Point - 'Nother Point:
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Opinion | Joe Biden chose fatherly love over his duties as president / Austin Sarat / Updated Mon, December 2, 2024 at 7:40 PM EST
I am an unabashed admirer of President Joe Biden. He has done a remarkably good job for the American people. But I am deeply disappointed by Sunday night’s pardon of his son Hunter.
I respect and admire the president’s devotion to his son and feel great sympathy for the Shakespearian dilemma he faced ahead of Hunter’s sentencing. This is a president who has made devotion to duty and restoring the “soul of the nation” his signature. Thus, pardoning Hunter can be viewed as the understandable act of a loving father, especially one worried about a Justice Department that may very soon be turned into a tool of vengeance.
But I still think it was the wrong decision.
Biden’s choice gives credence to President-elect Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that justice under his predecessor was tainted by favoritism toward his friends and animus toward his political opponents.
https://news.yahoo.com/news/opinion-joe-biden-chose-fatherly-213300444.html
Your conclusion is plausible Austin, your stated reasoning less so.
Another perhaps more plausible explanation:
- President Biden formalized his intention to not pardon son Hunter before the 2024 election.
- Though President-elect Trump accuses weaponization:
“The failed witch hunts against President Trump,” he said in a statement, “have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system.
Trump’s spokesperson, Steven Cheung, source:
it hardly makes sense that the leader of the Democrats would turn this weapon on his own son.
The pardon is issued, but the criticism continues.
Austin,
More plausible, President Biden may have believed Vice President Harris would win the November election, and that the risk to Hunter Biden would be about the same as for other Americans convicted of similar crimes.
But Trump's specialty is unpredictable volatility, has publicly committed to pardoning January 6th insurrectionists, and has established / earned a reputation.
Your scenario would explain it Austin.
Perhaps more likely, President Biden didn't want his son, guilty though he may be for the crimes of which he was convicted, being caught in punitive partisan presidential crossfire, of which Hunter is substantially innocent.
Proportion tells the tale.
Republicans can squeal like stuck swine over President Biden reneging on his no-pardon commitment.
We'll see if their squeal is proportionate if / when President Trump fulfills numerous campaign commitments substantially more impactful, detrimental.