- Donald Trump has pardoned 24 convicts, including Rod Blagojevich and Edward DeBartolo Jr.
- Trump’s latest pardons once again reveal a bias towards celebrity.
- His preference for celebrities or celebrity-linked convicts seems to imply that ordinary people don’t deserve forgiveness.
Donald Trump is a forgiving man – at least if you can persuade a celebrity to beg him to forgive you. As yesterday’s pardons of Rod Blagojevich, Edward DeBartolo Jr., and nine other convicts show, you can get away with anything so long as you have someone famous in your corner. And it’s not only yesterday’s pardons. If nothing else, his attitude toward his clemency power proves that rather than “draining the swamp” of corruption, Trump is filling it to a tipping point.
Donald Trump Pardons Rod Blagojevich & Edward DeBartolo Jr
(Fresh from his impeachment acquittal , Donald Trump pardoned or commuted the prison sentences of 31 high-profile convicts yesterday.
He commuted the sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat who served eight years of a 49 – year sentence for extortion. Tellingly, Blagojevich had appeared on the Celebrity Apprentice in
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Naturally, this isn’t the first time Donald Trump has pardoned a criminal for receiving the seal of approval from a celebrity.
In , Trump commuted the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson , a woman the Justice Department claims was involved in a drug cartel. Such details aren’t important
That same year, Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Jack Johnson, a victim of the Jim Crow era . Dead since 2014, Johnson had taken a woman across state lines for “immoral purposes,” Thus violating the controversial Mann Act.
A spurious charge, no doubt, but what sets Johnson apart from everyone else convicted under the Mann Act was that he had Sylvester Stallone and other celebrities “in his corner.”
This is what “ (American author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist
Of course, this is all irrelevant to Trump, particularly when celebrity and anti-Obama politics are involved.
The moral of this story is that, in America, being “famous” and “successful” is perhaps the greatest virtue of all. So great that it can cancel out otherwise immoral or criminal behavior.
(Not) being famous or successful – or having links to fame or success – is itself its own kind of crime.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
This article was edited by Josiah Wilmoth
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