loading
reading
writing
saving
searching
QR Code Link to This Post
I continue to be completely bewildered that the biggest story in the country isn’t Donald Trump admitting—on live TV, on 60 Minutes, just two weeks ago—that he has no idea who he’s pardoning. He said it out loud, and the media just kind of shrugged and moved on.
Now, obviously, this past week we’ve all been rightly focused on the new Epstein emails—and we should be. That story matters. Two thousand girls and boys were trafficked and abused by a network of powerful, connected predators who have never faced real consequences.
But the thing is—these two stories are essentially the same.
I went to see Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher record their podcast in Chicago last week, and Galloway said something that stuck with me. He said, yeah, he dislikes Donald Trump and everything he stands for—but if one of his kids got in trouble, he knows he could drop a few million dollars and buy access to the president. Essentially buy a pardon.
And that right there is the entire problem.
The pardon power exists for the moments when the justice system fails. It’s not supposed to be a goddamn get-out-of-jail-free card for rich people and their kids.
But we’ve built a justice system that’s fundamentally two-tiered—one for the rich and powerful, and one for everyone else. The connected can bend it, break it, and abuse it without consequence. They get away with everything.
Just look at who Trump’s pardoned:
A crypto scammer his sons told him to pardon.
George Santos.
Rudy Giuliani, who tried to help him steal an election.
A Ponzi schemer who, after being pardoned by Trump in 2021, went on to rob people of tens of millions more—and will probably get another one from Trump again.
Ghislaine Maxwell, sitting in a minimum-security prison, biding her time for the commutation she clearly expects—reportedly enjoying custom meals, private visitation, and a slate of outrageous privileges for helping bury Epstein’s trail for Trump.
Cop beaters from January 6th.
Drug dealers.
Sexual abusers.
The list goes on and on…
And let’s be clear: these aren’t mercy cases. These are transactions. These are pay-to-play pardons.
And we’re all just... sleepwalking through it.