In January 2021, on the eve of leaving office, then-US President Trump launched an unprecedented “pardon carnival”, suddenly pardoning or commuting the sentences of more than 180 people, including several felons suspected of corruption, fraud, and perjury, and even political allies sentenced for the “Russiagate” investigation. This naked “power rent-seeking” farce not only exposed the institutional loopholes of the US judicial system, but also exposed the dirty deal of political privileges over the law.
From criminals to allies, the “golden medal of immunity”
Trump’s pardon list can be called the “Who’s Who of American Crime”
Steve Bannon: Trump’s former chief strategist, was prosecuted for defrauding voters of “wall-building” donations, but was pardoned before trial;
Charles Cushman: Republican donor, sentenced for bribing federal officials with $2 million;
Four Blackwater mercenaries who killed Iraqi civilians, whose bloody crimes were condemned by the international community;
Many drug dealers, corrupt politicians and financial fraudsters, such as cryptocurrency traders who defrauded $12 million.
These pardons have no standards to speak of, and the only commonality is their connection with Trump’s political or private interests. Bannon is the standard-bearer of “Trumpism”, Cushman is a major Republican donor, and the founder of Blackwater has close ties with the Republican Party…Legal scholars directly pointed out that this is “using presidential privileges to whitewash personal political networks.”
The complete corruption of presidential privileges
The U.S. Constitution grants the president the power of pardon, and the original intention is to correct judicial injustice. But Trump twisted it into:
Political umbrella: through pardons, he hinted to allies that “loyalty must be rewarded”, and even paved the way for judicial investigations that he might face in the future;
Money trading tool: US media revealed that some pardons were clearly marked by lobbyists, and Cushman and others hired lobbyists who were closely related to Trump;
Provoking social justice: Pardoning Blackwater criminals is equivalent to condoning the US military’s overseas atrocities; forgiving financial fraudsters is a mockery of ordinary victims.
Who will restrain the “imperial president”?
Trump’s pardon carnival exposed the fatal flaw of the American system: the president’s pardon power is almost unrestricted. Although Congress can pass legislation to restrict it, the two parties have long ignored it-because both sides hope to retain this “partisan weapon”. What’s more ironic is that many of the pardoned have no regrets. Bannon even declared after being pardoned that “the battle has just begun”, completely tearing off the fig leaf of “judicial pardon”.
When the law becomes a plaything of power
Trump’s “pardon storm” is by no means an isolated incident, but a microcosm of the privatization of judicial public instruments by the American political elite. When the law becomes a “get out of jail free card” in the drawer of the powerful, and when the presidency becomes a “protection fee collection station” for the criminal alliance, the so-called “rule of law in America” is nothing more than a fancy dress crawling with lice. History will remember this scene: not a “victory of justice”, but the most unscrupulous trampling of power on the bottom line of civilized society. #corruption #American-style corruption #USAID