Biden/Harris: A Presidency for All Americans

[Goatnapper'96]

Charles Kushner served some time for his crimes. As did Clinton's brother. Hunter will have served no time and the broad pardoning for crimes committed and "may have committed" is the tell here. He has committed crimes that we don't know about yet.

The other thing tthings in the back of my mind the more I think about this is how with it is Biden right now? How much of this is Hunter or his family taking advantage of his cognitive functioning? Whatever positive reputation Biden may have had will forever be tarnished as a crony who put his family and their fortunes above all.

Look-this highlights the reality of many things.

1.) The biggest threat to the American way of life is internal and it is tribalism. I am not sure what we need to balance political partisanship but whatever it is we need more of it. When the American system was being put together many of the framers/philosophers at the time thought religious conviction was the counterweight for rabid individualism. At times I think political partisanship has replaced religion, but maybe it has replaced rabid individualism without the counterbalance of religion.

2.). Trump/Biden are a symptom of our deeper problems. At the moment Trump has exploited the shift of the Democrat party away from its long time base-working class interests. The Democrats will eventually regroup and time will tell if this shift away from Democrats is to Republicans or to Trump. I don't like Trump, and I also dislike populism because I fit it in well with elites on both sides thinking the masses really are asses, but our twice electing Trump while simultaneously showing outrage for what Biden just did is schizophrenic. Watching liberals praise and encourage or just justify Biden doing this indicates the ubiquitousness of our cultural rot. In the aftermath of a disappointing election liberal pundits want Biden to use his power for personal gain because in their opinion that is what the masses/asses deserve because "they" spent so much time telling us what a threat Donald Trump is and then "you" people still wanted him. Biden pardoning his messed up son, and protecting him from the rule of law for anything he did the past decade, appeals to liberals need for a strongman just as Trump appeals to his MAGA crowd.

The only people I think who will find this genuinely disheartening are the few who really were opposed to Trump because of how he delegitimizes our institutions. Truth be told I was never convinced many of those spouting that off about Trump were really concerned about the legitimacy of our institutions. But congrats to Joe Biden-he made sure he would compete with Trump until his last breath in power in that race to the bottom.

But I still got my children and my wife!

[frank ryan]

Charles Kushner served some time for his crimes. As did Clinton's brother. Hunter will have served no time and the broad pardoning for crimes committed and "may have committed" is the tell here. He has committed crimes that we don't know about yet.

The other thing tthings in the back of my mind the more I think about this is how with it is Biden right now? How much of this is Hunter or his family taking advantage of his cognitive functioning? Whatever positive reputation Biden may have had will forever be tarnished as a crony who put his family and their fortunes above all.

He certainly paid a price for it. He had his dick pics waved around in congress/

[beefytee]

Yeah, the fact that Biden is trying to legitimize this by claiming that the prosecution of Hunter was politically motivated is terrible. He is undermining our institutions in the same way that Trump does.

Really frustrating.

[Maximus]

Hunter does not deserve a pardon.

What damage was caused by lying about doing drugs ?

[falafel]

What damage was caused by lying about doing drugs ?

That's not how we measure violations of the law. Ay, no harm no foul!

[Clark Addison]

I haven't followed the specifics of Hunter's case enough to say all that much specifically about it, but my main thought is this. And to be clear, I say this as someone who hasn't voted for a Republican to a national office since Trump took control of the party.

Over the last 6-12 months, the Republicans have completely mopped the floor with Democrats in regard to PR and perception. This gives them one more arrow in their quiver in this battle. It will continue to be brought up as evidence of the perfidy of the Democratic party for a while. Is it understandable? Yes. Is it one more item in a long list of ways that Joe Biden has hurt his party over the past couple of years? Also yes.

[BigPiney]

Biden is a moron. He and RBG couldn't step down when they should have and have created a complete cluster. This latest issue is just pure stupidity on his part.

[Goatnapper'96]

I haven't followed the specifics of Hunter's case enough to say all that much specifically about it, but my main thought is this. And to be clear, I say this as someone who hasn't voted for a Republican to a national office since Trump took control of the party.

Over the last 6-12 months, the Republicans have completely mopped the floor with Democrats in regard to PR and perception. This gives them one more arrow in their quiver in this battle. It will continue to be brought up as evidence of the perfidy of the Democratic party for a while. Is it understandable? Yes. Is it one more in a long list of ways that Joe Biden has hurt his party over the past couple of years? Also yes.

Why did he stupidly promise over and over that he wouldn't do it?

I just don't understand the stupid self-inflicted mistakes. I guess casting aspersions on the judicial system as the President's son is being prosecuted doesn't mesh well with the entire "vote for us to defend our democratic institutions from Donald Trump" branding-but he is a career politician with real smart staffers and speech writers. There had to be a smarter way to get to the endstate of lie, lie, lie and then "ohmygawsh I just decided today that this was a political witch-hunt all along!"

[Clark Addison]

Why did he stupidly promise over and over that he wouldn't do it?

I just don't understand the stupid self-inflicted mistakes. I guess casting aspersions on the judicial system as the President's son is being prosecuted doesn't mesh well with the entire "vote for us to defend our democratic institutions from Donald Trump" branding-but he is a career politician with real smart staffers and speech writers. There had to be a smarter way to get to the endstate of lie, lie, lie and then "ohmygawsh I just decided today that this was a political witch-hunt all along!"

The cynical view is obviously that he always meant to do it, but didn't want to say so while it could still impact the election. I don't like to be cynical, but I can't think of a good alternate reason.

[Goatnapper'96]

The cynical view is obviously that he always meant to do it, but didn't want to say so while it could still impact the election. I don't like to be cynical, but I can't think of a good alternate reason.

Everyone knew he was planning to do it. My point goes to your point-folks don't hold it against Donald Trump as much because he is a lot more honest about his intentions. I don't get why Biden didn't develop some lines where he said as the Chief Federal LEO of the land he will let the judicial system run its course but there may be concerns that there is political pressure that might require Executive involvement. I just can't grasp why he was so adamant he wouldn't ever pardon Hunter. Even when folks knew they were being lied to they are going to be more angry than they will be when Trump pardons all the J6'ers because Trump has been far more transparent. It was such a self-inflicted mistake that wasn't necessary.

[falafel]

Why did he stupidly promise over and over that he wouldn't do it?

I just don't understand the stupid self-inflicted mistakes. I guess casting aspersions on the judicial system as the President's son is being prosecuted doesn't mesh well with the entire "vote for us to defend our democratic institutions from Donald Trump" branding-but he is a career politician with real smart staffers and speech writers. There had to be a smarter way to get to the endstate of lie, lie, lie and then "ohmygawsh I just decided today that this was a political witch-hunt all along!"

Because he's a political animal and that appeared to be the best option for him at the time. Not saying I agree, but c'mon. Seems obvious why he did that at the time.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Everyone knew he was planning to do it. My point goes to your point-folks don't hold it against Donald Trump as much because he is a lot more honest about his intentions. I don't get why Biden didn't develop some lines where he said as the Chief Federal LEO of the land he will let the judicial system run its course but there may be concerns that there is political pressure that might require Executive involvement. I just can't grasp why he was so adamant he wouldn't ever pardon Hunter. Even when folks knew they were being lied to they are going to be more angry than they will be when Trump pardons all the J6'ers because Trump has been far more transparent. It was such a self-inflicted mistake that wasn't necessary.

Ok, if "everyone knew he was planning to do it", point us to all of the predictions that he would do it. Should be easy to find.

[USUC]

Ok, if "everyone knew he was planning to do it", point us to all of the predictions that he would do it. Should be easy to find.

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[Goatnapper'96]

Ok, if "everyone knew he was planning to do it", point us to all of the predictions that he would do it. Should be easy to find.

Even Frank Ryan knew he was going to pardon Hunter. I think Frank is OK with this pardon.

Perhaps it was surprising to many, but I don't know if I can provide you specific examples but there have been many skeptical of this argument that Joe Biden and the Democrat machine had this deep respect for rule of law.

[Bo Diddley]

I'd like to see a challenge to this pardon come after Biden leaves office. I wonder how SCOTUS would rule on a blanket pardon like this.