I have a new essay up on my Substack today, about Joe Biden and his abuse of the pardon power this week. Here is a little preview:
I often have a hard time reconciling my own personal dislike of hypocrisy, with the way the voting public at large seems to shrug off hypocrisy, especially is the hypocrite is of the right political persuasion. I’ve long ago come to accept that hypocrisy is one of the costs of doing politics in a democracy; people are flawed and mistake-prone, we all change our minds all the time for a variety of reasons (some of them not very good), and there are bigger fish to fry than playing “gotcha!” with your garden-variety politician over some statement that was made years ago. I personally find that hypocrisy gets my blood boiling in a way other things don’t, but my own personal pet peeves, I must remind myself, do not define American politics. Most people just don’t find hypocrisy to be a deal breaker.
In some cases, though, I really do think we should take hypocrisy more seriously, especially as a person of the left who wants the left and liberals and progressives to take democracy, and its norms, much more seriously. (link to democracy piece here). President Biden’s blanket pardon of his son Hunter last week, and his hundreds of blanket and preemptive pardons earlier this week, is one of those times, especially considering the looming lawlessness and norm-busting of the second Trump administration we are just six short weeks away from. The Biden pardon is a test case for who is committed to democracy, and who is merely focused on winning this week’s political fight on Facebook or cable news. Hypocrisy matters when it means abandoning democratic norms.
Here’s the key point I’m trying to make today: Biden’s pardon of his son makes it impossible to argue from a place of integrity against Donald Trump’s abuses of things like the pardon power when he takes office. The point I’m not trying to make, crucially, is that condemning Biden’s actions here will somehow magically stop Trump from abusing the pardon. I am aware that Trump is going to do what he is going to do, regardless of Biden’s actions here. But, Biden’s use of the pardon power over the past weeks has displayed a shocking level of hypocrisy, and this instance of hypocrisy does more than just tarnish Biden’s integrity; it puts our democracy further at risk.
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Justin DaMetz 