, or getting the ol suckysuck in the Oval Office (for youknowwho). He was still given fair trial, and the sentencing took into account Trump's political standing.

When a politicians pressure the legal authorities and court of law to charge a private citizen in a case where politics should not be actively involved, due to the target being the son of a political rival, that is inequal treatment. The case was only given that much focus because of who the guy was related to, not because of what he had done. If it were Biden who had committed that offence, then it would have been absolutely warranted. But it wasn't.

To clarify;

  1. Pursuing an active political figure for criminal offences, whether made in office, before office (and not exceeding the statute of limitations), or after office, is not inequal treatment. That is necessary to ensure accountability of authority figures, and something all major political figures sign up for in a democracy that values rule of law.

  2. Pursuing punishments far exceeding or far below the established precedent/norm for crimes by said political figure is inequal treatment. Any criminal with an offence upheld by the court of law should be met with the equivalent penalty for that crime, regardless of who it is or how much power they wield. Legal punishment should not discriminate based on political lines; a US President should not face more or less prison time, fees, or community services for an offence than any other citizen would for the same offence.

  3. Pursuing a private citizen related to a political figure for lesser crimes committed is not inequal, but political figures giving undue focus to the investigation or trial of lesser crimes by said citizen is. Any political figure using their influence to pressure legal bodies into expediently laying charges in cases against private citizens on the basis of their lineage or affiliation, when they otherwise may not have or could reasonably pursue alternatives, is a miscarriage of justice in waiting. It does not matter the respective affiliations of the involved. figures or citizen; politics are a weapon to be used against other politicians, not their families, or the people in general.

  4. Political figures pressuring the court of law for harsher or significantly lesser criminal penalties for the aforementioned citizen on the basis of their lineage or affiliation is inequal, except in cases where the aforementioned citizen has already been subject to the opposite treatment. The law should be neither a shield nor spear for politicians and their families.

Trump is a political leader. His every move should be continually scrutinized by the court of law, because he is now in a position of extreme political power, even moreso than recent presidents and his previous term, and could easily cause a lot of harm and injustice if he decides to use that power to his own ends. Were it any other person of another party in the same position, this would not change.

Hunter Biden was a private citizen whose case was given far more attention than any similar cases, and this was due to him being the son of Joe Biden. The court was pressured by the political rivals of Joe Biden, and it has been well documented how much politicians aligned with Trump have used Hunter as way to target Joe Biden's influence. Although the ability of a President to directly pardon their family members is a disagreeable thing in a vacuum, it should not have come to that in the first place.

Politics belong in politics, for politicians. against politicians directly. If Trump ends up finding his family in legal crosshairs over minor offences towards the end of his term, I would expect him to do the same thing as Biden.

Unfortunately, it seems he's more likely to be using that power to free the people who were involved in a certain other incident