New Orleans       One news report indicates that President-elect Trump is trying to make a deal with Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis that he might be appointed Secretary of Defense, and while I’m at it, how about appointing Laura Trump as Florida’s Senator when Marc Rubio steps down from that position to become Secretary of State.  Now, that’s a bold move with big-time consequences, while reminding the country that for Trump, government has just become another family business, just like it was the last term.  If memory still serves, this was the standard operating procedure of the first Trump term and the interregnum in between, so the playbook is fixed and well-known.

I mention this while noting the widespread editorial and op-ed umbrage expressed at President Biden’s announced pardon of his son, Hunter.  Biden argued that he had been targeted unfairly based on politics.  He didn’t say he was a bonehead for bringing a gun on a plane, but that’s just common knowledge, just as it can’t be denied that all of the Republican sound and fury over Hunter has been overblown and totally partisan.  The editorialists and pundits don’t like the optics, but, friends, as you and I, and definitely Trump, understands, this is how power works.  Biden would be less the president that I think he has been, if he didn’t understand fully after a career in politics, that you either use or lose it, and now is his last shot.  He hasn’t enriched himself or his family while in office, but that doesn’t mean he should hang them out to dry, when he has the power to fix the problem.  The facts of his legacy are now well established.  He can handle a crimp on the edge of the page.

Presidential pardons always stir up a flutter of handkerchiefs raised to delicate faces.  Most pardons seem bought and sold by the rich and their handlers and influence peddlers.  Others seem performative and designed to make or express a political, cultural, or historic remedy or position.  Why not let one loose for the home team?

I’ll up my ante on this pardon play.  Supposedly, some people in the White House are advocating that Biden issue blanket pardons for the long list of people that Trump and his team have indicated that they will target.  Sure, even if he takes this kind of prophylactic action, the list of Trump’s grievances and enemies is countless, so he’ll miss some.  Regardless, this is a good idea.  Why should all of us have to live through the next year as some kind of revenge movie and get even exercise?

I’m also for blanket pardons that clear the jails out of folks still doing time for a tote here or there or clipping a sawbuck or something that added up to three strikes.  Let’s have some justice and make some people, their families, and their communities happy.  Why just pardon turkeys, when this ridiculous, but merciful, piece of power is still in good hands?

President Biden didn’t want to spend his retirement visiting some prison to see his son.  I totally understand that.  Leaving his family broken and grieving wasn’t going to make him some new friends at the Wall Street Journal or on Fox News. He had the power, and he used it.  I don’t have a beef with that, but since he’s taken this little step, now, I want him to go hard and go large and spread some mercy and justice around even farther.