Security Blanket

Joe Biden getting Hunter off the hook got most of the pardon-related headlines over the past week, but there’s another set of pardons being considered. And this story is a lot more worrisome than the the Hunter story. “President Biden is considering blanket preemptive pardons for prominent critics of President-elect Donald Trump in both parties to shield them from possible ‘retribution’ or legal prosecution by the incoming administration.” What makes this a big and very disturbing story is that these pardons are being considered to preemptively protect leaders who have done nothing wrong. In fact, just the opposite. Most of the names being thrown around are the people who did the most to hold democracy’s thinning line. Biden considering blanket preemptive pardons for perceived enemies of Trump. (When people said this was an important election for preserving democracy, they weren’t kidding.)

+ “There are few good things to be said about Donald Trump’s plan to fire the F.B.I. director, Chris Wray, and install in his place Kash Patel, a thuggish lackey who has spent years fantasizing about taking revenge on Trump’s enemies. But there is one: Patel has helpfully provided us with a list of people President Biden should pardon before he leaves office.” Michelle Goldberg in the NYT (Gift Article): Trump’s F.B.I. Pick Has an Enemies List. Biden Should Pardon Everyone on It.