President Trump has issued another pardon:
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order granting a full pardon to former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. related to a decades-old corruption charge, the White House said Tuesday.
DeBartolo, who presided over one of the greatest dynasties in football, pleaded guilty to failing to report a felony when he paid former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards $400,000 to help secure a casino license. DeBartolo had to pay a $1 million fine and was given two years probation in return for his testimony against Edwards, a Democrat. [NBC News]
There are some opinions out there on this. Steve Benen, for instance, notes that a big name said something nice about Trump:
But let’s not overlook the fact that the White House announced the presidential pardon this morning at an event with several NFL legends — including Jerry Rice, Jim Brown, Ronnie Lott, and Charles Haley — in attendance.
In fact, Jerry Rice, the Hall of Fame receiver, told reporters, “I take my hat off to Donald Trump for what he did,” referring to the DeBartolo pardon.
And if I had to guess, that was the principal reason this happened. Trump seems pleased when celebrities say nice things about him, and no one should be surprised when images and quotes from this morning’s event show up in the president’s re-election campaign advertising.
I wonder if Rice will get a nice present in his Christmas stocking – or if he’s so beholden to DeBartolo that he had to say that.
A few others were also pardoned: Blagojevich, imprisoned for corruption, Kerik for corruption. Kevin Drum admits to bewilderment and a bit of anger:
I have no special opinion about whether any of these people deserve a pardon—though Kerik sure as hell seems an unlikely choice. What I do object to is the random pardoning of well-known people who happen to catch Trump’s eye. There are lots and lots of ordinary schlubs who deserve a pardon every bit as much as these more famous folks, but they’ll never get one.
But it’s worth noting a minor note of concordance: bribery. What did President Trump implicitly endorse a few weeks back? Bribery. International bribery.
Listen, conservative readers. Presumably, you’re for the free market. If you approve of Trump, what are you thinking? He doesn’t like the free market, it should be obvious, it’s hurt him too many times. Right now, he’s endorsing crony capitalism of the worst sort: if you’ve got the cash, then, hey, go ahead and bribe that official. Maybe it’ll be the Big T himself, eh?
Better that than some honest competition, yeah? Oh, too bad if you’re a competitor who doesn’t have as deep of pockets.
So that’s what these pardons are really all about – an concerted effort to begin defining corruption out of existence – at least, if the person engaged in the behavior is a conservative.
