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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   10477 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 2, 2024

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What’s actually wrong with this? It’s his son. He shouldn’t have said he wouldn’t pardon him but that’s not actually what he said, was it(he said something like ‘let the justice process take its course’).

  • -14

If he had taken his son and defected with him to North Korea, I would respect his decision a lot on grounds of familiar ties. (Of course, that would be complete overkill. Realistically, his son could likely escape to a neutral country and continue his lifestyle there during Trump II, or he could risk having to spend some time as a VIP prisoner for his misconduct. Neither would destroy him.)

The problem with accepting that of course, people in power will use that power to help their family members is that it will result full-on nepotism.

  • "Naturally the CEO gave that cushy managerial position to his nephew. Who would not put family first?"
  • "The Don basically had to order a hit on the witness accusing his son in law. Should he deprive his daughter of her husband?"
  • "Of course the general leaned on his adjutants to quickly promote his son."

Improperly helping your family is just as selfish as helping yourself personally. If you accept that of course elected officials will do that, then you basically end up with a banana republic.

At the end of the day, every accused is someone's son or daughter, but most fathers and mothers are not in a position to put their hand on the scale.

What’s actually wrong with this? It’s his son.

That is exactly what's wrong with it. Using power to grant favorable outcomes to friends and family is a bad thing.

He shouldn’t have said he wouldn’t pardon him but that’s not actually what he said, was it

Yes it was:

The president's decision to pardon his son is a sharp reversal from months of vows from the White House and Biden himself that he would not use the power of his office to benefit his family. After his son was convicted in his gun case, the president said he would "abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”

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