18 Comments
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Johan's avatar

Ed Martin isn’t just a buffoon, he’s the perfect symbol of how this administration weaponizes incompetence.

The pardon power was meant to temper justice with mercy, but under Trump it’s been twisted into a tool of retribution and loyalty tests. Martin’s willingness to float blatantly unconstitutional ideas (pardons for state crimes, reversing prior pardons) shows the contempt for law and the embrace of raw power.

I’ve been writing about this exact behavioral farce: when justice is no longer about fairness or repair, but about rewarding cronies and punishing enemies, you don’t get mercy, you get corruption dressed up as authority. That’s the real story here.

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Steve's avatar

Do you think that presidential pardons and commutations should be rescinded from the constitution?

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Johan's avatar

Yes…

Presidential pardons were meant to temper justice with mercy, but in practice they’ve become a weapon of retribution and corruption.

When a president can erase accountability for cronies, donors, or violent loyalists, the pardon power stops being about mercy and starts being about control.

If the Constitution protects that abuse, then it protects impunity.

Maybe the real question isn’t whether pardons should be rescinded, but whether we can afford to keep a tool that’s been twisted so far from its original purpose.

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Steve's avatar

Have you ever seen a presidential pardon used properly?

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Steve's avatar

I concur.

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Marycat2021's avatar

No. The original purpose of pardons should be adhered to, and repealing a piece of constitutional law in an attempt to stop a destructive president is contrary to the rule of law. If you want to stop these abuses, get rid of Trump, not the laws.

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Steve's avatar

What shall happen, when another Trump-like president comes along?

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Lisa Nystrom's avatar

I am sick and tired of people thinking just because they utter the words, they are automatically true. Trump can’t effing read… He has NEVER read the U.S. Constitution. If he did, he didn’t understand a fricking word of it… Jeezus, people… Great post! Thanks, Lisa!

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Marycat2021's avatar

The incompetence is the point. Trump has filled his regime with idiots because they are loyal and will support him no matter what he does.

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kdsherpa's avatar

Also, eddie clearly never had a History class in college. If he did, he would know that The King wouldn't just fire him if he got sick of eddie. No, The King would yell, "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!"

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Michael Wild's avatar

My God. I'm an Australian with zero legal training and know perfectly well that US Presidents can't pardon state crimes - though I plead ignorance of what are state or federal crimes. Ed Martin's either breath takingly incompetent or so utterly debased he's prepared to make himself look a complete fool to curry favour with Trump. This administration is absolutely stacked full of clowns, with the tone, of course, set right at the top. Though given its malevolence and corruption saying they're a bunch of clowns is erring on the side of kindness.

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Kathleen M Kendrick's avatar

Great post! This administration is so thoroughly incompetent, dishonest, corrupt, and criminal. Ed Martin is a great example. I hope we make it out of this hellhole!

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Marycat2021's avatar

Of course, whenever Trump finds himself being questioned about a questionable act, he says "I know nothing about it" or "I don't know that person" or simply, "Who?"

Of course, the separation of powers is melting away, and I would not be surprised if these morons try to make it possible for Trump to pardon people for state crimes.

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kdsherpa's avatar

"though none of the people on that list have any federal charges pending," I didn't know that!!! How marvelous! I'm surprised this hasn't been reported. (No. I'm not surprised. We are talking about the corporate media, the tool of the Orange Pedophilic Sadist.)

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David J. Sharp's avatar

All these pardons Trump is unaware of: Is Martin skimming from the transactional Trump slush fund?

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Sarcastic Mr. Know It All's avatar

Apparently, history-buff Ed missed class the day the subject of the Magna Carta and its influence on the drafters of the Constitution was discussed.

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Eva Seifert's avatar

Ed: "What's a maga carter? Something the peanut farmer ate?"

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Patricia Jaeger's avatar

"But in this administration, regrettably, Martin makes perfect sense." I live in St Louis County (Blue dot) in the Red state of MO. MO gave Congress Ed Martin, Josh Hawley (I can pretend to be moderate because I want to be President) and Eric Schmitt (blood and soil). Obviously, we haven't been sending our best.

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