John Oliver on Sunday exposed what he called the “flagrant” hypocrisy at the heart of Donald Trump’s use of the presidential pardon power. The “Last Week Tonight” host warned that Trump’s dubious use of the power is “not likely to stop anytime soon” and he also admitted there is “not much that we can do” about it. “Trump loves to rail about how tough he is when it comes to law and order,” Oliver noted. “But that toughness is clearly deeply selective because he’ll happily
put violent people and fraudsters right back on the streets to victimize people again just because they support him.” Trump’s use of pardons has “escalated sharply,” Oliver noted, with nearly 2,000 already issued during his second term compared with 238 during his first, including for his supporters involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. “I know it is not news that America has a two-tiered justice system, but this is taking it to an absurd extreme,” Oliver said. “The way we’re
going right now, we may well end up at a point where we don’t so much have a system of laws as much as we just have ‘a guy.’ And if you’re on that guy’s team, you basically get to commit crimes.” “But the thing is, that’s just not the social contract any of us signed up for. All of this is a very, very slippery slope,” he added. Watch the segment here
John Oliver, Last Week Tonight, Donald Trump, presidential pardon, law and order, two-tiered justice system, Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol
So John Oliver is just gonna whine again, got it.
I mean pardons are literally part of the job though. Like can’t believe they’re acting shocked. Also didn’t Obama do a bunch of pardons too? Feels like they just pick who to be mad at.
Wait I thought the whole point was they CAN pardon before sentencing? Like isn’t it the courts that decide? This sounds like he’s saying Trump pardoned people so they can keep doing crime, but how does that even work if they already served time? Idk I’m confused.
“Not much we can do” is exactly the problem. If it’s nearly 2,000 pardons vs 238 then yeah that’s wild, like how is that not a sign the system is broken. And the Jan 6 part, come on, that’s the one that makes my stomach drop. I don’t care who you support, if you’re on the “right team” you get let off and everybody else gets the full sentence, that’s just what it looks like. America really is turning into ‘one guy’ like he said, and I’m honestly tired.