So far Trum pardons have wiped out over $1 billion in decided and sought fines [1]. There are pardons for the likes of Geore Santos (convincted for a whole host of crimes) for no other reason than he was a reliable Republican vote. clearly sending the message that if you are loyal, you can commit crimes and you will be pardoned. There's also the Teenessee House Speaker convicted for corruption [2] and the Binance founder [3] who allegedly aided in Trump's rug pull (sorry, "crypto offering").
Now this sort of thing isn't new. Famously on Clinton's last day in office he pardoned Marc Rich [4], who was convicted (before fleeing the country) on breaking sanctions by trading with Iran. It was widely rumored his ex-wife, Denise Rich, who had a lot of access to the Clinton's brokered a deal.
But what changed is the disastrous Trump v. United STates [5] decision last year that granted almost absolute presidential immunity. Now there's not the slightest fear of repercussions so the whole operation has gone into overdrive and it's so incredibly brazen.
I stand by my original claim: the TP-Link ban isn't technical. It's political. And I would bet all th emoney in my pockets that if the CEO had "donated" $1 million to the inauguration (like all the Tech CEOs did including Bezos and Cook) we'd likely have a very different outcome.
> But what changed is the disastrous Trump v. United STates [5] decision last year that granted almost absolute presidential immunity. Now there's not the slightest fear of repercussions so the whole operation has gone into overdrive and it's so incredibly brazen.
That really has nothing to do with it. The pardon power and it's discretion is well established to rest solely in the hands of the President. There can be no consequences for pardons otherwise, the Clinton things you mention would have led to something.
As far a fines go, if the 2B savings under DOGE was nothing, 1B of lost fines (which would probably have never been collected anyway due to negligence or bankruptcy) is nothing as well.
Now this sort of thing isn't new. Famously on Clinton's last day in office he pardoned Marc Rich [4], who was convicted (before fleeing the country) on breaking sanctions by trading with Iran. It was widely rumored his ex-wife, Denise Rich, who had a lot of access to the Clinton's brokered a deal.
But what changed is the disastrous Trump v. United STates [5] decision last year that granted almost absolute presidential immunity. Now there's not the slightest fear of repercussions so the whole operation has gone into overdrive and it's so incredibly brazen.
I stand by my original claim: the TP-Link ban isn't technical. It's political. And I would bet all th emoney in my pockets that if the CEO had "donated" $1 million to the inauguration (like all the Tech CEOs did including Bezos and Cook) we'd likely have a very different outcome.
[1]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/8/fact-checking-claims...
[2]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-pardons-...
[3]: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-pardons-convicted-bin...
[4]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/clintons-pardon-of-marc-ri...
[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_v._United_States