Perhaps. There would also be justifiable outrage by reasonable people.
Pardoning Trump would continue the example set by Gerald Ford in pardoning Nixon.
"Helping the country heal" seems hollow to me. To use a few metaphors:
1. Physical healing can't properly happen until the foreign object is cleared and infection removed from the body.
2. Mental healing doesn't fully happen until person comes to terms with what's happened. Burying the trauma is a risky time-bomb of a "solution".
If injustice goes unpunished or unaddressed, victims typically don't have closure. They lose confidence in the rule of law. Some take it into their own hands.
Large portions of the American public have been traumatized by Trump's behavior. We are seeking justice.
And any temporary comfort from pardoning Trump would be undermined by the uneven application of justice.
Trump and Nixon are also two very different situations. When Ford pardoned Nixon, Nixon was done with politics. He had no chance of coming back as a politician. If he had not resigned, he was going to be impeached and he was going to be removed from office. There was bipartisan support for his removal. Ford spent his political capital to pardon Nixon and heal the nation, but he also knew that Nixon would not be a factor going forward.
The same is not true for Trump today. Even if Biden pardoned Trump, establishment politics would continue to have to deal with him moving forward. He has shown no indication that he would stop attacking everything around him.
>> Large portions of the American public have been traumatized by Trump's behavior. We are seeking justice.
> And a large portion of the American public have been traumatized by Biden forcing them to take a medical treatment they didn't want or lose their jobs, in violation of the Nuremberg code.
I take the point that what people think is trauma can be subjective. If people come to believe what Fox News is saying about Biden, they actually can and do become upset.
The difference is a matter of truth. When Tucker Carlson and Fox News lie in order to generate outrage, we are in a different ballgame.
Also, there is considerable historical precedent and rationality for vaccinations. Furthermore, there are checks and balances on this kind of executive decision. Some of Bidens executive orders have been blocked by the courts, but not the vaccination policy.
I think one deeper underlying question here is "what is truth and justice and how do we get closer to it?"
Trump has shown few or no indications that he seeks truth or justice.
The preponderance of evidence suggests that Trump is all about himself. Whatever flaws Biden may have, he demonstrates broader goals than aggrandizing himself.
Let's say I grant (for the sake of argument, not because I have seen convincing evidence) that Biden did make poor decisions regarding Hunter: it is a still a step forward to do something for your son rather than yourself. If those things were unethical or illegal, at least they were in the service of someone else.
Trump's obvious nepotism is for his own benefit, not his children. He demands loyalty like an autocrat. I see no indications of an ethical code.
Pardoning Trump would continue the example set by Gerald Ford in pardoning Nixon.
"Helping the country heal" seems hollow to me. To use a few metaphors:
1. Physical healing can't properly happen until the foreign object is cleared and infection removed from the body.
2. Mental healing doesn't fully happen until person comes to terms with what's happened. Burying the trauma is a risky time-bomb of a "solution".
If injustice goes unpunished or unaddressed, victims typically don't have closure. They lose confidence in the rule of law. Some take it into their own hands.
Large portions of the American public have been traumatized by Trump's behavior. We are seeking justice.
And any temporary comfort from pardoning Trump would be undermined by the uneven application of justice.