Romney: Biden should have pardoned Trump
Gee Willikers, says Romney:
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, argued that President Joe Biden should have pardoned Donald Trump after the Justice Department brought indictments against the former president and pressured New York prosecutors not to pursue Trump’s ongoing hush money trial. …
“I think it’s a terrible fault for our country to see people attacking our legal system — that’s an enormous mistake. I think it’s also demeaning for people to quite apparently try and run for vice president by donning a red tie and standing outside the courthouse. It’s just — I’d have felt awkward.”
Fascinating. Note the strong word “attacking” – in “attacking our legal system.” Our legal system is an institution that people need to respect in order for it to function properly and to maintain civil order; that’s me writing; not a quote from Romney, but it’s what I think he’s trying to say. And it’s true.
But what Romney leaves out – and it’s not a detail but rather the heart of the matter – is that in order to be respected, the legal system or any other system must act in a way that earns that respect. And what’s happening now in that courtroom is a perversion of our legal system and an outrage.
As a lawyer, Romney should know that. Does he know that? Or is he saying this cynically, despite knowing it? Perhaps, but my guess is that he’s still living in a dreamworld in which if we all just acted with decorum then everything would be just fine and dandy and peachy keen. And Trump – terribly disrespectful and coarse, not Romney’s “type” at all – has upset everything. Romney is keen to show us that he, Romney, is very much a different type. A polite type.
Trump and those who support Trump make Romney feel awkward.
On the other hand, Romney says:
The Utah Republican argued that Biden should have pardoned Trump when the Justice Department announced charges against him and that the president “made an enormous error” by not pressuring New York prosecutors to drop their case against Trump. (Presidents can pardon only in federal cases.)
“He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward,” Romney said, referring to Biden. “It was a win-win for Donald Trump.”
The word “error” leaps out there. In a sense, it may have been an error on the part of Biden and company – but only because it may end up backfiring and causing a great deal of sympathy for Trump, especially among minority groups but also just in general. Oops! Not their intent. But otherwise it was no error, and in fact it was orchestrated by Biden and/or his aides and/or the Democrats as a whole, as were all the prosecutions. This was not Bragg acting on his own; the thought is ludicrous.
And yet you have to say that – at least so far – Romney is correct in the practical sense when he says that Biden “should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward … It was a win-win for Donald Trump.” It is also true in the moral sense that Biden should have prevented it, but neither Biden nor the left is operating morally, except that they think that anything is morally acceptable in order to stop Trump.
Romney added:
… [H]ad I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him. I’d have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy.
So Romney, when you voted to convict Trump after he’d been impeached on bogus charges, did you do it because you thought it made you the big guy or the little guy? My answer is “the little guy.” What’s yours?
The reason Biden and his people did not even consider pardoning Trump or telling Alvin Bragg to back off is because they think that the views expressed on Morning Joe or The View represent mainstream America, rather than the kook fringe. In their bubble, they actually think that all these things will make them more popular with the voters.
It’s either that or they have internal polling that suggests that immigration, inflation, men wearing sundresses, and pro-Hamas riots are actually not popular and they need a distraction, and that’s where Trump fits into the picture.
When will Mittens quit chasing that 15 minutes of fame?
“is that in order to be respected, the legal system or any other system must act in a way that earns that respect. ”
________
That, I am afraid, is Oldthink. The opposite is now true of virtually all our institutions. Why, from what you say, people would be justified in now distrusting the news media. And that would be treason.
I think it’s safe to take Romney at face value. He’s clueless.
Romney was too polite to say anything when Obama ordered the moderator, Candy Crowley, to “get the transcript” — which was pre-positioned at the podium. Romney was blind to the corruption unfolding before his eyes. Someone that naive should never have been a candidate for the Presidency. It’s a wonder he left the stage with his pants still on . . .
om…I think you already know the answer to your question.
Shortly after he’s having his dirt nap.
First, it should be a Capital Crime for humans to make laws.
Second, our Judicial System hasn’t been the ‘Bed of Roses’ claimed by the Republican party for .. for .. for decades+++. Ask the minorities.
Third, Trump and his MAGA mob may have gotten the Lawfare Ball rolling again with their 2016 ‘Lock her up’ chant rules Republican convention.
Yeah, Republicans have had more than their fair share of abusing the law – dating back to at least McCarthyism.
Are the Democrats abusing the law with their nonstop Lawfare against Trump – you’re ‘Darn Tootin’ they are!
Everyone abuses the law – jaywalkers, automobile speeders, tax cheats, etc. I’ll never understand why speeding in one’s automobile isn’t a Capital Crime!?
Jaywalking & protest blocking of traffic should have minimum sentences of 10-years in prison.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah…Jeez. Another disastrous Republican presidential candidate, after the John Sidney McCain III disaster!?!
Want to live under the Rule of Law? Then bet & expect it to be abused…
Romney is a ridiculous figure who is completely out of touch with his party, that is to say, the party of Trump. He comes off as disconnected from the reality of life in the USA. He seems to see things as he wishes they were not as they are. Naive, CapnRusty, is exactly the right description.
Because hillary committed numerous criminal offenses for one but the powers that be donr care how many lives are compromised say with the iranian asset amiri
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/cohen-destroyed-trump-lawyers-dog-walk-star-witness-through-lie-after-lie-cnn-pundits
Sgt.+Joe+Friday: I think you are right.
CapnRusty: Well said, I just saw that clip recently. Oh and LOL re his pants.
Karmi: See https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent-ebook/dp/B00505UZ4G/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
DisGuested
Thanks for Tip!
First, Romney has to understand who is making the decisions in the White House- it isn’t Joe Biden. Biden would have pardoned Trump if told to do so and would have pressured the state D.A.s if told to by whoever is actually in charge.
Would a non-demented Biden have chosen to do so? I don’t know. Were I in Biden’s position, I would have ordered the Attorney General to not pursue the federal cases even if I hated Donald Trump, and I would have told the county D.A.s that they should not pursue these cases and if they did, I would publicly criticize them at every opportunity. Of course, I am not a politician trying to win re-election.
Despite his shortcomings, which are legion, Romney would have made a better POTUS than the senile idiot nominally occupying the White House now, busily ruining the USA along with his Democratic counselors. Giving Iran access to billions?
President Biden can not pardon Trump, even if he wanted to. The New York case and the Georgia case are state crimes, and a President can not pardon state crimes; you’d have to petition the governors to do that.
I think the only reason that Mittens is now coming out against the Great Persecution, is because it is backfiring and Trump is, once again, seemingly going to walk away from the scrap unscathed. His regret is not that the trust in the Institution of Justice has been damaged, nor that the Office of the Presidency has been tarnished. He regrets the action because it has benefited Trump, in the end.
Just like the criminal’s honest expression of regret in front of the judge: He doesn’t regret the crime, but regrets getting caught – and is hoping nobody will notice the distinction.
@Karmi said: “Yeah, Republicans have had more than their fair share of abusing the law – dating back to at least McCarthyism. “
What most people fail to understand is that the House UnAmerican Activies Commmission – HUAC – was chaired and run by Democrats, not Republicans. McCarthy, an alcoholic desperate for re-election, was put in front of the cameras for entirely cynical reasons – which is not to excuse his own loathsome, cynical crusade.
it was founded under Martin Dies a Texas Democrat, I think the subsequent chairman, from New Jersey? did go to prison for unrelated crimes, I think he was interned in some of the same facilities as some of the Hollywood 10,
as per the Dem’s Demonology, unraveled by Stanton Evans, McCarthy did address some of the details of a Senate investigation into General Marshall’s
tenure during the wars, which were less impressive than originally suggested,
just as with General Stilwells behavior noted in that Pruzansky link I included yesterday re the restraints they had put on the Chiang regime, this goes along with Harry Dexter White, who pushed to withhold a loan to that regime
Consequently the ‘Evil China Lobby’ that didn’t have its pom poms out for Mao,
hence was ill favor by the press, and General Wedemeyer who was Stilwell’s underlings and a host of other congressman, who just wrankled because they were icky missionaries some weren’t even lawyers, you get that notion from Isaacson’s Wise Man, a love
letter to the Eastern Establishment,
Nixon’s crime was revealing their golden boy Hiss, among his other efforts was heading the UN delegation, was a Soviet Spy, who fooled the likes of Dean Acheson who vouched for him, because like the Cambridge Spies they were clubbable men, like Malley, and Blinken and the like, one is directly an Iranian/Qatari agent the others play one on TV
of course Halberstam had the story entirely wrong, along with most members of the journalistic community, with the exception of
Margaret Higgins, and Stew Alsop for instance
who comes in for withering disdain in his work
So Romney voted for some of the worst appointees, Mayorkas, Garland, and Austin, and their deputies, like Monaco and Clarke,
so his discernment is just terrible, even now he can’t get a clue if they handed it to him on a silver platter,
I agree with Aggie- had the persecutions successfully degraded Trump’s electability, Romney would have kept his piehole shut, or would have been praising the persecutions. Romney is a weathervane.
across the pond and in the Norse Sea
https://thenationalpulse.com/2024/05/16/cops-raid-right-wing-politicians-premises/?feed_id=5277&_unique_id=66467a8800f56
the only real crime is to defend his country against the Al Hijra the invasion by immigration and the transformation of the country by that process, as well as indoctrination, AfD is also the most pro Israel party, since the Christian Democrats seem to have gone silent, but you must fortify democracy, even if the patient dies,
more accurately so the patient dies
I imagine to Romney who is the same age as Trump, much appear like the Caricature of Salieri’s view of Mozart, a childish amateur
who by rights hold title that the former should possess, a similar thing must have stuck in Mccain’s piety, even though he engaged in corrupt acts, he had mouthed the proper prog encantation, McCain Feingold, and yet he was left at the altar, for the people time and again, this is reasonable conjecture on my part, with the Jones Memo and his subsequent behaviors toward Obama and Trump
An actual, properly contextualized pardon, in Texas: https://therightscoop.com/breaking-governor-abbott-pardons-daniel-perry-for-self-defense-killing-of-blm-activist/
Well done, Gov. Abbott.
Certainly. Trump was condemned because his audience wanted to lock up Hillary Clinton for destroying evidence. Trump didn’t do that. Now Hillary is brazenly selling “What about her emails ?” t-shirts and celebrating the effort to lock up Trump.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, argued that President Joe Biden should have pardoned Donald Trump after the Justice Department brought indictments against the former president and pressured New York prosecutors not to pursue Trump’s ongoing hush money trial.
That is hard to unravel. I gather it’s not Romney or the Justice Department who’s pressuring the prosecutors. Rather, it’s something that Romney now thinks Biden should have done, but didn’t. It took me a while to figure that out. Journalism isn’t what it used to be.
And what kind of “pressure” could Romney realistically bring to bear on Bragg? I gather that’s what journalists now say when they don’t like somebody’s suggestion. It’s never pressure when someone they support does it.
You’re welcome Karmi
miguel+cervantes: Pierre Delecto’s discernment is terrible. Agree “even now he can’t get a clue if they handed it to him on a silver platter,” Nicely done.
Abraxas: Hillary should be locked up for that server she installed in her home to avoid subpoenas. She is a criminal. I saw an email at wikileaks or something which evidenced that her foot soldier Sidney Blumenthal created the whole Benghazi was because of a movie thing. They emailed each other about it before the stooge did shows repeating that canard.
“… The New York case and the Georgia case are state crimes, and a President can not pardon state crimes; you’d have to petition the governors to do that.”
How much you wanna bet that these prosecutions are being run, stage managed, orchestrated and choreographed by the “White House” (with the appropriate raucus support provided—free of charge, of course—by the corrupt media)?
New Presidents who have just been elected are often dismayed to find the job has far less power and far more responsibility than it appears. No President can call up the various state DAs and say “Yeah, you know the guy who’s running against me? Throw every charge at him you can get.” That would violate the separation of powers, which would be an impeachable offense.
The House GOP has been desperate to impeach President Biden since day one. If even the slightest bit of evidence could confirm that the White House was behind the indictments in Georgia and New York, then the GOP would be on it like “a duck on a June bug”.
“That would violate the separation of powers, which would be an impeachable offense.”
Well, um, OK…but I’ll raise ya’
“Joe Biden Invokes Executive Privilege Over Special Counsel Recordings”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-invokes-executive-privilege-over-special-counsel-recordings
Key excuse:
(By the way, he said that with a straight face…but then he would, wouldn’t he…)
File under: Just a small, itty-bitty, teensy-weensy taste of things to come…with Canada not far behind—actually, Canada may even be the leading edge!
Even if Biden had the power and the will to “pardon” Trump (Biden doesn’t in the Bragg case) the “pardon” would have tainted Trump as a still a guilty criminal who we shouldn’t vote for. Interesting to see if Biden tries that for Trump’s two federal cases.
Can Trump refuse a presidential pardon?
The prosecutions of Trump are as Talleyrand said of Napoleon’s execution of a German prince: “It is worst than a crime, it is a mistake.”
What better place than a post on utter nonsense to link to an excellent—even formidable—and relatively brief article of utmost seriousness on a major reason why collectivism cannot work unless certain conditions are met; on the necessity of decent leadership; AND that the Pursuit of Happiness—if within the limits of law and religion, or “enlightened self-denial”(?)— may in fact be the most effective and efficient organizing social principle…?
“The Unheavenly Farm;
“Before turning his insights to urban difficulties, Edward Banfield wrote an important but forgotten book—now republished—on the enduring difficulties of cooperation.”—
https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-unheavenly-farm
H/T Powerline blog.
“Romney said, referring to Biden. ‘It was a win-win for Donald Trump.'”
And that there’s the money quote. Romney doesn’t give two hoots about the reputation or viability of the legal system. He hates Trump and cares only about the fact that these cases help him more than hurt him.
If the opposite were true, he’d be cheerleading the trials from the front seats.
Karmi @5:45 pm,
You remember the “lock her up” chants at Trump rallies, but you forgot the “they’re good people” line that Trump himself voiced when he explained his refusal to pressure the DOJ to prosecute her.
I don’t know, maybe both sides do it, but it seems like one side is eager to project the faults of a small percentage of their opponents supporters onto the opponent. J6 anyone?
need I remind anyone that they needed to replace lynch as atty general, and then put in a replacement for sally yates who pushed the whole fraud against General Flynn, thank you Mike Pence for playing, they set the trip wires about three levels down, at DOJ FBI and CIA, Brennan promoted coffee fetcher ned price as I dubbed him noodlehead ned, to intelligence operative, Comey McCabe, Strzok, Lynch Yates Laufman, Mccord and thats who I can conjure up at short notice
then they sprung the silly memo, from Comey, that triggered the Mueller investigation, all of this is context to the story,
just as they prevented General Flynn from doing a proper assessment of the corrupt intel bureaucracy, because of some bogus charge, Ambassador Kislyak was in on this operation, as he had collaborated with a dozen democrats including Air Claire for the poison challce that was the Iran deak
Hey, lay off Romney, it’s a heavy burden to be as smart as he is, it shows!!
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