Trump Pardons Are Peak GOP
By: Mark C. Hackett
Tags: Republican Party, Society, Politics, Government, 2020

Trump’s Pardons Are Peak GOP

“The party of law and order” is a brutal myth

If there’s one thing we have learned the past four years, it’s that the modern Republican Party is often the exact opposite of what its leaders claim to be.

Lowering the deficit and national debt? Spend trillions on COVID-19 relief. Invest in our national infrastructure? We’re still waiting for infrastructure week. Responsible governance? Use national security briefings to adjust your investment strategy for personal self-enrichment. Claim you’re standing strong against a foreign regime? Refuse to help the victims of said regime:

Rampant Republican hypocrisy existed long before Donald Trump seized control over the party. The past four years have enhanced these absurdities, bringing into crisp focus the foggier parts of what the GOP has become.

Perhaps the most egregious example is the Republican Party constantly claiming they stand for “law and order.” 2020 especially showed us how untrue this is. As I’ve mentioned previously:

In a disastrous New York Times op-ed, Tom Cotton called for the military to be unleashed on mostly peaceful protesters. Mike Lee believes — wrongly — that a non-Republican majority will lead to tyranny, so democracy has to be bad and we can’t have one. Mitch McConnell refused to allow hundreds of bills passed by the House to even see the light of day on the Senate floor.

Calling for U.S. troops to commit mass atrocities against America citizens and refusing to allow laws to be put up for a vote is the exact of opposite of being pro law and order.

Over the past few days, Trump has taken this hypocrisy to its logical conclusion, issuing pardon after pardon to a wide array of people, including loyalists and U.S. military contractors who committed war crimes. All this does is further clarify what we already knew.

These pardons claim that corruption is fine, as long as you’re a Republican or worship Trump

Controversial pardons are nothing new, but the ones Trump is doling out are especially shameful. As the New York Times notes, over half of the pardons don’t even meet the Justice Department’s guidelines for consideration.

This is the GOP’s law and order hypocrisy taken to the extremes. People who broke laws that led to a meltdown in order are being given a pass. Outside of Trump following through on his own suggestion that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, it can’t get more outrageous than this.

A large majority of congressional Republicans were thrilled to stand by Trump’s attempts to steal the election. Now they are mostly silent as the power of the pardon is being used to further erode law and order.

Trump will soon be out of office, but it’s doubtful he will exit public life. He will still be around — hovering loudly in the background like a drunk wedding guest ruining the reception — reminding congressional Republicans that committing crimes and embracing corruption are just fine, as long as it’s to their benefit.

Set against the backdrop of our broader political landscape, this is one more sign that our country’s challenges are not centered around right versus left. They revolve around the very idea of democracy itself, and if we should remain one. That reality shows how far off the rails the GOP has gone.

All that’s left to do is roll up our sleeves and get to work against it.