Hunter Biden's pardon shows rulebook being rewritten

[Nearly Sane]

Perhaps Joe just forgot what he'd said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gplr65prno

[Dicky Underpants]

Perhaps Joe just forgot what he'd said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gplr65prno

Perhaps a bit of hypocrisy on Joe's part, but nothing compared to Trumpy boy's (predictable) immediate comments.  He's certainly going to wipe his own slate clean.

[Nearly Sane]

Perhaps a bit of hypocrisy on Joe's part, but nothing compared to Trumpy boy's (predictable) immediate comments.  He's certainly going to wipe his own slate clean.

It's not just hypocrisy, it's lying and out and out corruption. The tendency of those on the centre left to excuse this sort of stuff as not as bad as insert right wing politician here, is in part why Trump and others flourish.

[Outrider]

It's not just hypocrisy, it's lying and out and out corruption. The tendency of those on the centre left to excuse this sort of stuff as not as bad as insert right wing politician here, is in part why Trump and others flourish.

In isolation it's corruption - when you look at the way Hunter Biden's entirely typical plea deal was revoked, the unnecessary level of the charges levelled in comparison to other people in similar situations and the harsh sentencing handed down given the circumstances, it's better described as a mitigation of harsh treatment.

It will be picked at in isolation, of course, particularly by the US right-wing media outlets, but when it's happening at the same time as Trump appointing someone to be an ambassador (I think to France or Spain) who he pardoned for worse crimes when he was in office, it just shows what a shitshow the whole thing has become over there.

O.

[Nearly Sane]

In isolation it's corruption - when you look at the way Hunter Biden's entirely typical plea deal was revoked, the unnecessary level of the charges levelled in comparison to other people in similar situations and the harsh sentencing handed down given the circumstances, it's better described as a mitigation of harsh treatment.

It will be picked at in isolation, of course, particularly by the US right-wing media outlets, but when it's happening at the same time as Trump appointing someone to be an ambassador (I think to France or Spain) who he pardoned for worse crimes when he was in office, it just shows what a shitshow the whole thing has become over there.

O.

Whataboutery doesn't change this from being nepotism corruption, or change that Biden lied about it.

[Outrider]

Whataboutery doesn't change this from being nepotism corruption

Arguable, but I do see the case to be made, there.

or change that Biden lied about it.

Did he lie, or did he change his mind? We'll possibly never know.

O.

[Dicky Underpants]

Whataboutery doesn't change this from being nepotism corruption, or change that Biden lied about it.

Viewed from our emotionally detached side of the Atlantic, perhaps. But I can understand Biden thinking "Look at the crimes that bloated orange bastard is going to get away with, purely because he rigged the whole system in his favour when he was president before, and is doing his best to set up a bunch of incompetent bozos in power when he takes office again, so that he can acquit himself with impunity" (I'd say some of his prospective female appointees are there just because they fulfil his idea of sexual attractiveness, and he is deluded enough to think he might bed a few of them).
The guilty party in this case is Biden's own son, and he has certainly lowered his moral standards because of that.
I wonder, if he had let the case continue to its inevitable outcome, whether he might have gained greater respect from a number of Republican voters?

[Aruntraveller]

The obvious solution to this is to get away from the notion of pardoning convicted criminals, unless mitigating evidence comes to light, and even then it should not lie within the purview of the President.

PS I do realise this will not happen.

[Nearly Sane]

The obvious solution to this is to get away from the notion of pardoning convicted criminals, unless mitigating evidence comes to light, and even then it should not lie within the purview of the President.

PS I do realise this will not happen.

Indeed, and the corruption is not new, Clinton pardoned his half brother

[Nearly Sane]

I fear that the approach that it's somehow justified just feeds into the narrative that Trump ran with that the cases against him were political, and the manoeuvrings of the 'deep state'. Just as many supporting Starmer tried to write off his corrupt acceptance of gifts as not as bad as Boris, it means people think 'they are all at it'. This plays into the hands of those who portray it as a corrupt system, because no matter how objectionable you may find them, they are correct on that.