Fake MAGA Outrage at Hunter Pardon

Expected, but the Left's sanctimonious reaction is the real problem.

On Sunday December 1, President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter for any federal crimes “he committed or may have committed" between Jan. 1, 2014, through the end of this year. The pardon ends any current or future criminal indictments against Hunter Biden and his lawyers immediately submitted filings to the relevant courts seeking dismissals of his cases, and to cancel any pending court dates and filing or submission deadlines.

Not surprisingly, MAGA GOP politicians, X influencers, and everyday MAGA online loudmouths exploded with fake “outrage” at the pardon. We have become inured to Donald Trump’s shameless and routine lies and actions. His cult followers have taken the cue and they’re screeching and bleating about how Biden “lied” when he or his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would not pardon Hunter.

We can ridicule MAGAs for their blatant hypocrisy, but the truth is that President Biden probably did not lie when he said he would not pardon Hunter. He undoubtedly sincerely meant it when he made the promise.

But, circumstances changed.

One of Trump’s most unconscionable sycophants, Kash Patel was tapped by Trump to become the FBI Director. Patel will absolutely weaponize the FBI against the Biden family if for no other reason than to make his hero Trump happy so that Patel can bask in his glow. And Trump himself has continued to squawk about how the Biden family should be investigated.

“When I get back in office, I will appoint a real special prosecutor to investigate every detail of the Biden crime family of corruption,” Trump said last year.

While it would have been best to let impartial justice run its course, the future was guaranteed to be a continued inequitable witch hunt against Hunter Biden.

The reaction on the Left and among the Never-Trumpers has been even more revealing of their desire to remain relevant and powerful within the consultant class. Left-wing pundits have long reveled in taking the high road so that they can bathe in a wash of moral superiority and righteous indignation.

There are two primary talking points the Righteous Left is taking: first, that Biden’s pardon of Hunter gives Trump political cover and license to pardon the January 6th insurrectionists and whomever else he wants to reward, and second, that “we’re better than that.”

Bill Kristol’s X post is a good example of the first line of thought:

Likewise, Charlie Sykes says that Biden’s pardon “removed the issue of pardons from the political arena for the next four years.”

The idea that Trump needed Biden’s actions to give him some kind of permission to go on a pardon spree is ludicrous, naive, or just plain stupid and self-centered. Unfortunately, it’s become typical of today’s journalists and pundits, who continue to treat Trump as if he’s just a quirky uncle in the rough-and-tumble world of American politics rather than the insurrectionist criminal fascist that he actually is.

Trump was never going to have guardrails on pardons or anything else in his second term. No one should be allowed to blame Biden’s Hunter pardon for the obscene actions that are coming from Trump in his second term.

The high-road, moral superiority argument is equally bankrupt. Take Sarah Longwell’s assertion that Democrats no longer have a moral leg to stand on because Biden went “back on his word” and abused his power.

Let’s be totally honest with ourselves: it’s thinking like this that has caused Democrats to be losers for the past few decades. Refusing to fight in the mud that Republicans created simply means the GOP wins every time by default. Democrats have been too timid for too long, constantly afraid of fighting back for fear of being seen as “unethical.”

I’m not saying we need to sink to MAGA levels of political depravity and no Democratic politician should do anything illegal, ever. What I am saying is that it’s about time that Democrats took the fucking gloves off and fight back.

There aren’t two sets of rules, one for MAGAs and one for Democrats. If MAGAs want to win by lying and cheating and abuse of power, they can’t turn around and cry about Democrats using the tools of power too. When the GOP come back to the grownup table, then we can talk about a reset and civility. In the meantime, the fangs are out, at least among independent media like GOP Jesus. MAGA made the rules, they an deal with them.

Look, it’s true, Hunter likely did some sketchy or illegal things when he was an addict. But President Biden absolutely did the right thing by pardoning him and we’re proud of him for protecting Hunter from the MAGA horde.

Welcome back, Dark Brandon.

---

Support GOP Jesus's work. Share and follow gopjesus.bsky.social on Bluesky, and @GOPJesusUSA on X, Instagram, YouTube and Threads. Website: gop-jesus.com