How many times have you told someone you would attend gathering A, or accomodate request B, then been unable to follow through? Perhaps it was due to an illness or family emergency or simply because you’d forgotten about a pre-existing obligation. It’s not uncommon–compliance with previous promises is, unfortunately, contingent upon the continued reasonableness/ability to perform.
When the news broke about President Biden’s pardon of his son, despite earlier statements that no such pardon would be forthcoming, I didn’t realize that the context had changed–dramatically. And even then, to be honest, it didn’t bother me; anyone familiar with the laws governing Hunter Biden’s prosecution can attest to the fact that he faced penalties far more severe than those sought against others in the same circumstances– only because his name was Biden. (As former U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance made clear in her Civil Discourse, Hunter Biden wouldn’t even have been criminally charged if he had been anyone other than the president’s son). The relentless effort to use him politically to hurt his father was obvious and unfair. So–while a pardon did violate the President’s prior promise not to issue one– I really thought it was appropriate.
And that was before I realized how dramatically the context had changed. As Heather Cox Richardson has explained,
The pardon’s sweeping scope offers an explanation for why Biden issued it after saying he would not.
Ron Filipkowski of MeidasTouch notes that Biden’s pardon came after Trump’s announcement that he wants to place conspiracy theorist Kash Patel at the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Filipkowski studies right-wing media and points out that Patel’s many appearances there suggest he is obsessed with Hunter Biden, especially the story of his laptop, which Patel insists shows that Hunter and Joe Biden engaged in crimes with Ukraine and China.
House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY) spent two years investigating these allegations and turned up nothing—although Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia used the opportunity to display pictures of Hunter Biden naked on national media—yet Patel insists that the Department of Justice should focus on Hunter Biden as soon as a Trump loyalist is back in charge.
Notably, Trump’s people, including former lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his ally Lev Parnas, spent more than a year trying to promote false testimony against Hunter Biden by their Ukrainian allies. Earlier this year, in the documentary From Russia with Lev, produced by Rachel Maddow, Parnas publicly apologized to Hunter Biden for his role in the scheme.
The victory of Donald Trump and his subsequent unqualified and inappropriate choices for important government positions raised the very real prospect that the FBI and Justice Department might literally fabricate evidence, or collaborate with a foreign government to ‘find’ evidence of a ‘crime,’ with zero accountability–that going forward, those agencies would be used as political weapons rather than legitimate law enforcement mechanisms, and would focus on Hunter Biden, among others.
Richardson pointed out that most media outlets had failed to tell the full story–to provide the context within which a prior promise could not–should not–be kept. Several pundits have asserted that Biden has given Trump license to pardon anyone he wants, evidently forgetting that in his first term, “Trump pardoned his daughter Ivanka’s father-in-law, Charles Kushner, who pleaded guilty to federal charges of tax evasion, campaign finance offenses, and witness tampering and whom Trump has now tapped to become the U.S. ambassador to France.”
Trump also pardoned for various crimes men who were associated with the ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian operatives working to elect Trump. Those included his former national security advisor Michael Flynn, former campaign manager Paul Manafort, and former allies Roger Stone and Steve Bannon. Those pardons, which suggested Trump was rewarding henchmen, received a fraction of the attention lavished on Biden’s pardon of his son.
In today’s news coverage, the exercise of the presidential pardon—which traditionally gets very little attention—has entirely outweighed the dangerous nominations of an incoming president, which will have profound influence on the American people. This imbalance reflects a longstanding and classic power dynamic in which Republicans set the terms of public debate, excusing their own objectionable behavior while constantly attacking Democrats in a fiery display that attracts media attention but distorts reality.
As Richardson notes, this lack of balance and context do not bode well for journalism during the upcoming administration. The likelihood is that the media will continue to leave the public badly informed–or completely uninformed– about matters that are important for truly understanding modern politics.
Matters like context.
President Joe Biden saved his son Hunter’s life from the probability of a life sentence when his long delayed cases – with his guilty pleas and standing before the Congressional hearing – ever comes to court under Trump and McConnell’s personal federal court system. The issue of Hunter Biden began when Joe was still Vice President under President Obama and Ukraine issues began coming to light. Meanwhile, Trump was appointed to the Presidency, his anchor babies Don, Jr., Eric and Ivanka (and Barron who was appointed to the RNC as a delegate by former president Daddy) ran through the legal and Daddy’s administration like shit through the proverbial goose. We still ask about those BILLIONS of dollars Ivanka and her husband received from the Saudi Prince, the compliance of Don, Jr. and Eric with Daddy in the January 6th Insurrection. Whatever those stories are, Daddy’s immunity will have the power to pardon all of them, including the Saudi Prince, for the criminal acts they participated in.
“Context Matter” will end at High Noon on January 20, 2025.
Hunter lied on an affidavit when he purchased a gun. The lie was that he didn’t acknowledge he was a drug user, etc. How weird is that affidavit? How many drug users sign that affidavit that they are not drug users? Therein is the fraud he committed. Seems to me that a drug test should be given as well as an intense background check. Having a drug user sign an affidavit negating drug use is almost like entrapment . What drug user would admit? That’s the problem I have in charging Hunter. As for IRS issue – seriously? lock him up for that? My position on the pardon is that Biden should have waited to let the judge sentence Hunter in a way that was obviously abuse of power – then pardon Hunter – thereby proving the political aspects of this. The sad thing is a felon is going to be president, his cabinet likely will be rife with felons and people of seriously questionable character flaws. The fox is in the henhouse.
Biden did the right thing, as usual.
I think that the newsworthiness of this distraction is due to MAGA politics still advertising the products of revenge and retribution.
Sensible people have long reacted to the unfairness of pursuing Hunter as a proxy for pursuing Biden so that part is old news.
The net impact is that the preamble of Trump II reinforced our fears of the extent of revenge and retribution.
Here, for *context*, is the “enemies list” compiled and published by Kash Patel in his recent book. All of these people should consider themselves under threat.
https://newrepublic.com/article/188946/kash-patel-fbi-enemies-list
It takes little imagination to add a few more names that were apparently a little too obvious to bother listing, including perennial whipping-boy Hunter as well as prosecutors, judges, representatives, and senators of both parties who have failed to kneel to the new god, especially anyone connected with a congressional hearing or vote or a trial that Trump didn’t like. (“Liz Cheney should face a firing squad!”, “Jack Smith should be thrown out of the country!”, etc. And yes, he sees you, Mitt, trying to sneak out the back door…)
It is possible that Trump, like an easily distracted toddler, will forget about persecuting the “Biden Crime Family” once he’s in office and has other grifts to run and enemies to go after, kind of like how he forgot all about “Lock Her Up” after January 2017. But will an energetic flunky like Patel, whose greatest ambition seems to be to bring the heads of “enemies” to his king on a platter?
Would you bet your child’s life on it?
The manufactured outrage that followed the pardon is so like the manufactured outrage that followed Harris when she didn’t commit to sending billions of dollars of weapons to Israel.
Like everything else that follows Trump there’s very selective amnesia.
Have all the Biden apologists posted this morning, or is there more to come? LOL
Biden is an insatiable liar and always has been. He’s a genocidal maniac who kills women and children without conscience. He said he wouldn’t interfere with the justice system but lied. He’s now wanting to do pre-emptive pardons for Fauci and few others. Why would he need to pardon Fauci if he didn’t do anything wrong?
If you know anything about Burisma in Ukraine, it’s the hotbed of corruption in Eastern Europe. In fact, all of Ukraine is corrupt from the faux presidency on down. Most of the oligarchs in Ukraine are mobbed up. Why would they choose to put a druggy on their board and pay him $50,000 a month when he had no experience in the gas industry?
Biden’s pardon dates back to 2014, months before Hunter accepted the board position. If you look at the timetable, it’s also when the US set up the CIA in Kyiv to assist in overthrowing the “pro-Russian” president. Just a reminder: The UK had frozen a Burisma account for corruption, and the US was ready to issue sanctions against Ukraine and Burisma. Somehow, those vanished.
Don’t apologize for our corrupt assholes in Washington. It’s a cesspool, and they are all guilty of sin. The media included. The timing of the pardon was during Hegseth’s inquiry when he promised the committee he wouldn’t drink again if given the Pentagon job, and they believed him. Refer back to the article I posted by Jane Mayer.
Here’s a European article covering Hunter’s pardon by #GenocideJoe:
https://www.rferl.org/a/burisma-ukraine-gas-pardon-bidens/33226807.html
Laws are for the little people.
Biden did the right thing, given the “context” of the real “witch hunt,” against Hunter.
With tfg in charge, and controlling both houses of congress, given the context of his severe Malignant Narcissism, and few, if any, guardrails, we can expect little real governing, and a lot of odious idiocy. A Patel-like sycophant might go crazy with whatever power he/she perceives she/he has, while tfg sits by smirking from his really ugly, self-satisfied face.
Hey Todd, did you think GWB was a “genocidal maniac?” And Liz Cheney’s father, as well?
Don’t think for a minute that Orange Jesus (OJ) didn’t try to “Lock her up!”. The only reason Hillary wasn’t charged with something was that Bill Barr couldn’t find a reason to do it.
Another reason to pardon Hunter is that he would face the same treatment that Michael Cohen faced in the Federal Prison system (X 10). The principal reason to fear that is the fact that, having learned so much from his first term, OJ would make sure that the warden of whatever prison Hunter was sent to would be a loyalist. We might never see Hunter again.
Todd, I don’t see myself as a “Biden apologist” but as middle-of-the-road as possible.
What worries me, and President Biden too, is the preamble to next year being set up by MAGA, a new party with all of the power to do whatever Trump tells them to do.
I’m not even sure of the fate of anyone who posts here. President Biden protected his own. I have always accepted that responsibility for my family, too.
Thank you for saying what should be the mainstream understanding
He did the only thing he could do under the threats clearly, publicly and continuously broadcast by KP.
Todd, your wild imagination fed by your own biases are clear. Biden has spent his life in public service. To compare him to the liar-in-chief is laughable.
We face the greatest threat to our form of governance since the Civil War. perpetrated by the descendants of the same group of racist misogynists bankrolled by the oligarchy whose only goal is wealth and personal power.
Billy Long as head of the IRS? Really? An auctioneer/realtor with zero experience in financial management on a huge scale? But our Sen. Young caves to pressure once again by embracing him as “his good friend”. Can he kowtow any lower to get out from under the threats of retribution from the cult if he doesn’t fall in line?
Just the latest in a long string of toadies, lackeys and henchmen that any mafia don would be proud of, his likely nominees names are like reading the booking list after a sweep of criminal gang members. How any of these people continue to find employment of any kind is truly amazing. Would you trust any of them in your workplace?
Another Biden “apologist” here. I put it in quotes because he has nothing to apologize for in this instance. Todd is always out in la la land when the subject of Biden comes up. There is STILL no evidence that Joe Biden has committed ANY criminal acts, much less genocide, despite the Republicans best efforts to find some. Not to mention their best efforts to manufacture what they couldn’t find. No impeachment, no indictments, no trials, and, therefore, no convictions. Todd knows he is safe trumpeting his lies because there is free speech in the U.S. Which is another thing he lies about, claiming that journalists are censored by the government. Obviously, he is not being censored. Also obvious is the irrational nature of his hatred of President Biden.
Thank you Sheila for this post. It expands upon what I posted elsewhere –
I don’t think Biden was lying all those times he said he would not pardon his son. A new thing happened that places his son in danger that has nothing to do with his actual behavior. In the same vein, preemptive pardons are being considered for a range of public officials that Trump or Patel could target, indeed have already threatened to do so. Justice is one thing; gleeful vicious vengeful persecutions by obsessed individuals drunk on a windfall of power is a completely different situation.
Indeed, to quote Peggy, We might never see Hunter again.
I also am relieved to see in these comments, pushback to T Smekens. I have frequently been left with my mouth hanging open at his remarks. This is otherwise a congenial truthseeking group.
I agree with Linda, addicts often frame their truths in favor of their addictions.
I so feel sorry for us all if Pete Hegseth makes to Head of the US Military.
He is not only not qualified, and leaves a trail of failed leadership in his wake, he has No Idea how Addiction Holds the Addict. After 40 years, I have very rarely heard someone with an active drinking (and/or drug) problem admit it…..unless the statement us “self-serving”.
There is so much vendictiveness and “ego strutting” going on with all these MAGA peeps, I fear we might see “The House Burned Down” while All of US/us are still inside it next year.
Where is the Love? and What Would Jesus and All Religious Leaders Do, will they do?
Per Sheila – “As Richardson notes, this lack of balance and context do not bode well for journalism during the upcoming administration.”
Even the so-called mainstream media has not been balanced ever since tRump became prez eight years ago. It became painfully obvious back then that corporate advertisers were exercising control over mainstream media stories -what they were and were not allowed to talk or write about. Defying their orders would amount to career suicide.
So much coming out of the political sphere right now seems rather dark and absurd. So in the absence of much making any sense to me right now I’m focusing on what good there is of the Christmas Season. Since its the season of giving I have made some donations and am planning my gifts to keep giving into the new year. It keeps me happier and healthier than focusing on all that “scary absurd” stuff. There may come a time that I have to make some important decisions about it but so far I admit I’m just tired of it all and returning to what the Christmas season means to me. My mom and I put up the outdoor Christmas decorations and soon we will be putting up the tree. Seems like a good time to be singing Christmas carols instead of grumbling about Trump and his people. No matter what happens I choose to believe “God has my back” when I focus on celebrating his birth instead of giving into fears and worrisome thoughts that seem counterproductive to living a good and happy life here on earth. The world needs what joy you can share even in the darkest moments. The “book thief” movie taught me that.
I am shocked that my comments put off the MSNBC crowd. LOL
Biden has had over a year to condemn the war criminal Netanyahu’s genocide in Gaza, but he hasn’t done it! He’s a self-declared Zionist. He’s also a terrorist for blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline. He should be in The Hague along with Bush and Cheney.
Biden has willfully funded the carnage against women and children. Even the driver of the getaway car gets charged with robbery because he’s an accomplice. And so does the financier of the genocide.
Hunter is an addict, and #GenocideJoe is his enabler. How does a world-class drug addict who’s done nothing and has no experience in the gas industry get a $ 50,000-a-month board seat at a corrupt Ukrainian gas company while his dad is Vice President? A board seat at Apple, the largest company in the world, pays its board members $30,000 a month. LOL
Crank up Maddow, so you can’t hear me! LOL
Yes, conditions have changed since Biden said he wouldn’t pardon his son: The justice system, which has already been largely discredited since it has become clear it wasn’t up to the challenge of successfully prosecuting an egregiously obvious and unrepentant lifelong criminal, is about to be delivered into that criminal’s hands—and he has already pledged to use it to punish his political foes, among whom the sitting president occupies a lead position.
The criticism that Biden’s decision to pardon his son in any way gives Trump “license to pardon anyone he wants” is patently absurd to anyone paying the slightest bit of attention. Since when did Trump feel he needs license to do anything he wants? The law and/or precedent have never prevented him from doing anything he wanted to do, no matter how directly his actions have run counter to the Constitution and just plain decency, if he had the power to do it. He has proven this fact too many times, in too many ways, to count. He is currently proving it on the grandest possible scale as he prepares to demolish and disgrace our country as he recasts the American system in his own image. I expect to feel no pity for those who put him in this position of power, enabling him to raze and pillage and discredit my country, as they suffer the effects of what he will be doing. I pity the rest of us, though, who will be the victims of the new reality those others have instituted. The upcoming years (and it will be more than four) will be punishment enough to everyone who put him in power, who also were raised to take our Constitutional freedoms for granted. For their efforts, they’ll be losing their freedom along with everyone else, and it will serve them right.
If I sound bitter, it’s because I am.
Thank you Sheila for so clearly stating the justification for Biden’s change of heart toward his son’s convictions / punishments. The Avenger in Chief has been quite clear about his choices to be the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Principle Executioner; so a change of defense tactics was clearly warranted.
Are a lot of people disappointed? Of course they are! In an ideal world they would even be justified. But when was the last time that we lived in an ideal world? Some time back about before Eve ate the apple is my opinion.