I love the United States of America. I have gone there many times. I have met many Americans that I like and respect. So it is very hard for me to say this. Is it time to give up on America?
What has shaken me is the realization that after 4 years of seeing Trump in the media every single day, no one in America can say they did not know him. No one can say Trump fooled them. Not after 4 years of hearing and seeing him on the television every single day. He is probably the most famous person in the history of the world!
In 2020, no one can say that they voted for Trump because they could not abide voting for that corrupt Hillary Clinton. This time a majority of Americans chose Biden over Trump, but just by a relative sliver. In fact, I strongly suspect that had it not been for the coronavirus more people would have voted for Trump than Biden. In fact more white people voted for Trump than Biden. That is also something very difficult for me to comprehend. More on that later.
Today I just want to talk about corruption. I do this listening to the news and hearing that multiple people have been asking Trump for pardons. Most of these are his cronies! I have never heard of that before. I have always thought the American system of granting pardons was itself open to corruption, but Trump seems to be taking it to an entirely new level. We will have to see before we judge.
But consider what he has already done. He has pardoned his former Cabinet Minister Michael Flynn even though he pled guilty. And remember Flynn was charged with lying to the FBI to protect Donald Trump!
But, even worse, was the case of Trump’s old crony Roger Stone who kept his mouth shut and did not rat out Donald Trump. In July of 2020 Trump commuted the sentence of Mr. Roger Stone who had been convicted of obstructing a federal investigation into Donald Trump! At the time Stone was convicted Trump praised him for not talking, comparing him favourably to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, hinting that Stone would eventually get some help. At the time Trump sounded just like a Mafia Don.
And Trump eventually helped his close friend. Stone was not pardoned, but his sentence was commuted. That meant Stone was released from jail or prison, for no reason other than the fact that Donald Trump was grateful. This caused Republican Senator Mitt Romney to say, the commutation was an act of “unprecedented, historic corruption.”
Now there appears to be a caravan of people looking for pardons. I have never heard of a president pardoning friends, relatives, or associates. Is this not absolutely corrupt?
The real point of course is not that Trump is corrupt. That surprises no. The real point is that more than 73 million people voted for Trump over Biden after he did that. Millions of Americans don’t care how corrupt their President is. I find that shocking. I guess I am just a Pollyanna.