Vengeance Is His

Narcissists famously hate being called to account. It makes them vengeful.

Donald Trump said, “Real power is—I don’t even want to use the word—fear.”

Taking the New Old Guy at his word, President Biden issued pardons for his family, Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mike Milley, and the January 6th Select Committee co-chairs, Bennie Thompson (D-Justice) and Liz Cheney (R-Truth).

Cheney and Thompson issued this statement: “We express our gratitude to President Biden for recognizing that we and our families have been continuously targeted not only with harassment, lies, and threats of criminal violence but also with specific threats of criminal prosecution and imprisonment by members of the incoming administration, simply for doing our jobs and upholding our oath of office. We have been pardoned today not for breaking the law but for upholding it.”

President Biden said, “The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense. Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country…These are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing.”

The unconditional pardons President Trump issued to1600 Capitol rioters, 600 of whom were serving long prison terms for beating police officers with baseball bats and poles bearing Trump flags, and/or using chemical spray on officers protecting the Capitol, are an assault on the rule of law.

On social media, Heather Thomas wrote: “So when all was said and done, the only country that opened [its] prisons and sent crazy murderous criminals to prey upon innocent American citizens, was us.” Former US Attorney, Alexis Loeb, said, “These pardons suggest that if you commit acts of violence, as long as you do so on behalf of a politically powerful person you may be able to escape consequences. They undermine—and are a blow to—the sacrifice of all the officers who put themselves in the face of harm to protect democracy on Jan. 6.”

Considering the FBI Director-designate, Kash Patel, and his published enemies list, maybe President Biden should’ve done as many suggested, and pardoned the entire list. Watergate whistleblower John Dean recommended that Biden pardon Trump too. That’s about as popular as chlamydia (but still more popular the US Congress).

The American Civil Liberties Union is suggesting citizens form a defense fund now in the hope that it will raise enough money to keep Trump’s targets out of the Poorhouse as they spend oodles on travel, time off work, and lawyer’s bills. As a funny aside, I loved the Billionaire-in-Chief’s desperate tweet that we “defund the ACLU,” which, apparently unbeknown to Musk, is not government funded.

Conservative columnist Bret Stephens disagrees with all these pardons. “If Trump wants to go after [Cheney] or anyone else on some kind of enemies list, they should have faith in the justice system to do the right thing. The alternative is turning the pardon power, which was intended as a vehicle for personal mercy or for resolving emergencies of state, into just another all-purpose political weapon.” I would agree with him if the rule of law was safe and sacrosanct, but it is not.

Many fear an authoritarian president who has promised to exact revenge on any and all who have dared to disagree or challenge him. It’s all right out of the Hungarian and Russian playbooks. Harass dissenters, jail who you can, intimidate those you can’t jail, and make all of them run up galactic legal bills. Both Russia’s Putin, and Hungary’s Orban have used those tactics to silence critics. They also have been skilled at silencing the media in general, by regulating out of existence the TV stations, newspapers, and websites they don’t like. The riled-up president hopes his new FCC chair will strip broadcasters of their licenses, and threatened to take CBS network’s license after an unflattering 60 Minutes segment, and now demands MSNBC be shuttered. Perhaps he doesn’t realize that only broadcast stations riding the public airwaves are subject to sanction.

Of course the real problem here is that none of this should be happening. We’ve never before had a president that blew through every guardrail and broke the fragile promises of our institutions. Retired US Attorney Joyce Vance wonders whether federal prosecutors, who can bring charges only when they have an ironclad criminal case, will do the dirty work Trump requests. I say it’s a toss-up. A new Justice Department, one formed in Trump’s image and peopled by his sycophants, could easily destroy lives and savings without ever obtaining an indictment. Abuse of process is a real thing, and so are sky-high legal bills.

What’s at stake here is nothing less than the rule of law.

©2025 Jon Sinton