It's cold this morning. Feels a lot more like mid-January than early December so might want to bundle up.
I did, I promise. I'm buttoned, hatted and scarved. But it's hard to type with gloves on. So you'll need to read slowly.
We all expect a good parent to do everything they can to protect their kid from harm. It's a given, one of the core obligations of parenting. We go so far as to take kids away from parents we think are failing in that regard.
For most parents, it's a lifelong commitment. Adulthood doesn't change the fact they're your kids and you want them to be safe. And you'll do all you can possibly do.
So no one should be surprised that Uncle Joe decided to pardon his remaining living son in the face of all the threatened retribution from Commandant Trunk and his flying monkeys. Of all the potential targets for revenge, Hunter is the most vulnerable because he's actually broken the law. It was a no brainer.
Does Hunter deserve to be pardoned? Not in my opinion. But I'm not looking at my only remaining child of three from my first marriage that ended when my wife and daughter were killed in a car wreck, either. Given the circumstances, Joe did what any parent would do if they could. I don't like it, but I understand it.
Unfortunately for this story, Joe and his handlers forgot they had to come out of the no brainer zone once the choice was made. But in typical Democrat (party not democracy advocate) fashion, the message defies logic.
The simple message of "Hunter is guilty of felonies, but the threats against him made by the incoming administration gave me no other choice as a parent" would have carried because it had the weight of the truth. Even the most callous conservative is going to hear the parent argument. It's real.
But that wasn't what Joe said. Joe undercut reason, undercut truth, and undercut the foundation of our own justice system by claiming the same thing Trump claims. I'm pardoning my son because his conviction was a political hit job.
I know that's not the exact message, but it's the one we heard. Damn Joe. You could save your sorry son without stabbing your administration and the rest of us actual fact lovers in the back. Where in the world are your advisors?
Certainly, someone said Mr. President, we can't use that excuse. You can protect your son without kneecapping the justice department.
Surely someone in that room made the point that politically motivated charges are the only reason for a pardon you can't use and still explain away the no pardon promise. Just tell the truth, you never dreamed Trump would be elected. That and the revenge threats is all the reason you need.
Evidently nobody did and that's the most puzzling part of this whole thing for me. Getting a pardon drawn up takes more than a president and a laptop. Senile Joe would be an easy explanation if there hadn't been a dozen other people in on the process. That's just a cold, legacy altering failure.