Why Trump's Ass Is Grass In Georgia
No pardon can save him from D.A. Fani Willis's wrath.
Donald Trump was indicted for the fifth time Monday night in Georgia, and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s justice will prove the hardest for Trump to escape, not just because he’s guilty as hell.
If Trump wins the presidency again, he’ll immediately kill any pending federal charges against him, and if he’s been convicted already, which is possible, he’ll just pardon himself. Paul Manafort’s gross face on our TV last night was just one reminder of how Trump abused the presidential pardon power.
The Republican presidential candidates currently polling in single digits against this career criminal are so desperate for MAGA love some have already pledged to pardon Trump — even though the ghost of Gerald Ford probably shows up in their house every night, fettered with chains, shouting, “Bad idea!”
But if (when?) the hammer falls on Trump in the great state of Georgia, he can’t make those charges disappear like Elise Stefanik’s dignity. The president has no pardon power over state crimes. Gov. Brian Kemp couldn’t unilaterally pardon Trump even if he wanted to, and we question how much he’d want to save Trump.
Jordan Rubin at MSNBC writes, “Unlike in other states, such as New York, clemency isn’t up to the governor in Georgia, either — not directly, anyway. Rather, under the state constitution, there’s a board of pardons and paroles, with five members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate to staggered, seven-year terms.”
Unlike congressional Republicans, the members of Georgia’s board of pardons and paroles might have ethical standards. Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan both testified before the Georgia grand jury. Trump shouldn’t count on Georgia Republicans burying charges against him.
Oh, and even if the board of pardons and paroles was packed with Marjorie Taylor Greene clones, it still wouldn’t do Trump much good. Dig this pardon application:
[People convicted of crimes] will be considered only if the applicant has completed his/her full sentence obligation, including serving any probated sentence and paying any fine, and has been free of supervision (custodial or non-custodial) and/or criminal involvement for at least five consecutive years thereafter as well as five consecutive years immediately prior to applying.
The board also can’t consider applicants with “pending charges.” This is not the “Get Out Of Jail Free” card Trump desires. It mostly just allows convicted felons to move on with their lives after they’ve served their time.
This is obviously a much better system than the one Trump used as a not-so-subtle form of witness tampering. Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s report suggested that Trump actively encouraged Manafort not to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation by suggesting he could receive a pardon, which Trump delivered while simultaneously plotting a coup.
Georgia apparently learned its lesson from the shady shenanigans of former Gov. E. D. (“Ed”) Rivers. Elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1924 and to the state Senate in 1926, Rivers was also active in the Klu Klux Klan. As governor in the 1930s, he embraced New Deal policies that his predecessor, Eugene Talmadge, had opposed. (It wasn’t unusual for racist politicians to expand government services if they knew only white people would benefit from them.)
The Rivers administration was rife with corruption. A federal grand jury in 1940 indicted four members of the Rivers administration, and two were convicted. Two years later, a state grand jury indicted Rivers himself and 19 others. Rivers was accused of selling pardons (as Trump might’ve done). He was tried on one count of embezzlement, and although the jury deadlocked, Rivers was still constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third consecutive term. So, all the dummies suggesting that prosecuting politicians who commit crimes is somehow like Stalin’s Soviet Union have obviously never read a history book.
Georgia voters imposed the current pardon system through a constitutional amendment in 1943, and now 80 years later, that’s Trump’s sorry ass.
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Wow SER, bringing the history lesson. I love it! And I love that the GA rules might well damn the orange fascist.
Trump's supporters in the GOP are calling for Georgia law to be changed so he can be pardoned.
It's weird how none of them ever claim he is not guilty.