Revenge Politics

I was struck that President Biden felt the need to protect army generals and policemen from Trumps revenge  ... 

Pre-emptive Pardons General Mark Milley and Dr Anthony Fauci

He was forced he felt to protect them via Presidential pre-emptive pardons after Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to investigate and potentially prosecute his political enemies during the election campaign.

This is not the politics of the worlds leading democracy, nor of the USA that I admired through the 1960's to the 2010's .... this is more like Borgia's or Mafia politics, where revenge on your rivals was a regular practice.

The people he felt compelled to protect from Donald Trumps avowed aim to seek revenge on all those he thinks 'cheated him' (of the previous election) or 'resisted' him, were James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden (these include his brothers James and Francis and his sister Valerie) ..... but also pre-emptive pardons for police officers that testified at the House Select Committee (investigating the 6th January 2021 riot at the US Capitol), as well as the committee's members and staff.

President Biden stated that "My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end."

Also added were Dr Anthony Fauci, who oversaw the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic and who has been frequently criticised and attacked by President Trump and his political allies, and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley who had said that he was concerned about being called back into uniform and court-martialled by the Trump administration, after he had clashed with Trump (after the 6th of January Capitol hill events), and called him "a fascist to the core". 

General Milley, thanked Biden in a statement and stated that he did not wish to spend the rest of his life "fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights. I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety".

Dr Fauci told US media that the possibility of prosecution had created "immeasurable and intolerable distress" on his family. "Let me be perfectly clear, I have committed no crime and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me".

Former Capitol Police Officer, Harry Dunn, was also pardoned by President Joe Biden. He had helped the January 6 committee probe into the events of that infamous day and who was now considered to be at serious risk (President Trump has pardoned over 1,500 of the rioters who had received criminal records and or prison sentences).

Dunn told CBS “I’m eternally grateful to President Joe Biden. Not just for this pre-emptive pardon, but for his leadership and service to this nation." He added that he wished it wasn't necessary, but "the political climate we are in now, has made the need for one somewhat of a reality. I, like all other public servants, was just doing my job and upholding my oath. I will always honour that." 

The White House statement accompanying these pardons read:

"These public servants have served our nation with honour and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions. The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgement that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offence."

Sadly receipt of these presidential pre-emptive pardons doesn't totally protect them from possible harassment in the form of congressional investigations. They could be subject to probes from a Republican-led Congress that require them to testify and provide other materials .... these could go on for months or years.  

But what has America slumped to since Donald Trump entered politics ... fear of unfounded retribution by a revenge seeking President and his cronies such as Steve Bannon. I hardly recognise the climate of fear that has been generated, but I guess its just the world we now live in  ....  whether Trumps government still goes after these people, we will find out in the coming months. 

However Pam Bondi, Trumps would be attorney general, told her confirmation hearing that there would never be an enemies list and that she would not politicise the office, nor use the justice department to target anyone based on their politics .... but her assurances had a slightly hollow ring as she also did not directly rule out launching investigations into those the new president had had issues with in the past.

But even the idea that any US government would try to prosecute a decorated former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or a senior government medical professional, for partisan political reasons would have been laughed at just 10 years ago ....