Musings on the Political Legitimacy of President Biden's Pardon of His Son

        By Rudy Barnes, Jr., December 7, 2024

President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter was legal; the primary issue is not one of law but of morality in politics--or political legitimacy.  The Constitution allows Presidential pardons, but it requires the President to put his country first.  When Biden announced his plans for re-election, he said that he would not pardon Hunter, and then reneged on his promise.

President Biden violated two moral principles that will have consequences for him and his Democratic Party.  In pardoning his son for serious crimes Biden also broke an earlier commitment not to pardon him.  That will undermine the Democrats’ opposition to Trump’s stated intention to pardon those convicted of participating in the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

David French has asserted that “in his role as president, Biden’s primary responsibility is to the country and the Constitution, not to his family.  As president, this pardon represents a profound failure. Biden was dishonest.  He told us that he wouldn’t pardon Hunter.  The use of the pardon power reeks of the kind of royal privilege that is antithetical to America’s values.”

“It’s exactly this kind of self-dealing and favoritism that has created such cynicism in this country, and the fact that pardon abuse is almost routine at this point isn’t a defense of Biden.  It’s an indictment of a political class that helped lay the groundwork for Donald Trump. The founders didn’t give presidents the pardon power to be deployed as a favor to friends and family.

In fact, during the constitutional ratification debate in Virginia, James Madison said, ‘If the president be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty.’ So, yes, abuse of the pardon power is serious.”

“The president has talked a good game about his deep belief in the resilience of American democracy, but maybe he really thinks that a country that would re-elect Donald Trump is actually too far gone to be much helped, and so he might as well choose familism over patriotism and do his best to just look out for his own.”

 “It’s decisions like this that leaders make when voters aren’t focused on the issue that define their integrity.  As John Adams argued, ‘our human vices can ‘break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.’ When presidents choose self-interest over the public interest, the law doesn’t always provide an answer.”  

Trump has already cited Biden’s pardon in a motion to dismiss the New York criminal case against himself.  While Biden and the Democratic Party were thought to be a politically legitimate alternative to a GOP corrupted by Trump, when Biden reneged on his promise not to pardon his son he sullied the legitimacy of Democratic opposition to a corrupt Trump GOP.  Whoever leads the Democratic Party should emphasize the importance of political legitimacy.       

Notes:

On the Opinions of David French and Ross Douthat on the questionable legitimacy of President Biden’s pardon of his son, see ‘This Is the Land of Wolves Now’: Two Columnists Get to the Heart of Biden’s Pardon at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/opinion/hunter-biden-pardon.html.

  

On Trump citing the Hunter Biden Pardon in motion to dismiss the New York criminal case, see https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-hunter-biden-pardon-motion-to-dismiss-new-york-criminal-case/.

On Biden’s pardon for his son tarnishing his legacy, see  https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5018298-biden-pardon-hunter-tarnish-legacy/.

It seems that Biden hasn’t learned much from the negative response to his pardon of his son.

Biden is considering preemptive pardons for officials and allies before Trump takes office. See https://apnews.com/article/biden-pardons-trump-f36ead0eb92ea30e47cbfddfaf326f20#:~:text=Biden%20is%20considering,White%20House%20said.

Military legitimacy is a variation of political legitimacy that’s critical to military mission success when public support is essential for strategic political objectives.  For a comprehensive overview of military legitimacy, see Barnes, Military Legitimacy: Might and Right in the New Millennnium, Frank Cass, 1997.  A draft copy of the book along with over 500 commentaries on topics related to legitimacy, religion and politics from December 1, 2014 are posted in the blog archives at https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/. 

Can Trump's Efforts to Undermine the Constitution Be Stopped?

By  Rudy Barnes, Jr., November 23, 2024 

Thanksgiving is next week.  It’s a time when Americans normally give thanks for their freedom and democracy as protected in the Constitution.  But this year Americans are facing a threat to their nation from the power-hungry despot they elected as their President and his GOP supporters.  Are Americans prepared to support and defend their Constitution from this threat?

Peter Baker of the New York Times, a liberal newspaper, has illustrated Trump’s threat to undermine the Constitution with his nominees for cabinet offices.  They reflect an electorate polarized by Trump and his billionaire minions, and the vulnerability of America’s libertarian democracy to exploitation and corruption by authoritarian right-wing radicals.

Most people who serve in public office have taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution.  I did as an elected official and as an Army officer, and I believe every candidate should be required to take that oath.   Human depravity corrupts politics.  Without an obligation to support and defend the Constitution, narcissistic politicians like Trump will corrupt politics.

A third party could reduce the likelihood of polarized partisan politics in America, but no third party has ever been competitive in national elections.  Partisan voting restrictions would be opposed by both parties in the current two-party system; and while all voting systems avoid tie votes, cumulative voting won’t work in a two person (Presidential) election.

When elections don’t resolve major differences, civil war can result--as in 1860.  It had tragic results that could be repeated today; and Trump praised those who supported his false claims in the January 6, 2021 insurrection.  Trump got his revenge in the recent election, and if he succeeds in undermining the Constitution, there could be a more disastrous insurrection.

America’s Founding Fathers would have recognized Trump and his minions as enemies of the freedom and democracy provided in their 18th century Constitution.  They used checks and balances to prevent unprincipled politicians like Trump and his GOP minions from usurping the rights and remedies of the states and the people provided in the Constitution.

But this is not the 18th century.  Majorities in the elections of 2026 and 20

28 will decide whether to support Trump and his GOP wrecking crew, or stop him and defend the checks and balances of the Constitution. David French thinks that future majorities will support and defend the Constitution rather than undermining it.  I’m not so sure; but I hope that French is right.

The Constitution provides for change, and has been amended 27 times.  Amending the Constitution is a far better way to change it than allowing Trump to trash it and risking a populist anarchy or another civil war.  But beware of other demagogues who are waiting in the wings to succeed Trump at the end of his second term, when the Constitution will prohibit his reelection.     

Notes:

Peter Baker has described Trump’s efforts to undermine the Constitution with appointments of like minded people to his cabinet as “something more than a political disruption.  Revolution maybe. In less than two weeks since being elected again, Donald J. Trump has embarked on a new campaign to shatter the institutions of Washington embedded in the Constitution as no incoming president has in his lifetime.  Mr. Trump has said that “real power” is the ability to engender fear, and he seems to have achieved that. And if he gets his way on selections for some of the most important posts in government, he would put in place loyalists intent on blowing up the very departments they would lead. 

He has chosen a bomb-throwing backbench congressman who has spent his career attacking fellow Republicans and fending off sex-and-drugs allegations to run the same Justice Department that investigated him.  He has chosen a conspiracy theorist with no medical training who disparages the foundations of conventional health care to run the Department of Health and Human Services. He has chosen a weekend morning television host with a history of defending convicted war criminals while sporting a Christian Crusader tattoo that has been adopted as a symbol by the far right to run the most powerful armed forces in the history of the world. And he has chosen a former congresswoman who has defended Middle East dictators and echoed positions favored by Russia to oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies. Then came the nominations of Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of health and human services, Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence. Republicans gasped out loud at news of Mr. Gaetz’s selection. And the Trump camp was surprised to learn that Mr. Hegseth paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault as part of a settlement agreement, although he insists it was a consensual encounter. Don Baer, a former White House communications director under President Bill Clinton, said Mr. Trump was challenging the foundations of the American system. The eruption in Washington is his goal as he tries to tear down the system. Mr. Trump has attracted less attention in tapping Elon Musk to head a new Department of Government Efficiency along with Vivek Ramaswamy.  Mr. Trump has handed vast influence over the federal government to a billionaire who profits from billions of dollars in government contracts. 

Trump has learned how to move the spectrum of outrage. Sarah Matthews, a former deputy White House press secretary for Mr. Trump who broke with him, said on MSNBC. “He is drunk on power right now because he feels like he was given a mandate by winning the popular vote.” In fact, it is not much of a mandate. While Mr. Trump won the popular vote for the first time in three tries, he garnered just 50.1 percent nationally, according to the latest tabulation by The Times, just 1.8 percentage points ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris. When the slow-counting blue giant of California finally finishes tallying its votes, that margin is likely to shrink a bit more. The Cook Report already calculates that his percentage has fallen below 50 percent, meaning he did not win a majority. Mr. Trump has been acting as if he were more popular than he really is. Despite his modest margins, he has exhibited more dominance of his own party than any president in modern times. And his Senate recess demand will test just how far that dominance will go. The recess appointment power in the Constitution was designed to let a president temporarily fill vacancies while Congress was out of town in an era when it took weeks or months to travel to Washington. But Mr. Trump wants to use the power to sidestep the Senate’s constitutional duty to advise and consent to appointments.  Senate Republican leaders did not rule out the idea, and it may be the only way to get Mr. Gaetz and some of the others through. Even if senators do not agree, some conservatives have warned that Mr. Trump may try to employ a little-used provision in the Constitution allowing him to force a recess. Tom Daschle has said. “This is a major test to our system of checks and balances. The Congress must demonstrate its commitment to its constitutional role. And it is critical that it does it now. Failure to do so is an acknowledgment that the president’s promise will become the reality.”  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/us/politics/trump-signals-a-seismic-shift-shocking-the-washington-establishment.html.  

On David French’s more optimistic outlook, see Donald Trump Is Already Starting to Fail, at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/opinion/trump-kennedy-gaetz-hegseth.html.

On Trump’s replacement of Mac Gaetz with Pam Bondi, see new face, same goals?, at  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/22/business/dealbook/bondi-attorney-general-gaetz.html.

Musings on Holding the Trump Regime Accountable for the Economy

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., November 16, 2024

In American democracy, we are the masters of our political destiny, for good or for bad. We cannot blame fate or God for the election of Donald Trump, or what he and a GOP Congress will do.  We can expect restrictions on immigration, new tariffs, efforts to replace the dollar with bitcoin, and the continuation of a booming stock market; and all will increase inflation and economic disparities in America.

Trump campaigned for these economic initiatives during the campaign, and since most Americans still claim to be Christians, our churches share accountability for Trump’s economy.  Trump was elected by white Christians who failed to promote the common good that’s at the heart of the greatest commandment to love God and all of our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Leading up to the election, there was much weeping and wailing over the death of democracy if Trump were to win the election.  Well, democracy remains alive--but it’s not well.  The Constitution provides the legal standards for America’s elections, while voters provide the moral standards for a democracy; and both are essential elements of political legitimacy.  

If Trump shuts down immigration as he has promised, the lack of immigrants providing labor for lower wages will result in higher prices for agricultural and industrial goods and services, and that will exacerbate inflation.  Trump’s campaign promises may have sounded good, but talk (especially in politics) is cheap--as America will soon discover.

           

The issue of economic accountability in a democracy is a matter of faith as well as politics.  The ancient Jews convinced God to allow them to have kings to be competitive with other ancient civilizations.  In modern times freedom and democracy have replaced the divine right of kings; but Americans have not yet mastered economic accountability in its democracy.

The legal and moral components of political legitimacy and their relationship to religion are addressed in https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/.  This is the 521st commentary posted on that website, and all are listed in the blog archive on the home page of the website.  A sample of related commentary is listed in the end notes below.  

I don’t pretend to be an eminent authority on religion, legitimacy and politics, but I have held elected public office and practiced law for 50 years.  I’m also a retired Army JAGC officer who has advised senior commanders in Civil Affairs and Special Operations on international law; and I’m a retired UMC pastor who enjoys sharing my experience on my website.

Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Religion, Legitimacy and Politics by Rudy Barnes, Jr. (2020) is a selection of commentaries available from Amazon.  All sales proceeds go to the Barnes-Wall Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation committed to promote a better understanding of the relationship between religion, legitimacy and politics. 

Notes:

There’s a tax battle brewing among Republicans over debt fears.  “President-elect Trump’s victory last week set the stage for an  intraparty fight between Republican tax cutters and deficit hawks as the GOP gears up for a major legislative push, with a tax battle brewing among Republicans over debt fears between Republican tax cutters and deficit hawks.   Trump and many Republicans are eager to extend tax cuts which could cost $4.6 trillion, according to a projection by the Congressional Budget Office.” https://thehill.com/business/4984127, November 12, 2024.

‘Institutions Are Coming’—A $35 Trillion U.S. Dollar Collapse Is Predicted To Trigger A Bitcoin Price Boom To Rival Gold.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/08/21/institutions-are-coming -35-trillion-us-dollar-collapse-predicted-to-trigger-a-bitcoin-price-boom-to-rival-gold

On how The Border Crisis Won’t Be Solved at the Border, see Jack Herrera, Texas Monthly, November 2024, at https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/border-crisis-texas-solutions/

Previous commentary on the economy:

(3/8/15): Wealth, Politics, Religion and Economic Justice

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/03/wealth-politics-religion-and-economic.html

(8/9/15): Balancing Individual Rights with Collective Responsibilities

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/08/balancing-individual-rights-with.html

(10/18/15): God, Money and Politics

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/10/god-money-and-politics.html

(6/4/16): Christianity and Capitalism: Strange Bedfellows in Politics

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/06/christianity-and-capitalism-strange.html

(10/1/16): The Federal Reserve, Wall Street and Congress on Monetary Policy

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/10/the-federal-reserve-wall-street-and.html

(3/11/17): Accountability and the Stewardship of Democracy

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/03/accountability-and-stewardship-of.html

(2/6/21): Musings on the danger of economic disparities and excessive debt in America

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2021/02/musings-on-danger-of-economic.html.

(9/25/21): Musings on an American Economic Apocalypse

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2021/09/musings-on-american-economic-apocalypse.html.

(10/30/21): Musings on Modern Monetary Theory, and Why National Deficits and Debts Matter

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2021/10/musings-on-modern-monetary-theory-and.html.

(2/5/22): Musings on the Stock Market, Inflation and Providing for the Common Good

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2022/02/musings-on-stock-market-inflation-and.html.

(5/14/22): Musings on Inflation, the Stock Market, and the Economy http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2022/05/musings-on-inflation-stock-market-and.html.

(8/27/22): Musings on the Consequences of Forgiving Student Debt

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2022/08/musings-on-consequences-of-forgiving.html.

(10/17/22): Musings on How Fed Interest Rates Feed Inflation and the Stock Market 

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2022/10/musings-on-how-inflation-and-fed.html.

(12/3/22): Musings on America’s Unabated and Debilitating Inflation

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2022/12/musings-on-americas-unabated-and.html.

(1/28/23): Musings on the Debt Ceiling, the National Debt, and Economic Uncertainty

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/01/musings-on-debt-ceiling-national-debt.html.

(2/17/24): Musings on Strengthening America’s “Unsustainable” Economy in Perilous Times

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/02/musings-on-strengthening-americas.html.

(6/1/24): Musings on the Stock Market as a Predictor of the Economy and Politics

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/06/musings-on-stock-market-as-predictor-of.html.

Musings on Democracy in America

     Rudy Barnes, Jr., November 9, 2024

The election on November 5 affirmed that democracy is alive, but it’s not well.  Democracy is not a political panacea.  It’s only what a majority of voters make it to be in an election.  Sadly, on November 5 most Americans rejected the traditional and altruistic ideals of libertarian democracy represented by Thomas Jefferson and Alexis deTocqueville.

As a non-partisan universalist I consider the teachings of Jesus as God’s standard of moral legitimacy, and that promoting the common good should be the moral imperative of our faith and our politics.  But the election results indicate that I’m now part of a minority (or remnant) of Americans, and that there is little chance that a majority can restore our past ideals anytime soon.

In matters of faith, the church lost its moral compass in 2016 when a majority of white Christians  first elected Donald Trump.  Since then Trump and his minions have shaped the depraved moral standards of American culture; and having been restored to the Presidency, Trump now personifies American standards of political legitimacy for the rest of the world.

What about the future?  Sadly, there is no precedent for the political redemption of America’s corrupted democracy.  It took defeat in WWII to restore democracy to Nazi Germany; and Orthodox Christianity in Russia and Zionism in Israel demonstrate that a violent autocracy and religion can be compatible.  America will have to learn to live with Trump’s immoral regime.

As a moral force in politics, the many variations of the American church have been in decline since the era of civil rights.  Restoring the legitimacy of America’s church is even less likely than restoring its political legitimacy in a materialistic  and hedonistic culture.  The church can only survive as a neighborhood center, much like the Black church has done over the years.

Dramatic economic changes are likely with Trump’s GOP majorities in Congress.  Trump will likely reward his supporters with tax reductions and more crony capitalism, and there won’t be any partisan brakes to slow him down for at least two years.  Increased economic disparities and a massive national debt will likely require new remedies for social and economic justice.

In a nation where greed and human depravity have undermined its previous democratic virtues, America will forfeit its preeminence as a world hegemon and a democratic ideal; and the rich and powerful will feel secure with Trump as their political patron.  Jim Carville once said, “politics is all about the economy, stupid.”  And that applies to both the rich and the poor. 

  

As part of America’s remnant I'll continue to share universalist and altruistic ideals that promote the common good. We’ll be a minority with no grandiose illusions about political reform or reinventing Christianity, only with reminding the rich and powerful that they destroyed altruism in American democracy.  Who knows what could happen tomorrow?     

Notes:

For commentary following the election from the New York Times, see David Brooks, on Voters to Elites: Do You See Me Now? at  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/opinion/trump-elites-working-class.html; see also Bret Stephens on A Party of Prigs and Pontificators Suffer a Humiliating Defeat, at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/opinion/donald-trump-defeat-democrats.html.

Providing for the common good is the moral imperative of the Greatest Commandment to love God and our neighbors as we love ourselves.  It was taken from the Hebrew Bible, was taught by Jesus, and has been accepted by Muslims as a common word of faith. See

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/the-greatest-commandment-common-word-of.html.

Thomas Jefferson considered “the teachings of Jesus as the most sublime moral code ever designed by man,” and he detested exclusivist church doctrines.  https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com.

 In 1831 Alexis deTocqueville toured America and observed that its many Christian sects shared a “Christian morality” that produced common standards of political legitimacy that defined what is right, and imbued American politics with its moral authority.  Unfortunately, the election on November 5, 2024, indicated that those moral standards of political legitimacy are no longer valid.  On the views of Thomas Jefferson and Alexis deTocqueville on the moral values of religion in American politics, see Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/07/religion-moral-authority-and.html. 

On universalism and altruism in democracy, see Musings of a Maverick Methodist on a Universal and Altruistic Jesus, August 19, 2023, at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/08/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.

Universalists are a minority among Jews, Christians and Muslims today, but they could be a reconciling voice in those Abrahamic religions as a common word of faith.  See Universalism: A theology for the 21st century, by Forrest Church, November 5, 2001, at Universalism: A theology for the 21st century | UU World Magazine.

On Exposing the Corruption of Crony Capitalism (May 9, 2020), see  

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2020/05/exposing-corruption-of-crony-capitalism.html.