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Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

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Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#681

It's incredible that American corruption can happen out in the open like this. And this isn't a uniquely Trump phenomena. Political pardons are an amazing thing, and they have been used by presidents for a long time now with extremely little scrutiny and no possibility for repercussions. The executive being able to overrule the judiciary is an absolutely jaw-dropping American institution. So much for checks and balan…

> The executive being able to overrule the judiciary is an absolutely jaw-dropping American institution. No, its not, pardon and the closely linked power of clemency are common powers in representative democracies, often situated with the chief of state or the head of government (in the US, and other Presidential systems, the President is both), or sometimes the cabinet instead of the head of government in a parliame…

The president just prior to Trump pardoned his own son for crimes, and pre-emptively pardoned various other family members and political allies for any possible crimes before they could be prosecuted. Again, this is not new, this is ongoing open-air corruption, and Trump's escalation is the result of everyone being OK with it before now.

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#682

COLLINS: Today you pardoned the founded of Binance. Can you explain why you did that? TRUMP: Which one was that? COLLINS: The founder of Binance TRUMP: I believe we're talking about the same person, because I do pardon a lot of people. I don't know. He was recommended by a lot of people. https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m3v6mnpkb52i

I agree this isn't a very satisfying answer, but realistically how else do you expect Presidential pardons to go? Trump has pardoned over 1000 people and Joe Biden has pardoned over 4000. Do we expect them to know the intricate details of every single case? And I mean, wasn't the last Administration effectively Autopen? Yes, the President receives recommendations and tries to make the best judgement on those. What wo…

> What would Biden's answer be for pardoning Fauci?

Leticia James. Lisa Cook. James Comey. Also he didn't break any laws?

> Trump has pardoned over 1000 people and Joe Biden has pardoned over 4000.

The numbers don't really mean much when it's pardoning classes of people (marijuana convictions, insurrectionists, etc.).

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#683

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was of two minds about that pardon. On the one hand it seemed like an abuse of pardon power. On the other hand, it was also reasonable at the time to expect abuse of presidential power to prosecute political enemies. So on balance I was OK with it. I think the compromise I'd like to see is to curtail both powers.

[flagged]

Literally at no time did the Biden administration ever direct the Department of Justice to investigate a political enemy.

Exactly the opposite of what the Trump administration had been doing.

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#684

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which congress do you want doing that review? The past several congresses have been unqualified to do any sort of constitutional reviewing in my opinion.

The U.S. is running an outdated installation of democracy. The French approach of just rebooting and reinstalling the entire thing seems like a good idea at this point. Except the populace is already badly split into warring camps.

Tech corps and ex-PayPal guys would be putting billions into making a new constitution and it would be far, far worse than what we have now. And while the French love using violence and destruction to defend their countrymen and their rights, Americans would gladly be lemmings off a cliff so long as someone told them it pissed someone else off.

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#686

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think the majority of voting Americans have problems with any of those acts though. Think Joe you pass in Walmart cares about what happens to the White House ballroom?

The White House is a pretty significant symbol of this country, so yeah, I think they might care that a big chunk of it was just torn down.

Go to a Walmart in Ohio or Wisconsin and ask. Ask what % will change their next vote because of it

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#687

The only way to get around the pardon power being abused is to punish crimes by death, quickly and on the spot.

Can't we just amend the constitution to remove pardon power? Or at least shift it to Congress?

Maybe we can just ignore it entirely. Laws don’t matter.

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#688
post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the time that did reek of corruption and misuse of power, but given current state of things, it was the right move.

It protected one individual - there have been a rash of politically motivated moves by the justice department that have targeted plenty of others. I can understand the pardon but the fact that so many other people were left out to dry just reinforces our multi-tiered justice system.

That's why it was not just one individual -- he also pardoned Fauci, members of Congress who served on the J6 investigations, and Gen. Milley for the same reason.

It's clear that he was correct that Trump was going to target his political enemies, but it sounds like he can't win here -- if he pardons everyone including Comey, people would say he's abusing the power by pardoning everyone. If he only pardons a few then he's accused of leaving others "high and dry."

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#689

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think the majority of voting Americans have problems with any of those acts though. Think Joe you pass in Walmart cares about what happens to the White House ballroom?

Polling on it has been bad even amongst Republicans it isn’t great. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/devastating-poll-reveals...

The ballroom is scheduled be ready in January 2029 assuming no delays. But by that time Trump will be at the end of his term. So is he doing this for future presidents (would be very much unlike him) or is he planning to stick around after Jan 2029?

Re: Trump pardons convicted Binance founder

#690
post #657

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There should be a limit There is, and the Constitution says the limit is impeachment and removal from office by Congress. That won't happen unless we fix how we talk about the ones responsible, to wit: The Republican Party pardoned these criminals. The Republican Party is snatching Americans off the streets. The Republican Party is using the military to murder people on boats. The Republican Party is demolishing do…

I don’t think the majority of voting Americans have problems with any of those acts though. Think Joe you pass in Walmart cares about what happens to the White House ballroom?

They were fed "waste fraud and abuse" in the beginning of the year. and suddenly it happens in broad daylight and people shrug?

At this point it's just brainwashing. Some people's principals are clearly less about their own conviction and treating all this like a sports team. Whoever team "wins", even if the stadium burns down around them.

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