Presidential candidate Nikki Haley has vowed to pardon former US President Donald Trump should she defeat him in the Republican Primary and win against Joe Biden in November. Speaking at a town hall in South Carolina on Sunday (18 February), Haley confirmed that if the former president is found guilty, she would pardon him to unify America. She said: “We’ve got to leave the negativity and the baggage behind. I don’t want this country divided any further. I don’t think it’s in the best interest for America to have an 80-year-old president sitting in jail and having everybody upset about it.” Trump faces several court cases related to election interference, the January 6 riots, and falsifying business records.
    • grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.world
      54·
      9 months ago

      A pardon is essentially that. But only literally in the case of a conviction. You can issue blanket pardons which basically say “if you did something, you are pardoned”. These do not have the direct acknowledgement of guilt but it’s obviously heavily implied.

      • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
        12·
        9 months ago

        These don’t side-step prosecution though, just the sentence if found guilty, correct?

        • LufyCZ@lemmy.world
          11·
          9 months ago

          Well don’t think there’s a point prosecuting someone (i.e. spending insane amounts of taxpayer money) if, in the end, you achieve “nothing”, in terms of punishment.

          There might still be indirect punishment in terms of a hit to public image but eh

          • AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world
            4·
            9 months ago

            I feel like in a high profile case like this the prosecutor would still want to prosecute. If for nothing more than to help make a name for themselves. Of course it’s likely that some funding for such a trial would be taken away after the pardon was issued. It would be an interesting states rights issue though. Can a president pardon someone for a state level crime? I think the consensus is no, but I’m not a lawyer so I wouldn’t really know.

      • AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world
        12·
        9 months ago

        Really it’s the Democrats fault. If they’d just been Republicans this never would have happened. -s

        • NABDad@lemmy.worldEnglish
          7·
          9 months ago

          Well, I blame the Republicans. The Democrats are trying to become Republicans, but the Republicans keep running farther right so fast the Democrats can’t catch up.

    • CasualPenguin@reddthat.com
      1·
      9 months ago

      Isn’t the majority of US power cool with treason (at least so far)?

      He is a free man some 4 years later, and he isn’t likely to face the consequence of not being allowed for president even

  • ravheim@lemmy.world
    83·
    9 months ago

    Yep. She’s not an alternative to Trump. She’s just a Trump clone with better make-up and more stylish heels. Same for Ron Desantis. I don’t think Ramaswamy wore heels, otherwise the same could be said about him.

  • gloss@discuss.tchncs.de
    53·
    9 months ago

    she would pardon him to unify America.

    What she means is that she would do it to placate Trumps dangerous cult. There are a thousand things republicans could do if they really cared about “unity” but letting a racist piece of trash criminal like Trump off the hook isn’t one of them.

    • Funderpants @lemmy.ca
      21·
      9 months ago

      To conservatives the meaning of law and order is simple but not the same as it is for Liberals or Social Dems. For conservatives law exists to maintain the order of existing social hierarchies and to bind the people into those hierarchies. It binds women below men by stripping them of bodily autonomy, it binds black people below white people by stripping them of their vote then criminalizing protest, it goes on and on like this and becomes painfully obvious once we learn to see it for what it is.

      • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        9 months ago

        I get what you’re saying. But I still take a little bit of issue with it. Conservatives don’t have a special definition of law and order. They are using law and order as it was intended. I think liberals etc. Have a false impression of what it was ever supposed to be. Laws absolutely can be and often are unjust. The order almost undoubtedly always is corrupt. And the laws are specifically to preserve the order. Nothing else.

        What you want. What any good person should want. Is justice and peace. Things we aren’t really allowed to have. All because of law and order. So I ask you, what good is law and order? Give it some consideration. I think you will come to a similar conclusion. Justice even if it’s a threat to the order is necessary for meaningful peace. And laws don’t bring justice.

  • MonsiuerPatEBrown@reddthat.comEnglish
    20·
    9 months ago

    If she wins and pardons Trump … Trump, IMHO, would have her assassinated and try to take over the government. Again.

    How can she not see that ?

  • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
    18·
    9 months ago

    I mean, if I were running I’d absolutely say in public that I’d pardon him if he were to drop out. Then I absolutely would not pardon him after I won.

    • Nougat@kbin.social
      10·
      9 months ago

      Not in Georgia. They have a pardon and parole board, and without getting into the weeds, there is no way to escape incarceration through a pardon in GA.

      The same board does have the power to commute sentences, though.