But Johnny Did it Too!

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By Patrick F. Cannon

Maybe it worked for you, but using the excuse “but Johnny did it too” never worked for me when I got caught breaking the rules when I was a kid. But, as we know, the concept dies hard.

            Wrong is wrong, no matter who does the deed. Former President Biden giving a pardon to his son Hunter, and preemptive pardons to the rest of his family, was wrong. His son Hunter was found guilty by a jury of his peers and would almost certainly have had to spend time in jail. Many fathers and mothers have seen their sons do time for breaking the law and would have loved to wave the magic pardon-power wand. No dice for them though.

            Biden also pardoned many who served or were serving long sentences for minor drug offences that under current law would be much shorter. I have no problem with that, or with preemptively giving pardons to former Trump officials who have since gained his ire, among them former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Miley, and former national security advisor John Bolton. (In a typical show of vindictiveness, President Trump has also taken away their security details, despite (or because of?) an ongoing threat from Iran.)

            But what President Trump did in either pardoning or commuting the sentences of all 1583 January 6 rioters was also wrong, but on a larger scale, and for more serious offences. Now, I’ve heard people claim those folks were just peaceful protestors. Bullshit. I watched the events live. As it happened. In living color. I saw the police being trampled and beaten. Many of the members of Congress who fled for their lives now pretend it didn’t happen. That tells you all you need to know about today’s politicians. If there is a single Republican politician who has condemned the pardons, please tell me. On the other hand, some Democrats did rightly condemn Biden for pardoning his son.

            It’s past time for eliminating the president’s pardon power. The abuses are getting more numerous and egregious. Our criminal justice system, while imperfect, works well in most cases. To eliminate the pardon power would require a constitutional amendment, a very, very difficult proposition. Of the roughly 11,000 that have been proposed in our history, only 27 have been approved.

            But as the abuses mount, we should at least start the process.

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon

12 thoughts on “But Johnny Did it Too!”

  1. Biden did it and Trump did it.

    Others also exercised presidential pardons. But I’ve never understood how someone could be pardoned for a crime that he hasn’t been convicted of. Aren’t pardons for committed offenses?

    It’s like being forgiven for a sin you haven’t done yet. Bless me, father, for I am about to covet my neighbor’s ox. Will ten Hail Marys take care of it?

    Good Catholic that he is, Biden sees pardons as Hail Marys. They are Get Out of Jail Free cards. He pardoned several thousand people in all. Thank God he finally ran out of rosaries. He even pardoned mass murderers and five child-killers. Biden’s fondness for children may explain that.

    Biden pardoned his son for one of the crimes the court actually convicted him of, but he also pardoned any potential crimes going back to 2014, much more serious crimes that likely would have implicated Biden himself.

    There certainly was violence on January 6 committed by a number of the 1583 “insurrectionists.” We all saw it. But the most deserving of punishment of them have been held in prison for the past four years. Most of that crowd were spectators caught up in the moment who were arrested just for being there; they too were locked up. Some were still waiting to be tried when the pardons came.

    Quite a different fate than for the BLM rioters and arsonists in many US cities, including Chicago, Minneapolis and Seattle, who were responsible for many deaths and vast damage and disruption. If any of those thousands of offenders were convicted, we certainly haven’t heard much about it. Can you name any? They didn’t even need pardons to go scot-free. In Chicago, with so many murderers released, often without trial, you get used to it. I’m surprised that murder isn’t classified as a misdemeanor in your fair city.

    Justice is a fickle gal, isn’t she?

    Trump pardoned people who had been arrested and had already suffered punishment, rightly or wrongly. His pardons properly fall under the legal authority granted regarding committed criminal offenses. Not everyone will be happy with them, but that’s how pardons go.

    Since you asked, by my count, six Republican senators opposed the Trump pardons (McConnell, Graham, Tillis, Collins, Murkowski and Cassidy). Three Democrat senators, five representatives and a governor criticized Biden’s. I’d say it’s a wash.

    Biden pardoned politically favored individuals like Fauci and Liz Cheney. The former misled the nation on vaccines, masking and shutdowns, and may have been directly involved in gain-of-function experiments that led to the global pandemic. I’m not sure what Cheney did, other than destroy evidence. Biden also pardoned his siblings and other members of his family for whatever they might have done, you know, just in case. I don’t know why he didn’t just pardon all Democrats, past and future, to be on the safe side, and anyone named Biden.

    I agree there is little chance of eliminating the president’s pardon power. Like most powers, it tends to get abused. That being said, isn’t it good to have friends and family in high places?

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    1. In my youth, I was required to go to confession. I should have asked the good fathers to also forgive my future sins to save me the trouble of coming again. By the way, most January 6 folks received light sentences. And we have a new state’s attorney in Cook County, who seems to think the laws should be enforced. And I still would rather live here than safe and boring Indiana.

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  2. I’ve lived in cities most of my life, starting with gang-infested, crime-ridden Brooklyn, so I’ve come to appreciate friendly and nice, or what some might call boring. True, there aren’t car jackings or many shootings in Mayberry, but should I get a craving for excitement, I can always get a root canal.

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  3. Mayberry’s crime rate is likely comparable to Forest Park’s. A difference, though, is we are charged a lot less for it. The climate tends to be nicer, too. The cultural offerings, sports and outdoor activities are also more readily accessible. The only thing lacking is a good Italian grocery! There must be a reason why Illinois and Chicago are losing population while Indiana and Indy are gaining. Maybe it’s your government.

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    1. Bad government is surely one of the reasons — and the high taxes that pay for it. Also, when corporations decamp for other states, they take their employees with them. A good deal of the loss in Chicago is African-Americans who can afford it moving to safer suburbs, or even the South!

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      1. The flight of corporations is stunning. I had no idea of the number until I looked it up. The African-American exodus has its own reasons: violent street crime and lack of police protection, terrible schools, no jobs. Perversely, Chicagoans keep electing the same people. It’s the slow death of a once great city. I wouldn’t want to live there, and I’m not that keen on visiting either.

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    1. To each his own, so true. It’s all relative. As an ex-New Yorker born and raised, I always felt that Chicago was a bit of a Podunk in comparison. You know, Big Apple vs. Small Potatoes. New York always had better baseball teams, higher class opera, symphonies, and museums, better restaurants, better architecture, taller buildings, greater bridges, a vaster subway system, older history (going back to the Dutch and the Revolutionary War), a more sophisticated culture with better newspapers, media, theatre, a population of about seven times greater, and so on. Where New York led, Chicago followed. Its politics were even more corrupt! Even Chicago’s progressives pale in comparison with New York’s lunatics. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want to go back there. I enjoyed living and working in the Chicago area, but there was always that sense the place was ultimately a big Dullsville of little town blues, as the song goes. So is Mayberry boring? In comparison to New York, certainly. But it’s a nice place to live, and I kinda like nice.

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