Random Reminder That A Republican President Could Pardon Donald Trump In 2025

Vowing to end the nightmare might get one elected

His goose might just be cooked this time. Really.

Donald Trump appears to have violated the letter of federal laws about classified documents and could very well be indicted on serious charges. If that happens, he will fundraise for his defense right when he is supposed to be fundraising for a rematch with Joe Biden. Time and energy spent on an indictment would subtract from time and energy available for campaigning. That is not good. For him.

Trump has seen a boost in his polling since last November, so an indictment would probably raise sympathies for him with some Republican primary voters, but that would not guarantee that he wins the nomination again. On the contrary, a serious indictment resting on solid legal ground could help elect one of his GOP primary rivals to the White House, where the power of the pardon rests.

For that matter, a Trump in real trouble might rapidly warm to a nominee who is open to a pardon. And at this point, how many Americans would like the long, national, Twitter-driven nightmare to end?

Given that the idea is both constitutional and could even be popular, I cannot help but think upon the Republican field, now standing, sans Trump.

First to declare were Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. Tim Scott preempted Ron DeSantis. I just named two South Asians, am African American, and an Italian American. This is an all-American field.

I find it impossible to choose between them right now because I am not a Republican. A primary debate in which the topic of a Trump pardon came up would be quite something to see though, I think. Perhaps even historic. I would surely watch that debate if I thought the question might come up. I bet it would trend on Twitter and clips of their answers would get zillions of TikTok views.

Joe Biden would love nothing more than a rematch with Trump. I see strategic Republicans and swing vote independents (yeah they exist) kvetching about this from time to time and I get it. The progressive-pride flag assholes in street ninja cosplay are the electoral-effect mirror image of the baying Obama birth certificate mob that helped make our times so interesting. No one wants to re-litigate it all, however, and that is my point.

Republicans would like to move on from Trump and give the people a strong contender. This is not what Joe Biden wants. Bad Orange Man remains a powerful force, but the political climate has changed. Don’t be surprised if this idea floats, out there.

On that note, Dr. John Schindler, the person I linked to above, is an authroity on what is really going on in spooksville. You may recall that Schindler became something of a celebrity for reporting, way back around the end of 2016 or so, that a contact who remains in his former intelligence world had declared Trump would die in prison. That view has evolved:

Since Trump turns 77 years old in less than month, any felony conviction could be tantamount to a life sentence. In other words, he really might “die in jail.” I reached out to my old spook pal to revisit this matter. Since I made him anonymously famous on Twitter in early 2017, he has become skeptical of our government’s ability to enforce its own laws on the rich, powerful, and famous. He remains as contemptuous of Trump as he ever was, but he’s grown equally distasteful of the current White House resident, whom he regards with disdain for his unconcealed lies and corruption. “What a world we’re in that two old coots on the take who belong in an old folks’ home are our 2024 options,” he muttered with contempt: “Trump and Biden deserve to die in jail together.”

Schindler has also reported on the sketchy state of Biden policy in Albania, perhaps the only eastern European nation-state with a more problematic history of corruption than Ukraine. Never mind Hunter’s laptop, there is every chance of an emergent Biden scandal to make people recall Sam Brinton with fondness. Imagine a world in which Democrats also think this sort of vowing to pardon people thingy is a good idea. You might just live in it, someday.