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The White House spent February 17 cleaning up, or at least trying to out-shout, the latest round of alarm over President Trump’s public eagerness to talk pardons around allies and old associates. The problem was not merely optics. It was that the administration kept treating clemency as a loyalty reward, which deepened the sense that the pardon power was being folded into a political protection racket.
Why it matters: Pardon stink
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The White House spent February 17 cleaning up, or at least trying to out-shout, the latest round of alarm over President Trump’s public eagerness to talk pardons around allies and old associates. The problem was not merely optics. It was that the administration kept treating clemency as a loyalty reward, which deepened the sense that the pardon power was being folded into a political protection racket.
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The White House spent February 17 cleaning up, or at least trying to out-shout, the latest round of alarm over President Trump’s public eagerness to talk pardons around allies and old associates. The problem was not merely optics. It was that the administration kept treating clemency as a loyalty reward, which deepened the sense that the pardon power was being folded into a political protection racket.
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