Well, he did it. Joe Biden has decided to pardon his son Hunter Biden, after saying last summer that it is not something that he is going to do, there are people on all sides of the political spectrum, in some cases supporting and in some cases opposing what Joe Biden has chosen to do, and I want to lay it out here for you today. Now as a general principle, I want presidents who keep their word, and I’m not big on familial, cronyistic, nepotistic pardons. It’s not even totally clear to me that, on balance, presidential pardon powers are a good thing. I can find instances where they were used in ways that I agree with, and many in which they were used in ways that I disagree with. When Joe Biden said, I will not pardon Hunter, I thought that was the right thing to say, and it was the right thing to do, and I still believe that, at the same time, something critical has changed since Joe Biden made that statement, which is that Donald Trump ran a campaign on revenge, retribution and and punishment of his political adversaries. He has specifically targeted and been adversarial and hostile to Joe Biden and his family, including Hunter Biden and he has nominated Trump has people to positions of power who have made it clear they will go after Biden and his family once you see if you are Joe Biden cash Patel nominated as FBI director, we don’t know if he’ll be confirmed, but he has the potential to be confirmed, Someone who has made it clear that it is retribution and revenge, including against Biden’s family, that should be the policy of the forthcoming administration. Any father would do what Biden did. This doesn’t mean that pardon powers are designed to pardon your family and friends. This doesn’t mean that I want to see more of this, but I do understand it, and the critical part is that we on the left at least have a basis to honestly discuss this, but these right wingers who support Trump, who are now upset with Biden’s pardon, Trump has done the same thing many times over, and not with people that their your political adversary said they would target. For example, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son in law, nobody from any democratic administration forthcoming was going to be going after Charles Kushner. There was no real reason to do it, other than Trump did a favor to his son in law, and his son in law’s father and then more recently, Donald Trump has selected Charles Kushner to be the ambassador to France for the United States. So if you believe that what Biden did is wrong, you have to believe that what Trump did is even more wrong, which is issue a pardon, absent any reason for Charles Kushner to be concerned that he was going to be targeted and then give him a cushy role in your administration after the fact, we also have to consider that the List of Presidents who have pardoned family members is is not very long, but Trump is on that list, along with Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and yes, even Abraham Lincoln. And so if your belief is pardons a family are a really big deal, well then Donald Trump is one of only four presidents that participated in that really big deal, and you should be incensed that he did. If your belief is that this is really no big deal, then why are you so worried about what Biden’s doing? So, as is often the case, the hypocrisy of the reaction from Maga becomes a big part of the story. Now one other thing it is reasonable to worry that with Biden Now having done this, Trump is going to see it as carte blanche to pardon whoever the hell he wants to pardon. The thing you’ve got to realize is Trump was going to do that either way. Trump seems determined to pardon some of the rioters from January 2021, he was determined to do it beforehand. The difference is now, when he does it and people criticize it, they will rightly be able to say, look at what Biden did he pardon Hunter, Biden, they are not equivalent. They are not equivalent. From a judge, jurisprudence standpoint, a criminal standpoint, they’re not equivalent. But Trump was going to do it anyway. Now they do have this retort, which is, get it, get the hell out of here. Who cares what Trump did? Biden pardoned his son. So do I wish that this wasn’t part of American politics? Yeah, I do. Is it obvious that just about any father would do this? Same thing if they saw the incoming administration pickings, pick making nominations of people that are clearly going to target your family, would you then do it? I think most fathers almost certainly would let me know what you think