Today in truly terrible opinions, Michael Conway wrote an op-ed where he argued the case for President-elect Joe Biden to pardon President-for now Donald Trump of his host of crimes against the country. Conway, who was former counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee during Nixon’s 1974 impeachment inquiry and a republican who supported Trump in 2016, argued that “American democracy cannot tolerate the prosecution of political opponents.” He also wrote that the pardon would be an olive branch to the 73 million Americans who voted to re-elect Trump.
Oh, you mean the same Americans who chanted “lock her up!” at every mention of Hillary Clinton for the past 5 years? The same Americans who refuse to accept the results of a free and fair election? The very Americans who are protesting in the streets, who are so laden with privilege that wearing a piece of cloth on their face is somehow a form of oppression?
Yeah, I don’t think so. Donald Trump is the most corrupt, most criminal president in our country’s history, and he’s done nothing but enrich himself and his family throughout his presidency. And currently, while COVID-19 infections skyrocket over 250K Americans are dead, he has completely abdicated his responsibility and is playing golf.
Conway even admits that he doesn’t think Trump deserves it, writing “His pardon could not be justified based on his innocence or his contrition because Trump is not contrite; to the contrary, he is currently endangering our democratic processes by relentlessly undermining the legitimacy of Biden’s election and thwarting a peaceful transition.”
Conway’s argument is that a federal pardon does not absolve Trump of any state charges. He writes, “Accepting a federal pardon — especially a pardon for crimes violating both federal and state laws — would be a double-edged sword for the president. And whatever the result of any state investigation or prosecution, it could not be laid at Biden’s doorstep. It would not be his appointees investigating the former president, his recent political adversary; it would not be his employees prosecuting him. In fact, a pardon from Biden would mean that they could not.”
Conway is giving Trump supporters WAY too much credit, as if your average MAGAt would look at state charges against Trump and think, “ah, but this isn’t Biden’s doing, it’s a state matter. I surely won’t hold this against Joe Biden.” These people can’t even name the three branches of government. You think they’ll be applying a nuanced and critical lens to anything Biden says or does?
As if Aunt Linda, a Facebook COVID truther will take the time to parse out the differences between state and federal cases while sorting through her favorite Soros memes? These people are unreachable, and incapable of facing reality. The rest of us (aka the majority that elected Joe Biden) shouldn’t have to cater to their unhinged fantasies.
There’s so much wrong in Conway’s screed, and folks on Twitter quickly called him out for his absurd suggestions:
The author of this article is Michael Conway, who is a Republican, who was a Trump nominee & endorsed Republican Donald Trump for president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election Conaway voted against extending the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This is who wrote this article!
— Sensia (@Sensiablue) November 22, 2020
Does Michael Conway think the Nuremberg Trials were a mistake because they served to divide post-war Germany? https://t.co/e1PNQci9yG
— Stuart Apploff (@thinman_2001) November 22, 2020
Dear Michael Conway:
The biggest mistake the North made after the Civil War was to ease off the traitors who’d tried to destroy the Union, letting them implement Jim Crow & other evil institutions.
Trump is a direct result.
Pardoning traitors & autocrats=big mistake@JoeBiden https://t.co/jtRy4hDJ2f
— Pièce de Résistance (@PieceDeReSister) November 22, 2020
Michael Conway: we have been here before with Nixon.
And that's why we're here again.
If Gerry Ford had done the right thing and prosecuted Nixon for his many crimes, then Trump might not have repeated them all and examined massively upon them.
Foolish.#SundayMorning#AMJoy
— Grant Stern (@grantstern) November 22, 2020
Please ignore Michael Conway as his brains have turned into porridge.
More than 250k Americans are dead from COVID because Donald cared more about re-election. He does not deserve to be pardoned. #LockHimUp https://t.co/rum6HVHWn1
— Kimberley Johnson (@AuthorKimberley) November 22, 2020
Sorry Michael Conway, but you must be completely untethered from reality if you think Trump and his cronies should be pardoned. No one is above the law, no matter how rich or self-serving.
(via NBC News, featured image: Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
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Published: Nov 22, 2020 01:18 pm