- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- usa@lemmy.ml
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- usa@lemmy.ml
- politics@lemmy.world
Summary
President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden, reversing his prior stance against using executive clemency.
The pardon covers Hunter’s federal gun conviction and tax evasion guilty plea, sparking political controversy.
Biden cited political attacks and a “miscarriage of justice” as reasons for his decision, emphasizing his son’s recovery from addiction and the targeting of his family.
Critics argue the move undermines the judicial process, while supporters view it as within Biden’s constitutional powers.
This decision shields Hunter from potential prison time as Biden nears the end of his presidency.
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Republicans seemed to have successfully done a false equivalency. They lied about witch hunts and then did one, and then when the president swatted it away people reacted with, “Oh, they’re both the same.”
Trump pardons traitors, insurrectionists, Nazis. A witch hunt victim is in the same league, because family I guess. Not like that was the reason for the witch hunt or anything!
Trump’ll pardon all the Jan 6’ers in jail when he gets into office. Actual insurrectionist criminals.
Lol.
Most of these comments are a great example of how stupid Americans are.
All my life Dems have been held to a higher standard. I’ve watched them take the high road so many times while the Republicans went low. Continued to honor decorum when Republicans refused.
And guess what happened?
Americans told them to go fuck themselves and voted for blatant Republican corruption instead.
And now there’s a bunch of comments in here whining about how Democrats are corrupt for doing this.
Go fuck yourselves. Clowns.
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Nothing quite as pathetic as going personal in a political discussion.
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Hypocrisy is not a virtue and two wrongs don’t make a right.
Hope this helps!
Hope this helps!
It doesn’t. The voters proved that “high road” bullshit is pointless. Therefore they will get what they deserve.
And holding one side to a standard while letting the other side do whatever they want is also hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is not a virtue and two wrongs don’t make a right.
In 2024 America it is and they do.
Yeah this a real win for the working class and “progressive” politics.
Yeah this a real win for the working class and “progressive” politics.
The working class didn’t vote to win. They voted to lose.
What does that possibly have to do with Biden choosing to abuse his clemency powers to spare his failson from the consequences of his actions?
This isn’t an act of progressive or socialist will. This is just another example of a two tiered justice system in this country but also fuel for the fascists. I don’t see a reason to celebrate this unless you’re a Biden.
The working class didn’t vote to win. They voted to lose.
Yup.
A few weeks before the election Trump and Musk sat down and had a televised discussion in which they they talked about how they hated unions and didn’t respect worker rights.
Then working class Americans voted them into power.
We voted against ourselves in the most blatant election ever. We are not a smart society. We deserve to lose.
“Critics argue the move undermines the judicial process, while supporters view it as within Biden’s constitutional powers.”
Both things are true though. The pardon power exists as a check on the judicial branch, so it certainly undermines it in the same way that the veto undermines legislative decisions by congress. The constitution gives the president the authority to do some pretty blatant undermining, but checks work in the other direction too if the branches are acting as co-equals and not just shilling for one of the others.
That pardon smells fishy, but I can understand that he does not want to leave his son exposed to imprisonment under Trump. Donald has shown time and again that he has no problems in going after weak persons to extract petty revenge.
I knew all along that Biden was going to pardon his son after the election. It doesn’t surprise or bother me. The firearms charge he was charged with was something that likely wouldn’t have been prosecuted if he was a regular person. I thought the tax evasion charge was much more serious but he wasn’t charged on that.
He was charged on the tax evasion charges. He plead guilty in September and was due to be sentenced on Dec 16th.
That’s funny because people say, despite the threats, he didn’t actually imprison anyone. Hillary comes to mind but I wasn’t paying attention enough to know who else he said should he locked up.
Trump ordered his attorney general to arrest Clinton and was ignored.
Because there were no actual prosecutable actions to convict anyone for, the republicans were just assembling one “special investigation” after another in an effort to waste everyone’s time. Come to think of it, most of the things conservatives scream about are akin to a child’s tantrum that you just try to mitigate until they’re quiet enough to sit down and get some work done…except we keep feeding them sugar and cartoons instead of putting their childish plantation asses to bed.
Good point so there were prosecutable actions to convict in Hunter’s case and he was pardoned by family. I guess that’s reasonable.
“We take the high road” mfers when the low road people go after his son:
I’m not surprised and I don’t really care. Last time I checked the charges against him were kinda bullshit and it was clear to me that red team was pushing for him to face charges out of spite. It’s funny to see Trump get mad about it though, he would have pardoned his own kid a long time ago if he were in that position. Well, maybe not Eric, but definitely Don Jr, Ivanka, or maybe the other ones.
I’m not happy about this. Not one bit. Just like how I wouldn’t have been happy to hear about Trump pardoning one of his own kids for breaking the law. As a matter of fact, I’m furious reading some of the comments in this thread.
It shocks me to see people defending this. We fought against the Republicans to prevent misuse of executive powers exactly like this. How the fuck can you sit there and rationalize this while saying it’s wrong for Trump to pardon the Jan 6th insurrectionists? or himself for that matter?
This is a black stain on Biden’s presidential legacy. It’s shit like this that puts wind in the sails of all the crazy Republican conspiracy theorists out there. Now, every single motherfucker who ranted and raved about the “Biden Crime Family” since 2020 was just proven right, just like how all the people who said that Trump’s convictions were politically motivated were proven right when Jack Smith dropped the charges. It makes us look like fucking morons and hypocrites.
No, before anyone says it, it is not smart to stoop to their level when basically the only messaging we sent out during the entire 2024 campaign was that we were the morally superior choice. That someone who doesn’t respect the rule of law has no business being president. Now, we don’t even have that to lean on.
This is a black stain on Biden’s presidential legacy.
Hahahahaha
No, before anyone says it, it is not smart to stoop to their level
While it’s a bit disappointing, I understand that one perspective is that it is a defensive move. I don’t think it is unreasonable to assume that Trump is going to abuse his power and weaponize the Justice Dept to extract everything he can, politically, from the resulting show.
I don’t know whether or not Biden would have done the exact same thing if it was a more reasonable Republican administration coming in. That would be far more telling. It might have been that Biden was making a show of it with the assumption that he’d be overseeing and influencing it all as president and if that weren’t the case he’d be abusing his authority to spare his son.
Yes, it’s frustrating because of the message it send but frankly, I don’t think it’ll cause much trouble. Everyone who’d see it as an admission of the guilt of the “Biden crime family” wasn’t going to change their mind, even if Hunter was publicly drawn and quartered by the Biden administration. Those folks would immediately move the goal post - “Yeah, whatever, but what about…” or just insist Hunter’s death was fake and it was all sham.
Republicans in Congress are never going to want to limit excessive executive power if it’s only ever used in service of things they like.
It shocks me to see people defending this.
On principle I agree with you but the US public voted in a wannabe dictator convict who is blatantly corrupt on every level at every opportunity. I also tend to think Republicans went to great lengths to attack Hunter since they couldn’t successfully attack Biden himself - and I could totally see Trump going after Hunter as an example and to target some figure in a powerplay. That harpie Congresswoman from Georgia literally showed nudes of Hunter on the floor of Congress for no reason, continuing the trend of the GOP having no “soul” or morals. Republicans have successfully ripped apart the country after Biden’s admin did its best to fix all the bs the GOP did 4 years ago. Fuck it, I just don’t care - Let Biden have this.
The pardon power was exactly for this. The entire investigation was a political witch hunt. It’s meant to prevent exactly this kind of mistreatment in the justice system. Just because the person happens to be the president’s son changes nothing except that people will fall into GOP propaganda they’ve been setting up for years, while they push this investigation.
Then pardon him for all other crimes, not what he pled guilty/ convicted on. Sends the wrong message to pardon him on everything.
Sentence Trump first.
It might come as a shock, but the president actually tends to pardon a lot of people at the end of their presidency, including people they don’t know
The Republicans literally spent their entire time wasting money on an ethics committee for Hunter Biden because they couldn’t find anything on biden
Id argue that when the government is spending millions to investigate a guy who isn’t even part of the government, it’s a political prosecution
He never even worked for the government
Unlike the trump family who are all being given positions of power and are openly abusing them
Irrespective, because of the Republican bs, Hunter is going to never be able to just do his time and live his life
Don’t forget that trump is also putting his own people in charge of positions of law too and he isn’t signing any ethics documents or selecting them ethically.
Even with a pardon, trump is a spiteful shit and i guarantee he’ll be attacking all of his political enemies
Id argue that when the government is spending millions to investigate a guy who isn’t even part of the government, it’s a political prosecution
I may not like it, but also kinda fair.
I don’t really care. The law is the law. The investigations were quite clearly politically motivated, trying to get to Joe by going after Hunter, but the trial was nothing but fair and the judiciary did not make a mistake in the trial or the sentencing. You cannot claim to be a supporter of the rule of law only when it’s convenient for you. This pardon undermines just about every bit of credibility the Democratic party had left. It’s not Biden breaking the rules or using his power for the good of the nation or the people, it’s a selfish abuse for the sake of keeping his son from being held accountable for the things he actually did.
I would not be surprised if Joe Biden supported some of the very same legislation that would have put his son behind bars back when he was still a senator. Dude was well known for being a “tough on crime” type of politician.
The judge straight up rejected the plea deal Hunter and the prosecutor agreed to. They absolutely bowed to political pressure.
You’ve got the Republicans who stole his laptop and illegally distributing his dick pics publicly, during the congressional hearings it’s ducking ridiculous. It’s basically revenge porn
I think you forgot about all the shit the Republicans did here.
If they did half the stuff they did as civilians, they’d be facing criminal charges in most countries. It’s actually far worse than you remember. And you’ve been talking shit about Biden for months looking at your History
And you’ve been talking shit about Biden for months looking at your History
Biden hasn’t been relevant since like July. How far back in my comment history did you have to read to find a single post where I’m critical of Biden?
You sure seem to have a lot of free time on your hands.
You’re literally talking shit about 5 posts ago / 3 weeks ago
So on the first page of your comments
Ie, didn’t really browse at all, but I expected it, which is why I looked
Quote the post, then. I suspect you have a reading comprehension problem if you think any of my posts that are even tangentially related to Biden in the last three weeks have been negative.
Have you ever smoked a joint? Have you been to a gun range? If so, you committed practically the same felony hunter did.
Literally fuck off. This whole thing was an obvious political ploy and you justifying it and defending it is pathetic. Rules exist to benefit society, when those same rules are used to damage society, must we still obey them? Your whole point is a joke.
Not practically, literally. They prosecuted a guy for marijuana under this law, and the only reason they couldn’t get him is they didn’t get evidence of “continued drug use”. That’s why that was so important in Hunter’s trial.
Have you ever smoked a joint? Have you been to a gun range? If so, you committed practically the same felony hunter did.
I’ve never done either of these things, but if I did, I sure wouldn’t lie about not having ever done it on a government form.
To be clear, I do not think that the law is fair or just, nor do I think that it’s application to Hunter in such a high profile case was warranted, but two wrongs don’t make a right. Republicans applying political pressure to Hunter Biden does not give Joe Biden carte blanche to be a hypocrite without some strong condemnations from people like myself.
The one thing I’ve learned from this thread is that nobody believes in objective justice. Trump supporters will say Trump’s felony convictions were politically motivated, Biden’s supporters will say Hunter’s felony convictions were politically motivated, and everybody is perfectly happy to discount witness testimony or a jury’s verdict so long as it suits their own subjective sense of justice, that as long as “their team” is winning, it’s right and just and fair.
We fought against the Republicans to prevent misuse of executive powers exactly like this.
And we lost.
Americans want corruption. We voted explicitly for it.
No point in taking the high road or honoring decorum anymore. It doesn’t work to win elections in America.
I don’t want to live in an America where the government is run by people who are in a race to the bottom. I won’t be complicit in the corruption. It’s time to call a stone a stone.
I don’t want to live in an America where the government is run by people who are in a race to the bottom.
You already do.
I won’t be complicit in the corruption.
Have fun changing it. The majority of Americans just disagreed with you and voted for blatant corruption.
Based take, also great comment
It shocks me to see people defending this.
It shocks me that you did not 100% realize a year ago that this was exactly what was going to happen. It was a bullshit witch hunt charge that was only prosecuted because Hunter Biden was a high profile person.
So if you knew your son was about to be thrown in prison by your political opponents, you would do nothing? Then feel good about yourself?
Are you an asshole or a liar? Or both?
I get where you’re coming from, but the political opposition in America to democrats is now literally Nazis and white supremacists. Bidens action isn’t a win for voters in any sense, that’s the only objectionable part tbh.
when basically the only messaging we sent out during the entire 2024 campaign was that we were the morally superior choice. That someone who doesn’t respect the rule of law has no business being president.
And how exactly did that work out? I don’t think moral superiority is at all a helpful thing in politics.
Moral superiority is an important cultural and ideological component, it’s something to strive for. But if your political opponents keep bending rules to their favor, being civil seems like a complete waste of time. I agree with the other comments pointing out that this isn’t a win for voters at all.
It isn’t a win. But it isn’t a loss either. It just doesn’t matter.
Maybe it’s a step towards losing that holier than thou attitude and actually getting things done.
The prior president pardoned a family member who was blackmailing and raping people, then appointed the same criminal to be ambassador to France. I don’t give a fuck what President Biden does now. We’re a country of criminals and oligarchs now.
Always have been.
“I have no principles”
“This guy keeps punching me in the face but I think punching is morally wrong so I’ll just let him break my nose.”
This is exactly what they say about you too justify what they’re doing.
It’s amazing how quickly all the pride in our founding, American values, principles, etc are just discarded the moment one team loses an election.
This is exactly what they say about you too
Bro they spent 5 years talking about adrenochrome and “demonrats” space lasers I’d be surprised if they could pronounce my name. I don’t need to do anything to trigger them, so why even dance around?
You cometely missed my point. You’re using the same shitty logic they are. “Both sides” are doing the same thing.
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“I think one sentence replies all over the thread means I’m contributing.”
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Principles don’t win in America anymore. We just proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt a month ago.
So now it’s just “your dictator” vs. “their dictator” eh?
Nah. I just want the party that has a history of voting in favor of working class Americans and being better for our economy to do what they need to do to get elected in America. Which is lie, cheat, and steal.
This has to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever read.
Probably because you haven’t read very much.
Which part specifically though?
The FACT that Democrats have a voting history proving they regularly vote in favor of the working class? The FACT that Democrats are historically better for our economy and the data to prove that exists? Or the brand new FACT that to win an election in the United States you have to lie, cheat, and steal?
The part where you think a party willing to cheat and lie will hold to liberal democracy ideals.
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It’s incredibly sad to see Democrats embrace hypocrisy with pride regarding a simple and obvious issue like this.
Trump will have a field day pardoning Jan 6 criminals with this additional political cover from Biden.
He was going to do those J6 pardons anyways, don’t kid yourself. He didn’t need “additional cover”.
*Biden was going to do this pardon anyway, don’t kid yourself believing his constant lies.
No silly, he was going to have Kamala do it.
Too bad that that bridge has sailed…
A sycophant is much better than a nepotist
Lol and that’s why you voted for Trump, right?
First part is true. It is sad and even a pretty respectable president has taken a fuck it attitude toward nepotism. Second part of your statement is silly though. Trump is shameless criminal, no amount of “cover” is needed - he was going to pardon those traitors regardless.
If democracy ever re-emerges in some other time or place, hopefully they won’t give this power to presidents. It’s ridiculous and heavily abused throughout history.
Trump has now won twice because of Dem incompetence and hypocrisy.
Dems moving to the right is not irrelevant to Trump’s existence in office.
I love when people use Trump as a litmus test for good behavior and how openly hypocrisy is displayed like a badge of honor.
Of course he did. If you thought otherwise you were gullible. Politicians lie and party affiliation makes no difference. Save the outrage for the truly outrageous things the next 4 years are going to bring.
Outrage is the new normal and fabricated.
Insurrection and selling many pardons for $2m each vs giving one pardon… “party affiliation makes no difference” ok troll
You take half my sentence and twist it to fit your narrative and I’m the troll?
You, my friend, are part of the problem.
On the one hand this is pretty hypocritical. On the other hand I probably would do the same in his position given that trump plans to weaponize the Justice department. Not great but this is the state our country is in now.
On the one hand this is pretty hypocritical. On the other hand I probably would do the same in his position given that trump plans to weaponize the Justice department.
Seriously. Here’s the scenario I put myself in:
- I’m 82 years old
- Three close family members, including my first wife and two of my children, have died.
- I’m being succeeded by someone who has promised to leverage government agencies to attack his political enemies
- My son has symbolically become one of those enemies
- I have choices:
- I can wait to see whether my successor does some third world shit to him while he’s in prison and be powerless to stop it if he does
OR
- I can use my current powers to free him, saving him from that fate, and getting more time with my remaining son during my final few years of life.
Fuck I know what choice I’m making.
I understand every single argument about why he shouldn’t have done it. I agree with some of them. Still no problem for me to put myself in a state of mind where I do the exact same thing.
Go ahead and come at me if you want, folks. I understand, but I won’t be changing my mind. If I’m 82 years old, my son stands a good chance of being abused while in a jail cell after I retire, and I can both avoid that plus also get an extra year+ with my son before I die, with nothing more required than expressing my wish for him to be released, I’m doing it.
I can understand this point of view.
But I can also condemn them for doing it.
Fair enough. 🙂
I’m like a notch below you on that. I won’t condemn him, but I acknowledge there are valid reasons he should not have done it.
It’s not a great look…but let’s be frank. Biden was pushed out of a race he wanted, during a presidency that wasn’t all that bad considering what came before. The Dems that wanted him out are now all either infighting, or saying everything is fine and they’ll definitely win in four years. Biden’s in the last weeks of his job, and when he’s lost so much already he probably just wants to ensure his family are safe.
After decades of public service, and being committed to handing power over to someone that’s demonized what’s left of his family, I’m all for Biden using his last week or two to protect his family and enjoy retirement.
Yeah honestly I’d do the same if I were in his position. I can’t blame him.
Yeah I would be fine with this IF he also used the expanded powers granted to him by Trump’s Supreme Court to block the incoming fascist/monarchist takeover. Or, fine, don’t try to block them with anything that gives the courts a chance to clarify that ruling, but also don’t transfer power smoothly and peacefully to these bastards in any way shape or form, you know? If you’re saying “fuck it”, then fuck ALL of it; not just the parts of it that affect you personally.
You mean, like passing a decree requiring all incoming presidents to sign an ethics pledge before taking office?
I’ve always found it absurd that presidents possess the authority to grant pardons. It trivializes our judicial system and undermines its integrity. This power should not be vested in the presidency.
It’s supposed to be a check on the judicial. Are you suggesting it should be vested elsewhere or just not at all? I wouldn’t remove any checks on this court personally
Is this just a distraction from the incoming administration refusing to sign ethics statements they signed into law, or avoiding background checks for sensitive government positions
