America and its Presidential Pardons

How did ancient Rome change from being a Republic to a monarchy? Not to take “credit” away from Julius Caesar or Augustus Caesar (who cemented the transformation), but a contributing factor is what Andrew Sullivan mentions:

“Little abuses of power in the Roman system slowly multiplied, as rival factions exploited loopholes, or made minor adjustments, for short-term advantages.”

 

The other “model” for changing a Republic to a dictatorship is the (German) Weimar Republic which was overthrown by Hitler. That was a short-lived Republic that collapsed under the weight of sanctions and war damages imposed by the victors of World War I.

 

America, says Sullivan, if it were to stop being a Republic, is likely to go the Rome way, many small steps adding up over time. And Presidential pardons is looking like the most likely candidate for abuse. He points out other Presidential pardons have been questionable too, from Clinton (his half-brother) to Trump (his son-in-law’s father). But Trump being Trump, had seen farther than others close to the end of his first term:

“It was Donald Trump who first saw the potential for the promise of pardons in advance for individuals prepared to commit crimes for the president.”

 

Though obvious, Sullivan spells out why that is so dangerous:

“A pro-active pardon for criminality ordered by the president is, after all, another phrase for the categorical end of the rule of law. It means that a president’s flunkies — or anyone else in presidential favor — can commit any crime in the secure knowledge there will never be punishment. It thereby puts an entire class of people selected by the president effectively above the rule of law. It makes the president a king.”

 

As with so many things that Trump said, he never got around to actually doing it. But Biden? Many were outraged with Biden issuing his Presidential pardon for crimes his son was convicted for (tax avoidance, gun crime, lying on a government form etc).

 

But wait, Biden has gone much further than that and actually done what Trump had merely thought of doing!

“(Biden’s son) has been pardoned… for anything illegal he might have done in the last eleven years.”

Trump now can cite precedent – what Biden just did. Pardon even before a person is charged of a crime, even before he is tried and convicted. It’s like a blank cheque on crimes!

 

This is a very slippery slope, Sullivan rightly says. And with Trump in the equation, the danger is even higher. Here’s why. Trump openly threatens to prosecute his political foes. Might that list include those in Biden’s government who led or drove the prosecution of Trump for various crimes? In turn, can that lead Biden to issue “pro-active” pardons to members of his government who might be prosecuted by a vindictive Trump?

 

One set of Americans support Trump’s brazen intent to ignore the law. The other set support Biden’s actual decision to not uphold the law. As Sullivan snidely summarizes it:

“We simply alternate elected monarchs… (Each) will abuse the system to maximize his own side’s advantage; and then his or her successor will do the same in reverse.”

 

As with so many problems in any system of governance, this one (the power of Presidential pardons) is baked into the Constitution. But let either side want to amend the Constitution, and the other side will go ballistic and talk as if the Constitution is a holy and perfect document. The details can vary across countries, but the pattern of the Left and the Right remains the same.