Updates
December 3, 2024:
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Archived Before December 3, 2024
Bottom line: this will not age well.
Hunter will fade into the background, never to be heard from again, a mere footnote in a Biden biography. But this is Biden's legacy, sandwiched between two Trump presidencies who got out of the race too late when he said he would be a transition president and pardoned his son after denying he would for four years. And worse, it opens the door for Trump pardons. And unlike Biden, Trump won't wait for the end of his term to start issuing his pardons. Again, I'm not saying this was not the fatherly thing to do; I'm just saying that it won't age well. It again raises an interesting question: does "doing a moral thing," make it right. Wow.
Bottom line, jumping the shark: at the end of the day, the right thing for a "true / real" father would do (think Jesus) but it will have long-lasting consequences:
- it will be Biden's lasting legacy; and,
- it opens the door to Trump pardons.
Worse, Biden, like Trump, has acknowledged the DOJ is a partisan attack dog; that some people are, indeed, above the law; and, justifies at least one reason why Trump felt it so necessary to run for presidnet again.
For MAGA it was a win-win. Perhaps a win-win-win.
By the way, what a "real/true" father would do --- but that raises the question -- was Jesus infallible?
So many things that distressed the Dems with regard to Trump no longer "hold water." I'm thinking specifically of the presidential records Trump stored at Mar-a-Lago. And I'm thinking of Trump's alleged business dealings. Hunter and his father were doing the same thing.
From The New York Times:
A reader sent me this excellent note yesterday:
I tried to send this through the blogger comment, but I don't understand whether or not it worked.
I am a blog subscriber in good standing. I imagine I've read at least 95% of the posts over the years. Thank you for the NVIDIA coverage. That, along with the glowing Atlantic article about Mr. Huang got me in early as a trader/investor. Not enough to change my life, but enough to make it fun and to justify my subscription to your blog all these years.I write because of your recent victory lap/gloating about Biden pardoning his son. I am in no way seeking to justify or otherwise give cover to Biden reneging on his word about the pardon. However, lest we get too spun up on requiring everyone to act constantly in a consistent manner, we should remember our Emerson: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance: An Excerpt from Collected Essays, First Series
Thank you for your persistence in getting that note to me and thank you for your kind words.There's so much one could write about the pardon but it would be a diversion I can't afford, just not enough time in life.As with the Dallas Cowboys, I've been wrong many, many times and I'm sure the same will be true with my views regarding Biden. He clearly did the right thing. He should have granted the pardon in as few words as possible and not provide any more detail. Everyone would have understood.I can't imagine (m)any fathers in the true sense of the word not doing the same thing. Jesus certainly would have had that attitude -- to forgive ... but again, no further "argument" was needed.Unfortunately for Biden, right or wrong, that will be his legacy -- jumping out of the presidential race way too late (after saying he wouldn't) and pardoning his son (after saying he wouldn't). Again, not a moral argument one way or the other, but simply a fact, that those two "things" will be his legacy.The first, getting out of the race too late, resulted in Kamala Harris .The second, pardoning his son -- again, I would have done the same thing -- opens the door for Trump to announce his pardons and let the other side cast the first stone(s).By the way, on another note, you mention Emerson -- about six months ago I bought the annotated Emerson -- and have only begun to read it ...Again, thank you for writing. Yes, I don't understand the blogger app and comments; I've pretty much "turned" off the option to comment -- I was getting simply too many comments that were not helpful and did not move the conversation along in a constructive manner. I'm glad you persevered.
I came across this after I sent my reply: from The Atlantic, not particularly conservative in its viewpoint:If blocked by a paywall, I will quote it at length in the blog this next week.Thanks again for writing the blog.
The Pardon
- that's his legacy; and,
- the gift that will keep on giving (Trump).
Steven A. Smith:
Morning Joe: biggest political story of the year, and Morning Joe still refuses to cover it. Wow. Cold open today with list of stories they will be covering in the first hour, and the pardon is not even mentioned in passing.
Meanwhile, the pardon is the story. Exhibit A: the front page of The New York Times.
