If Joe Biden truly believes that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, the now former president has only empowered Trump’s autocratic tendencies by acting like an autocrat himself in issuing scores of pardons to those who have not been charged with, much less convicted of, a crime.
In his final hours in office, Biden did what many feared he would, and then some, in issuing pardons to those who crossed Trump or investigated him. Among the higher-profile pardon recipients are Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who co-chaired the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. The rationale that Biden gave Monday for his extraordinary and final use of the presidential pardoning power is the fear that Trump, who was inaugurated later that same day, would carry through on his threat to seek vengeance against those on his enemies list by siccing the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI on them.
Trump was probably bluffing, but even it he wasn’t, Biden has set a precedent that Trump and future presidents might now feel emboldened to copy.
One of the safeguards against executive branches running amuck is the fear of prosecution by the next administration. But if presidents can tell their underlings and supporters that they have nothing to fear, that they will be granted blanket preemptive pardons before the administration changes, those underlings and supporters will be inclined to not worry about if carrying out a president’s instructions is legal.
When Trump was leaving office the first time, he was reportedly asked to consider preemptive pardons for at least nine people close to him, including six members of Congress. He didn’t do it that time, but Biden has provided the cover for Trump to do that and more four years from now.
The pardons, no matter what Biden and the beneficiaries say, also are going to leave the impression with many Americans, especially those in the GOP, that there must have been some criminal wrongdoing that the Democrats are trying to cover up. The pardons only give unwanted credence to the wild and unsupported conspiracy theories that Trump has promoted.
Lastly, the purpose of a presidential pardon is to right a wrong or show mercy when the justice system has seemed too harsh. It is not designed to prevent prosecutions that, however preposterous, might potentially occur, as Biden has done.
With these final pardons, Biden has shown a lack of faith in this nation’s Constitution and its justice system to keep Trump from weaponizing the presidency to an extreme never attempted before.
Former President Joe Biden will not be remembered well for it.
- The Greenwood Commonwealth
