4 ms·
This would be the most dangerous time to do it, funnel all his followers on to a hyper radicalized platform like Gab or Parler right after insurrectionists have
by Larrikin 6y ago
This would be the most dangerous time to do it, funnel all his followers on to a hyper radicalized platform like Gab or Parler right after insurrectionists have literally stormed the Capitol and couldn't be stopped even after police shot one of them.
The smart move is to bide their time slowly backing him down without angering him until January 20th when he no longer has any power to use any lever of power.
A furious Trump issuing a blanket pardon to anyone on Parler after being kicked off twitter could be a real result.
- CodeMage 6y agoIANAL, but I somehow doubt that's how pardons work. EDIT: What I specifically doubt is that Trump can just write out a pardon for "anyone on Parler". Doesn't it have to be a pardon for someone specific? Or can it be as generic and vague as he wants?
- Izikiel43 6y agoI've found these videos enlightening about how pardons work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNZc9H54eBI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNZc9H54eBI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx4FD6xtLJM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx4FD6xtLJM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMiOMNIRs3k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMiOMNIRs3k TLDR: He can pardon any federal offense.
- CodeMage 6y agoThanks, I should've been more explicit about what I was doubting. I'll go edit my comment so I don't have to repeat the explanation to everyone who decides to reply :)
- dredmorbius 6y agoThere's some precedent: President Carter pardons draft dodgers On January 21, 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter grants an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. In total, some 100,000 young Americans went abroad in the late 1960s and early 70s to avoid serving in the war. Ninety percent went to Canada, where after some initial controversy they were eventually welcomed as immigrants. Still others hid inside the United States. In addition to those who avoided the draft, a relatively small number–about 1,000–of deserters from the U.S. armed forces also headed to Canada. While the Canadian government technically reserved the right to prosecute deserters, in practice they left them alone, even instructing border guards not to ask too many questions. <https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-carter-pardons-draft-dodgers https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-carter...> (Not an endorsement of a mass pardon of all Parler members.)
- CodeMage 6y agoThanks! As an immigrant, I'm still not very well versed in American history.
- klipt 6y agoThat's a specific crime though. If Trump says "I pardon all Parler users for all crimes", can Parler start selling its accounts as a "get out of federal crimes free" card?
- Larrikin 6y agoPardons can not apply to future crimes, only crimes already committed and only to those specified at the time of pardon. Someone joining after would need to be pardoned again
- arp242 6y agoAlso, the President can only pardon federal crimes. States can still prosecute.
- UncleSlacky 6y agoNot so, Ford pardoned Nixon for any (i.e. unspecified) crimes he might be accused of doing while President. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon_of_Richard_Nixon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon_of_Richard_Nixon
- Larrikin 6y agoThe Nixon pardon was issued after he left office and was for any crimes he committed while in office. Specifically in the past.
- dredmorbius 6y agoGood point, and a specific past offence, rather than any possible future offence committed by some rather nebulously-identified class of people. But the Carter case does address the circumstance of pardoning a large (and arguably unknowably large) class.
- walterclifford 6y ago> can it be as generic and vague as he wants? Carter pardoned anyone/everyone who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_4483 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_4483
- CodeMage 6y agoThanks, I didn't know that. I'm still learning about American history.
- arp242 6y agoThere are a bunch of other examples too; I wrote a bit about that over here a few years ago: https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/19519/can-the-potus-perform-a-mass-pardon-for-those-who-meet-certain-criteria/19522#19522 https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/19519/can-the-p...
- root_axis 6y agoHe could just pardon them individually if necessary, just print up a list of names based on the arrest records.
- hef19898 6y agoNot sure he and his people are capable of that, I mean it involves research and a printer...
- baxtr 6y agoI don’t know why this is being downvoted. Seems reasonable to me.
- sdenton4 6y agoLook, the guy just wants Poland, so I say we just give it to him. He calms down a bit and we avoid a nasty war. Everybody wins! (Well, except maybe the Poles, I guess.)
- tialaramex 6y agoConventionally, at least in Britain, you just say "Peace in our time" (or more correctly "Peace for our time") to invoke this idea. That's what Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said after he landed in Britain with signed agreement from Hitler that there would be no war. But I suppose that might be unfamiliar to American readers as they did not enter the war at the beginning, and "Peace for our time" was invoked in a different context by JFK.
- arp242 6y agoI think this isn't really about his hard-core follower base; those people are kind of lost already, for the moment at least, but rather for the more moderate followers/supporter base, who won't follow him to Gab or whatnot.