Mainstream Media Discovers Trump Pardons Are 'Problematic,' Again
The article expresses shock that Trump used pardons to reward political allies and loyalists. Curiously absent is the deep dive into how campaign donations from multinational corporations, for instance, consistently influence regulatory decisions or how figures like former President George H.W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger on Christmas Eve 1992, effectively nuking the
Iran-Contra investigation. The 'justice system upended' narrative often appears when political convenience dictates, not when the actual levers of power are bought and sold in plain sight. One might wonder if the concern over a 'justice system upended' would be equally vociferous if the beneficiaries of executive clemency were, say, whistleblowers exposing state crimes, rather than figures
convenient to a particular political faction. Or if the money trail from corporate interests to judicial appointments was investigated with the same zeal. But then, that wouldn't make for tidy, partisan outrage, would it?