"No MAGA left behind."
By today most readers will have heard of Scott Jenkins, Ed Martin, and the pardon.
The news still has the power to disappoint. But not to surprise.
Scott Jenkins is the sheriff found guilty of accepting $75,000 in secret payoffs in a cash-for-badges arrangement. People would pay him in cash to be appointed a special deputy, a no-show job that allowed them to be treated as law enforcement officers, and therefore carry guns, breeze through TSA lines, and avoid speeding tickets. Two of the people who paid him were undercover FBI agents. Three others were people who paid Jenkins and pled guilty to it. There is videotape of the cash exchange. He was scheduled to enter federal prison on charges of bribery and public corruption.
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| Scott Jenkins, the now-former sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia |
President Trump pardoned Jenkins, just before he was scheduled to start a 10-year sentence.
Jenkins is a public supporter of Donald Trump. He refused to enforce Covid mask rules. He is a vocal supporter of gun rights and said he would defend his county against any effort by the state of Virginia to regulate guns. He was noteworthy for being on Team Trump.
Ed Martin explained the pardon. “He’s a guy that was on the right side of a lot of issues and a lot of public service. He looked like a really good candidate [for a pardon.]”
Martin said he would be looking over instances of prosecution of people that Trump would consider victims of unfair or unnecessary prosecution. “The message should be clear that we’re sticking by people that do good things and the right things,” he said.
He said his message aloud: People on Team Trump get special consideration.
This pardon comes amid other high-profile ones. The crimes are varied. Sometimes pardons absolves political activity, like those carried out by Roger Stone and the January 6 Capitol rioters. Sometimes it is bank fraud, by people like reality-TV stars Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley. They were sentenced in 2022 for conspiracy to defraud banks out of more than $30 million. Their daughter, Savannah, spoke at the RNC convention that nominated Trump in 2024. It might be a crypto crime, like that done by Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road marketplace which facilitated drug transactions. His mother donated money to Trump.
In the Watergate era, it wasn't the crime itself that would be the problem; it is the cover-up of the crime. In this new Trump era, one covers up nothing. Trump uses the power of government to reward his friends and punish his enemies. He does it openly and proudly, so it must not be shameful or wrong. You can be videotaped stuffing fat envelopes of cash into someone's pocket and get away with it. Sheriff Jenkins did. It isn't about the crime. It is about whether one is on Team Trump. He has the back of his friends.
Trump does it while blaming his opponents for being the real criminal. He posted this "Truth" on his media site:
This Sheriff is a victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice and doesn't deserve to spend a single da in jail. He is a wonderful person, who was persecuted by the Radical Left "monsters," and "left for dead.
Conservative media -- Fox, One America News, Epoch Times -- cover the stories entirely from the point of view of people grateful for the merciful intervention of Trump -- not from the fact of criminal behavior or the victims of it.
Viewers of mainstream news see repeated instances of this corruption. Democrats cannot stop it. The Constitution allows it. It is done openly. It must be normal and therefore somehow OK.
It isn't OK.
It is unequal, unlawful, and unjust. It is the opposite of the words inscribed above of institutions of justice. We shouldn't get accustomed to it. We should recognize it for what it is. It is open corruption. It is wrong.
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| Equal Justice Under Law |
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Yesterday I laughed out loud when a Trump sycophant on CNN proclaimed "White collar criminals shouldn't get prison sentences".
ReplyDeleteAlso, I thought a pardon followed an admission of guilt and remorse...no?
While the name "Biden" appears only in passing in this post about Trump's questionable pardons, I think it's important nonetheless to urge that there is no basis whatsoever for comparison with the exercises of clemency by the former president, even though in total they exceed those of any president of the 21st or 20th centuries.
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, Biden's statement in the final minutes of his presidency (per BBC reporting 1/20/25) assured Americans that his pardons should "not be mistaken as an acknowledgement" that any of those covered "engaged in any wrongdoing". That included son Hunter, unfairly awaiting sentencing for two federal felony counts.
After all, Hunter was the victim of an overzealous, politicized Department of Justice and doesn't deserve to spend a single day in jail. He is a wonderful person, who was persecuted by far-right radicals. Other members of the Biden Family got special consideration, but that too was just and appropriate. It was right.
This reminds me of the old joke:
ReplyDeleteEveryone complains about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it.
Doing something about Trump and his corrupt ways will require a political force assembled out of more than just the liberals who are already opposed to and appalled by Donald Trump.
I am waiting to see that political project being done seriously and competently. It isn’t happening yet.
The surprising thing is that all this corruption by a President of the United States is cheered on by so large a section of U.S. citizens. The Constitution means nothing anymore, yet our laws are governed by it. Something is seriously wrong with the country today when criminals are celebrated by the people and the President pardons them like they were heroes. It's the times, I suppose. It wouldn't have been tolerated in the last century or the century before. Greed, corruption, even theft are okay without penalty as long as you support the President. The Supreme Court is complected in this arrangement, which is the only body that can prevent it. Congress is scared to death of him, as he will control the primaries. As the old saying goes, Absolute power corrupts Absolutely. We are now seeing the wisdom of whoever said that.
ReplyDelete