The Quest to Get a Pardon in the Trump Era: ‘It’s Who You Know’

Once again, the illusion of meritocracy and rule of law are exposed. Who you know is almost almost always more influential than who you are.

Drain the swamp ? I think I heard someone say that, but I am not seeing it.

I'm sure a pardon would be nice, but I would beware of one coming from Trump. He will expect something in return, if you are living. If you are dead, it better be a good photo op for him, and please one of his friends. Pay to Play: The Trump Doctrine.

One name comes to mind immediately, Martin Shkreli. Other than being very smart, Martin is just like Trump. Supremely entrepreneurial and completely without eithics or remorse. The icing on the cake is, he's arrogant. What's not to like?

By far the biggest abuser of Presidential pardons was William Jefferson Clinton, aided and abetted by his wife Hillary. Clinton pardoned a drug dealer whose father was a Democratic donor, terrorists, and of course Marc Rich. Among many others.

We'll know it has gone too far when Trump pardons Hillary and Bill.

Trump will pardon who Hannity tells him to next!

Losers, who will just commit even more crimes.

It's WHOM you know, for the masses who screw up regularly, including yesterday's NYT's story by a university professor- on the front page.

The Catholic church outlawed the sale of indulgences in mid sixteenth century (1567, I believe), but charitable contributions, combined with other acts, can still help you earn one. I understand "other acts" include making (or promising to make) a significant contribution to Mr. Trump's re-election chest, which should make the mind of any genius, especially a stable one, open to suggestions!

We need to ask ourselves a hard question: why do these people -- who have been model citizens for decades -- even need a pardon? Why is it that a conviction in your youth can haunt you forever, ruining your life and career at every stage? We don't need to squabble over the pardon system (as weird as it may be under Trump). We need to focus on criminal justice reform that: 1) bans the box on job applications. 2) prioritizes job training and addiction treatment for prisoners, aimed at reducing recidivism. 3) restores voting rights after sentences have been completed.

Unjust laws cannot produce just results, and Mr. Fields admirable, principled statement ignores the fact that he would not have broken a law had Marijuana been legal, as it is in Washington State. His legal fault resulted in a life sentence, as he says, but his moral fault was in not following all the rules in a rules based system, not in some deeper moral transgression. Taking a life, for example. Now, however, he wants to erase his legal problem through a pardon, a mechanism that skips over all the rules, overarching the entire legal process based on the decision of a single person. The pardon itself derives from medieval concepts about law and God, and depends on the whim of the current ruler. His refusal to bow to the man currently in charge I can fully understand, but it is a contradiction to seek to subvert rules by following other rules. A get-out-of-jail free card comes at you randomly even when you play by the rules. He shouldn't think that becoming a good person matters. It sounds like he was always a good person.

Turmp is the perfect leader for this final chapter of The Decline and Fall of the American Empire.

It's probably safe to assume that the writers of the constitution assumed presidents would be men of integrity and character. They couldn't have imagined that the men holding the office 200 years later would be completely devoid of those characteristics, and that the constitution would have lost almost all meaning.

DJT pardoned the Hammonds to give a boost to Greg Walden's reelection campaign. Walden is deeply unpopular in several parts of his district, so DJT is trying to rev up "the base" to bolster Walden. It may backfire. Even Harney county residents opposed and resented the wildlife refuge occupation; and Oregon has suffered too many major, destructive, and fatal wildfires in recent years to take fire starting lightly.

Trump's pardons are not just who-you-know, many are slaps in the face of the purpose of the pardon power and the rule of law itself. In describing the rationale behind the presidential pardon, Alexander Hamilton wrote, "Humanity and good policy . . . dictate the benign prerogative of pardoning[,] . . . that without an easy access to exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel." And he added that because of the strong, proportional "sense of responsibility" attending the office of the presidency, the "single man" who holds it "would be most ready to attend to the force of those motives which might plead for mitigation of the rigor of the law, and least apt to yield to considerations . . . calculated to shelter a fit object of its vengeance." Federalist Paper No. 74, March 25, 1788. Hamilton is no doubt rolling in his grave at this president's pardon and proposed pardon of the likes Joe Arpaio and Rob Blagojevich, public officials who not only broke the law but betrayed the public they were elected to serve--"fit objects" of the law's vengeance, it there ever were any. Such pardons signal not compassion for "unfortunate guilt" but public officials' exemption from the rule of law itself. Flying in the face of "good policy," Trump pardons on the basis of personal favor and political calculation, yet again proving himself unworthy of the "awesome responsibility" of his office.

The secret to this game is to demonstrate that the government has either overreached or, more to the point, treated you unfairly. Those are the words Trump is reviewing for so that he can use them again to justify the pardons he plans to give to himself, his family, and his close circle of friends.

All pardon means to Donald Trump is more publicity for himself. Never have we had a president who knows less, nor even cares, for the rule of law. His past record even before the white house reflects this.

Frankly, I'm less concerned about the celebrity of those he's pardoned than the crimes they committed. With the exception of the wrongly prosecuted Jack Johnson, the others' offenses all demonstrate utter contempt for rule of law or the legitimacy of our judicial system.

Presidents can pardon anyone they want. They can do so for personal reasons. While it is frowned upon, and I don't like it, to pretend it would be something Trump invented is so silly, I don't know what else to say? Frankly, I wish that presidents would use their power much more than they do. Not to help their friends, but to help the country.

Presidential pardons should be done away with . It has been subverted from what it was meant to be , it's not about someone imprisoned unjustly ,but about what known person will take up your cause . With Trump it's even worse , true criminals who have broken the law are being pardoned . The worst part is he started the process from the very beginning of his term . He still has two more years to give , sell many more .

Is it too late to pardon Benedict Arnold? How about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg? #realdonaldtrumpfakepresident

Doug Edwards is a principled hero, of which there are few indeed. Many of my acquaintances on the left are willing to grab hold of the celebrity path to clemency if it benefits some one person, and are letting go of the vision of a process that fairly reaches hundreds or thousands.

Reminds me of Bill Clinton pardoning Marc Rich, who was not only white but very rich through ill-gotten gains.

Trump is the unpopular rich kid on the playground that no one can stand. If he didn't own the bat and the ball, no one would play with him. Will celebrities perform at the White House? Nope. Will they kiss Trump's ring in order to right an injustice? Just ask Kim Kardashian. It's embarrassing to watch Trump's predictably childish behavior. His incessant need of ego feeding is the only transparency in his horrifically corrupt administration. The only pardon Trump should issue is in the form of an apology to the human race.

Trump's kleptocracy and that of his family reigns supreme and every day is like an episode of the apprentice. There is no corrupt deed too small to be taken advantage of by him and his appointees, from used hotel mattress procurement, to college basketball tickets, putting foreign politicians up in his overpriced gaudy hotel, selling Chinese manufactured trinkets branded with his daughter's name from the White House, Jared's loan from foreign governments and banks seeking larger leverage with our government...everything, everyone, everyday,is on the table waiting for a deal to be made and line the pockets of the Trumps and their fiends, I mean friends....

I suspect Ted Bundy will be pardoned soon.. He was white and disrespected women. The very same qualifications for Trump's pardoning.

This is a problem and a recurring problem that affects all administrations. I don’t keep up on who gets pardons, but I clearly recall the pardon granted by President Clinton to a Mark Rich. Who you know indeed and who contributes to you and your causes indeed.

This is not a partisan problem. Remember Bill Clinton’s pardon of Mark Rich? Remember Rich’s contribution to the Clinton Library? It afflicts all administrations.

It works also if the person pleading your case has very large B and B. (Hire Kardashian et al. Maybe blonds would benefit your plea.)

In his final days in office, President Bill Clinton ran won of the most corrupt pardon auctions in recent memory, with one pardon going to a big-time crook whose ex-wife had made a large donation to a Clinton-connected foundation. Selective amnesia seems to afflict the legacy media.

Yeah, get to know the folks at Fox News They are the advisors, and participants, of this "administration." Terrifying.

Yes, whoever is "in" with the tinpot dictator gets the pardon. So if you lead an armed insurrection and occupy government land illegally for a month, threatening to kill federal employees who try to remove you, you get a pardon. If you're a black person who has been exonerated by DNA evidence of having committed a violent crime in Central Park, you get a full page ad taken out by the dictator insisting you're still guilty. Justice in America is now "just-us."

Trump uses celebrities to make pardons about himself. It's not about the celebrity; it's about how Trump can make a pardon all about Trump.

Well, just one more thing in this country which depends not on merit or justice, but on powerful friends and preferential treatment. It is difficult to admire what America has become.

It's simple: You'd better be white. It helps to be a right-wing folk hero. If you are neither of those things, you'd better have an influential celebrity in your corner.

You need to have a friend like Kim Kardashian, one who shows no compunction about taking advantage of the feeble minded.

Rod Blagojevich of Illinois should have his sentence commuted, but not pardoned. A "pardon wipes out the conviction while a commutation leaves the conviction intact but wipes out the punishment." With the sentence commuted he can't own a gun, run for public office or vote. He can't practice law. He doesn't need to be pardoned, just commuted. Just commute his sentence and him go home to his family and dye his hair black again.