Sen. Joe Manchin’s long career in public service, which began 42 years ago this week with a seat in the West Virginia Legislature, is nearing an end. The independent senator has not sought re-election this year and will leave Capitol Hill in a month.
But before he goes, Manchin has one more bad idea to pitch. De Heuvel reported:
Sen. Joe Manchin (IW.Va.) said in an interview with CNN on Monday that President Biden should pardon newly elected President Trump. “What I would have done differently, and my recommendation as counsel would have been, ‘Why don’t you go ahead and forgive Donald Trump for all of his accusations?’” Manchin said of Biden’s pardon of Hunter Biden when speaking to CNN’s Manu . Raju.
The West Virginian isn’t the only one thinking along these lines: A week before Manchin made the on-camera comments, The Washington Post published a related piece by Marc Thiessen and Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute advocating for such a pardon. (This is a topic the pair apparently takes quite seriously: In June 2023, Thiessen and Pletka wrote a separate op-ed in the Washington Post in which Also called on the incumbent Democratic president to pardon his Republican predecessor/successor.)
Those making this argument tend to rely on predictable claims: Biden could pardon Trump in the interest of magnanimous healing, furthering the cause of bipartisan compassion. Such a move, advocates suggest, would promote post-election unity and help the country emerge from a period of resentment and division.
In other words, Biden could and should play the role of Gerald Ford, who pardoned Richard Nixon after he resigned in disgrace following the Watergate scandal.
Does the pitch have value? No, that is not the case.
It is immediately worth emphasizing that Biden has already promised not to do this. In May 2020, during his campaign, the Delaware Democrat took part in a virtual town hall-style event on MSNBC and answered a question from a concerned voter who asked whether Biden would promise not to pardon Trump if elected.
“Absolutely, yes,” the then-candidate replied. “I promise.”
Three years later, when Republican presidential candidates floated the idea of pardoning Trump if elected, reporters asked Biden about his position on the issue. The president literally laughed at the question, suggesting he had not changed his mind.
Moreover, it’s no secret that the Republican president-elect isn’t exactly in need of a pardon: The Justice Department has long had a policy that says a sitting president cannot be prosecuted. That’s why Special Counsel Jack Smith and his colleagues have reluctantly agreed to conclude their compelling criminal cases against Trump, supported by extensive evidence.
There’s also the relevance of partisan asymmetry: As Biden faces calls to pardon Trump to advance the cause of bipartisan healing, Trump chooses right-wing radicals for key government posts, plots revenge against his perceived enemies and enacts he issued Thanksgiving statements calling “Radical left-wing lunatics who have worked so hard to destroy our country.”
There is one national political leader who should probably hear more about the virtues of bipartisan unity, but it’s not Biden.
As my MSNBC colleague Hayes Brown recently summarized: “In this construct, the unity and healing the country needs is due to the actions of both sides of the aisle – but the only solution is forgiveness from one side. The problem is that there is no such thing as a one-sided reconciliation; it is by nature a dialogue. It is true that Biden’s offering of a pardon to Trump could be interpreted as an attempt to reach out to the newly elected president’s followers. But what could one expect from this show of good faith? Are there reciprocal steps that can take the MAGA movement from the fringes to a more united country?”
But even if we put all of this aside, the most important element of this debate is the importance of accountability: it is not in the nation’s interest to let an accused criminal get away with dangerous and unprecedented alleged crimes simply because it could arouse all kinds of partisan feelings. better. Rather, it would signal to future presidents that they too can expect to be pardoned for serious crimes, creating a rampant, accountability-free dynamic.
I have no doubt that Biden will continue to hear additional advice along these lines in the coming days and weeks. For everyone’s benefit, we hope the outgoing incumbent ignores the suggestions.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
