James Clyburn is wrong to say Biden should pardon Trump. Our history shows us why. | Opinion

U.S. Rep. James Clyburn couldn’t be more wrong when he said President Joe Biden should pardon President-elect Donald Trump. American history has made clear why.

Clyburn’s thinking is the kind that led to this dark period. It’s thinking that declares powerful men giving each other breaks is required to hold the country together when all it does is undermine democracy.

“Yes, I do think so,” Clyburn said Saturday when asked on MSNBC if Biden should pardon Trump. The legendary Democratic South Carolina congressman also revealed that he urged the president to pardon his son Hunter Biden, and added, “I think [President Biden] should pardon all of those people that have been accused and have been targeted so that we can have a clean slate. We can have an air of possibilities for the future.”

Clyburn may believe his suggestion is in some sense a plea to unify us. But if Biden followed Clyburn’s counsel, it would solidify the idea that the elite will always find reason to protect each other, the rest of us be damned. It would also further root in the notion that nearly half of American voters sent last month — that there are some men who should be above the law. That the most privileged among us should never be held to account, no matter how destructive their behavior.

That’s what happened during the Watergate era. President Richard Nixon left office in disgrace after abusing presidential power to conceal illegal acts. It was fellow Republicans who rightly urged him to leave the White House, the kind of statesmanship that seems impossible to image happening today. The kind that offered at least a measure of accountability. But President Gerald Ford saved Nixon from criminal indictments by issuing a pardon. Ford claimed it would end the nation’s “long national nightmare.”

He was wrong. He simply postponed it.

The Nixon pardon set a precedent that the most powerful among us must also be the most insulated from the consequences of their actions. It’s why the Nixon-era and Bill Clinton Department of Justice effectively placed presidents above the law, declaring they can’t face criminal charges while in office. According to The New York Times, that reality motivated Trump to run for the presidency a third time. He knew the best way to avoid possible prison time was to get back to the Oval Office. The U.S. Supreme Court recently pushed presidents closer to king-like status. What an unhealthy democracy, one in which you can avoid the repercussions of your actions by winning an election.

Clyburn wants Biden to do for Trump what Ford did for Nixon, exempt his alleged criminality. But that would further solidify the idea that the more power you’re given, the more crimes you can commit. A Trump pardon would leave a more dangerous precedent than Ford’s pardon of Nixon. Among Trump’s alleged crimes is inciting an insurrection attempt on our Capitol, a direct — and violent — attack on our democracy. Trump hasn’t even admitted wrongdoing, let alone shown contrition.

Biden was wrong to have pardoned his son. He can’t make up for that with an ill-advised Trump pardon. The president’s defenders point to Trump’s threats to target political opponents such as Hunter Biden and say that as a father he could not have left his son to the whims of a system that could be weaponized by bad-faith actors. The implication is that even the most powerful can’t be protected from legal unfairness. Imagine how difficult it must be for the most vulnerable among us to get a fair shake.

We can’t pardon our way out of the injustice that’s been inherent in our system since its inception, especially not when those pardons disproportionately go to the already-privileged. If Biden and Clyburn were serious about unifying the country, they would use their power to rid the system of structural inequities rather than focus on helping others among the elite and papering over our problems.

“If we keep digging at things of the past, I’m not too sure the country will not lose its way,” Clyburn said.

If Biden pardons Trump, it will prove the country already has.

This story was originally published December 9, 2024 at 2:30 PM.