Republicans fume after President Joe Biden pardons his son Hunter
Republicans fume after President Joe Biden pardons his son Hunter
President-elect Donald Trump's communications director responded to Biden's decision without directly naming the president or his son.
Summary
President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden, prompting strong backlash from Republicans.
GOP lawmakers criticized the move as an abuse of power and an attempt to avoid accountability, with figures like Rep. James Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley calling it hypocritical and corrupt.
Biden defended the pardon, citing “selective prosecution” and claiming Hunter was unfairly targeted due to their family connection.
Hunter faced convictions for federal gun and tax charges.
I’m not pleased at the prospect of Republicans doing the same thing in four years, after the corruption of Trump’s second term, and then pointing their fingers at this… but, to anyone with half a brain and at least one eye… Hunter wasn’t in politics, wasn’t directly appointed to his staff or a representative in any fashion within the White House, and the gun and tax crimes are small fries compared to anything the Trump family and stooges are or have been up to.
I think Biden should use his pardon power for good. I don't have a huge problem with this, but I want him to do something unexpected. Biden should pardon all the married immigrants after his program was recently shot down in court. For those that don't know, Many immigrants are married to US citizens, but cannot achieve citizenship that you normally would be able to do. It hinges on entering the country Illegally, which requires them to leave for up to 10 years before re applying for citizenship. Biden could pardon the "crime" of illegal entry, this removing the INS statue of not allowing them citizenship.
Everyone needs to play the same game they do.
Is it hypocritical, yeah probably, does he have any reason to answer for it? Naw
Trump just put Kusher in a role .. a person he pardoned for ... "preparing false tax returns, witness retaliation, and making false statements to the FEC" per his own statement.
Right.
In a perfect world I'd say he needs to let the system work and nobody is above the law, yada yada yada. Clearly this world and country are horribly fucked. For YEARS Republicans have been using the term "Biden Family" to make them sound like some kind of crime syndicate, coming up with "ominous facts" that were not indicative of any actual crime, held an impeachment over President Bidens head for years, distributed naked pictures of Hunter, and interfered with what would've been a simple plea deal, all the while trying to downplay the most corrupt presidency in our history.
Fuck the norms. Fuck ethics. Fuck propriety. The new America requires you to use every tool at your disposal just to get your most basic fucking rights. If Republicans think this is such an abuse of power they can do their fucking jobs for once in their lives and pass some fucking ethics reform. I applaud Joe's embrace of the new normal and I hope other Democrats figure out this is the new normal, whether they like it or not, and stop playing pussyfoot with a party that's been playing "kick the groin" for over 30 years.
I seriously think he should do a LOT of other shitty things Trump set the precedent for. Like perhaps seriously abuse that presidential pardon thing that Trump invented.
Like, I don't know, I'm just brainstorming here, perhaps order the assassinations of the future president and all of the key people circling around him. And then just go all Jesse Pinkman, "yeah! presidential immunity bitch!".
I would have felt better if Biden was more honest about this. "Yes, this is a blatant abuse of my power, and shouldn't be allowed, but it is squarely within my Official Duties. The Supreme Court says that the only remedy is impeachment. Hey, Mike, I double-dog dare ya to do it!"
Republicans are faux angry. They clearly don't really care about the deed at all. If anything they're gleeful because they get to run around and call Biden a nepotistic liar.
Some Democrats are angry because Biden just handed the Republican a stinky turd that they're going to throw in our face every time someone brings up any of their lies or nepotism.
Many Democrats don't seem to care either, as long as Trump is worse.
Exiting President handing away high profile pardons just before leaving office? I kind of remember when it happened before, and much worse: https://www.vox.com/22238571/trump-pardons-bannon-broidy-corruption
Would this pardon allow Hunter full ability to leave the US and enter into other countries? Because I can totally see Biden doing this as a move to get all of his family out of harms way once Trump takes office and I don't blame them one bit. The Republicans have been very vocal about their vengeance and honestly if this was the reasoning behind the pardon it would be the first time since the election that we've seen the president taking the threat we all face seriously.
Definitely a bad look but in all honesty it’s justified.
The right was definitely unfairly targeting Hunter. They were using him as a scapegoat since they couldn’t get to Joe.
I sorta dont blame them... Its not right, but I dont blame them.
Now, with return of darth cheeto and his ultra loyal crew of apointees, its now a priority to not have any active cases for the saftey of the biden family. 47 may seek vengance for any percieved offense, and the bidens going forward should not expect the DOJ to behave in the interest of justice for a few years.
The GOP can seethe and cope all they want, they laid the groundwork for this use of this sort of behaivior and uncle joe has not used it (at great expense to his sons future prospects, being national news for this long cant be healthy) up until this point.
Permanently Deleted
It's a show.
They know that under standard circumstances there would have been no charges, let alone jail time. But, his name is Biden and they needed to prosecute and get their pound of flesh. Now, when Trump pardons violent felons and murders, as he has done before, they can point to Biden. As if tax evasion is a simular crime.
Performative theatre aided by the media.
And, nobody cares if the Reich Wingers fume about this. Literally, nobody.
Aww fuck those one way princesses.
Who cares? Fuck them.
I really don't think giving the head of state the power to pardon is a very good idea. I used to be totally baffled how it was a thing at all but the rationale has since been explained to me. While I sorta get it, the theoretical benefit is far outweighed by the inevitable grimy reality. Like others, probably mostly because of my own biases, I find it hard to summon a great deal of outrage about this understandable if blatantly hypocritical move after so much prior abuse of the lower had already occurred, but frankly if the option weren't even there then nobody would even need to talk about this. If the justice system of the nation is supposedly well designed and theoretically trustworthy then there isn't the need to have the ability for it to be arbitrarily overrulled in a manner that operates very much like the monarchical tyrants the United States was supposedly foundationally opposed to.
If an incoming fascist government were promising retribution for their political opponents, and if there were threats, however fringe, of public executions, I would also pardon my child. I'm honestly surprised more high profile people aren't leaving the country. Though I guess that would be a bad move on multiple levels. What did that one article say? Don't bend the knee until there's a memo saying you have to?
Don’t hate the player; hate the game.
Fumes a party that endorsed a convicted felon for presidency.
I'm really warming up to the idea of Biden doing some other "official acts" before he departs.
“Republicans” “Fume”
I don’t lend any credence to headlines like this anymore. I saw way too many headlines about how “young voters hate Trump” and clearly that meant nothing when election day came so I wish these “news” organizations would shut the fuck up with this bullshit. Just because 2 people do something doesn’t make it news.
Good thing Joe is not a king right? What if a king assigned a rapist to be the FBI tzar. And what if this tzar could just walk through main street and rape men and women equally in plain daylight? Nobody would bat an eye because hold on, I'm getting rapped right now, but I'll talk about it afterwards?
Fumes a party that endorsed a convicted felon for presidency.
https://x.com/joncoopertweets/status/1859602254577230289
I’m not happy about it either. It’s an abuse of power, no matter whose side the guy is on. This just further degrades the office of the president into a self-serving free-for-all.
Many of the same liberals who have been browbeating me over the past several years with their insistence that they are NOT the same as the Trump Republicans, are excusing this.
You're right, liberals. Once again you prove that you are not the same as the Trumpists. Even with this pardon, you do continue to be better than them. You're better than terrible. You're better than horrible, better than abysmal, ever so slightly better than abhorrent. Congratulations.
