Biden Contemplates "Preemptive Pardons"
America is now closely resembling the weird world of Joseph Heller's 1961 novel Catch-22.
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.
-Joseph Heller, Catch-22.
It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22
The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them.
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22
Biden has made no decision on the preemptive pardons, the people familiar with the matter said, but the staffers are working to be prepared in case the president decides in favor of issuing them. …
The notion of sweeping preemptive pardons for offenses that have not yet been charged, and may never be, is largely untested. But most scholars agree the Constitution gives a president broad pardon powers that would be difficult to challenge legally.
Presidents generally issue pardons for specific crimes of which the defendant has already been found guilty. Biden’s recent pardon of his son was criticized in part because it was so sweeping, covering any federal crime Hunter Biden might have committed from 2014 to 2024, whether the offense is currently known or not.
—“White House weighs preemptive pardons for potential Trump targets,” Washington Post, Dec. 5, 2024
I believe I now understand that spirit that Joseph Heller expressed in his famous 1961 novel, Catch-22. Set on the Italian island of Pianosa in 1944, the novel tells the story of Captain John Yossarian, a bombardier in the Army Army Air Forces who cannot escape the impression that everyone around him and possibly everyone in the world has lost their minds.
For some time, the Biden Administration has reminded me of the weird world of Catch-22. The news that President Biden may be contemplating “preemptive pardons” of guys who have never been charged with crimes struck as a scenario straight out of the novel. I can imagine Joseph Heller having great fun with such a scenario. As he might have put it:
President Biden was concerned that Dr. Fauci could be prosecuted for crimes he didn’t commit, so he preemptively pardoned the good doctor for committing these crimes, even though he didn’t commit them.
“I know you didn’t commit the crimes that the incoming President Trump may accuse you of committing,” President Biden told Dr. Fauci. “To prevent you from being accused, I am going to pardon you for your commission of these crimes, even though you didn’t commit them.”
“Thank you, Mr. President,” Dr. Fauci replied.
“My only question for you is,” President Biden continued, “when didn’t you commit these crimes?”
“Are you asking me when I didn’t commit the crimes”? Fauci replied.
“Yes, when didn’t you commit them?”
“There was never a time when I did commit them, so I suppose I didn’t commit them during all of the time I’ve been alive,” Fauci explained.
“In that case, I will extend my pardon to include the span of your entire life when you didn’t commit these crimes for which I am pardoning you, even though you didn’t commit them.”
“Thank you, Mr. President, I appreciate you clemency,” Dr. Fauci said with an expression of real gratitude.
If Biden and whoever else is considering preemptive pardons it speaks loudly of guilt!
My only question is: If we can prove the 2020 election was stolen, does that make everything this President and his Administration do and have done null and void, not legally valid? For instance, Katanji Brown, could we replace her?
“President Biden has just locked in a ‘work from home deal’ for over 42k Federal workers, which prevent Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy from ordering them to come to the office for work five times a week.” (Wall Street Apes). Is this legally valid?
They’re all scrambling around like a bunch of roaches trying to get all their dirty deals done before P45 gets into office. O’Biden basically trashed all of P45’s E.O.s as soon as he got into office. Can we put a stop to this, especially if it’s something that benefits the American people? Why do we have to fight them tooth and nail for everything that’s best for us?
Why are they allowed to stand there like Chuck Schumer when the press asks a question and say, “I got nothing for you.” Don’t they work for us? Is that an acceptable answer? Why are they always running away from us rather than running towards us? Why is there no transparency or accountability for absolutely nothing?
Does anyone actually believe that anyone should be pardoned for something they haven’t even been tried for in a court of law? Does anyone think Hunter is actually going to get away with all of the crimes he’s committed? Steve Bannon was pardoned by P45 for the “Build the Wall” situation, and Alvin Bragg turned around and went after him for the same thing. Could that happen to Hunter? I don’t know. Is he going to pardon Pelosi’s son, Kerry’s stepson for Burisma? He pardoned Hunter for Burisma.
I just hope Americans are seeing what’s happening, and I hope they finally realize that they don’t, for the most part, care about what’s best for us. Have you ever seen anything like it? It’s like we don’t exist. Why would anyone be opposed to confirming RFK. Jr.? Why would they fight so hard to keep us from being healthy? How would we feel if he pardoned Liz Cheney or Dr. Fauci? I think my head would explode.
I’m getting tired, so I hope I’m making sense. I just have a lot of questions and no answers. I’m very tired of this game they call “politics.” I think we all are.