CrazyNotCrazie wrote: ↑November 18th, 2020, 5:09 pm
I still can't wrap my arms around the whole "pardon yourself for things you haven't yet been convicted of." What a dumb rule.
It is completely unclear that this actually is a rule. Most Constitutional scholars do not believe that a self-pardon is permissible. I doubt a very conservative, "Founders' intent"-oriented Court will agree, either. There is pretty clear evidence that the Founders did not intend for anyone to be above the law, and that's what a self-pardon would effectively do.
As for conduct for which one hasn't been convicted, that already is the rule. You must have committed the potentially criminal act, but a prosecution for that act need not have begun, nor even an investigation of it opened. The President can simply declare that the person is pardoned for that act, period.
CrazyNotCrazie wrote: ↑November 18th, 2020, 5:09 pm
I agree that he will pardon his family, but if there are others that he thinks can help him, either in court cases or in future business endeavors, he might also pardon them. Everything is transactional for him, so he will help anyone who might be able to help him.
Now this part, I completely agree with. He won't pardon people out of the goodness of his heart. Quite the opposite. He will pardon people with the intention that they help him later. The only trick there is, he doesn't particularly feel gratitude on his own part, so he is likely to assume that most other people also won't feel grateful, and therefore will not be useful once pardoned. So he'll pardon only the ones he can absolutely count on to be loyal directly to him, even after he is out of office. That's bound to be a fairly small group.
