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Cryptocurrency billionaires. Disgraced politicians. Reality TV stars. And hundreds of political allies.

Since taking office for a second term, United States President Donald Trump has issued more than 1,840 acts of clemency to a range of personalities.

Presidents have long stirred controversy in their choices of people to pardon. But experts argue that the way Trump has exercised his clemency power violates rules and norms in place for more than a century.

Now, they warn that pardons and commutations have become transactional, with Trump using them to reward those loyal to his agenda.

Some beneficiaries have been supporters of his "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement, including the hundreds of rioters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

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[-] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Still the same, pardons and commutations for wealthy thieves abound with Presidents for decades.

That's what makes Trump's blatant corruption possible, you see. Years of blatant corruption leads to even more blatant corruption.

Ten years is not long enough for a corrupt politician stealing millions of dollars. You get more time from robbing a bank. What is worse? I believe stealing from your constituents is worse than stealing from a wealthy bank, don't you??

But you go ahead and stand up for a 50-year politician who has sent many more non-violent people to prison for much longer (see his stance on "Drug War" and much more over the decades).

That says even more about you, who will you defend next??? Gross.

People like you make people like Trump inevitable.

[-] RunawayFixer@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

So your idea of justice is to heavily sentence people for actions that are not related to the crime that they are being sentenced for. That's not justice, that's called vengeance.

And yes, someone defrauding the government should be sentenced less severely than someone who does a violent robbery. Violent robberies can get people killed and even if noone dies or gets wounded, the victims will still be traumatized. None of that can happen with white collar crime against a big organisation. That this difference isn't obvious to you, should imo be a wake up call for yourself that you need to calm down and take some time to rethink some of the things that you belief.

this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
283 points (99.6% liked)

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