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Trump: Friends With Benefits (Pardons) and Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Colorado News
Posted on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 01:16:42 PM EST
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Just in time for Thanksgiving, Donald Trump has pardoned 65 people, including his cronies who helped him try to overturn the 2020 election. Many of these people were not even charged in federal court. How is Trump pardoning people charged or convicted in state court?

Pardon Secretary Ed Martin made the announcement. and published the list. His comment, according to the article linked above: "No Maga Left Behind".

Better Slogan: "It's time to scrape that sh*t right off your shoes." (Hat tip for the line to the Rolling Stones, "Sweet Virginia", which although not about Trump or Maga, fits perfectly in my mind).

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

< Sunday Open Thread: Clocks

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    Better late than never (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 03:06:55 PM EST
    Johnson Will Swear In Adelita Grijalva
    November 10, 2025 at 11:25 am EST By Taegan Goddard 112 Comments

    Speaker Mike Johnson plans to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) before the House votes on a government funding package, Punchbowl News reports.

    Grijalva's installation in the House does not change the voting math for the funding bill. But she said she will sign the discharge petition to release the Epstein files. Grijalva's signature will force a vote in the House.

    So when (none / 0) (#3)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 04:35:07 PM EST
    is this? Does the source say? Because I have not heard Johnson say that he is calling back the house.

    Parent
    He has said (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 04:46:01 PM EST
    They are coming back I believe.

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    This (none / 0) (#5)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 04:47:56 PM EST
    Post

    See new posts
    Conversation
    Jake Sherman

    @JakeSherman
    NEWS -- SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON plans to swear in Rep.-elect ADELITA GRIJALVA before the government funding vote.

    This will not change the vote count on the funding bill. But it will put the EPSTEIN discharge petition over the 218-signature threshold

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    Okay. (none / 0) (#6)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 04:57:12 PM EST
    I googled and found out that they are on their way back to DC.

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    Why I Am Resigning (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 03:16:22 PM EST

    A federal judge explains his reasoning for leaving the bench.

    By Mark L. Wolf

    A serial criminal (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by KeysDan on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 05:13:20 PM EST
    avoided jail time for a child sex offender thanks to Trump's pardon for his  attack of a police officer during the January 6 insurrection.   At the time of this attack, Andrew Taake, of Texas, was out on bond for the charge of solicitation of a 15-year old girl for sex.  

    Taake pleaded guilty and was able to stay out of prison due to the "credit" he was given for

     time served for his role in the Jan 6 violent attempt to overthrow the government.  He accrued three years and seven months while serving in pretrial detention, and is a registered sex offender.  Using credit from a pardoned federal crime for a separate crime to keep him out of prison on an unrelated state charge is, apparently, rare.  Especially, moving from a political protest crime to child exploitation.

    Is it just me? (5.00 / 3) (#11)
    by Chuck0 on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 10:15:19 PM EST
    Or is Mike Johnson the skeeviest person ever in public life?

    Thank you for your attention to this matter.

    You are correct, Sir. (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by desertswine on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 10:39:01 PM EST


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    In 2023, when (5.00 / 2) (#14)
    by KeysDan on Tue Nov 11, 2025 at 11:43:10 AM EST
    then Speaker Kevin McCarthy faced a plot from his members to remove him from the Speakership, the House Democrats helped show McCarthy the door.

    In May 2024, seven months later, House Republicans, lead by Marjorie Taylor Green, launched an attempt to oust the new Speaker, Mike Johnson. However, this time the vast majority of House Democrats, including their leadership, voted to save Johnson's bacon.

    Johnson was known, at the time , as being a Christo-fascist, a 2020 election denier and supporter, and  a commonplace MAGAt. Apparently, it was considered a smart strategy for the Democrats to reward Johnson for a modicum  of cooperation he showed, such as Ukraine aid.  The reasons for throwing Johnson a life-preserver instead of an anvil were reported as being that a successor might be worse and that the Democrats wanted to demonstrate that they are the adults in the room that can be counted on as responsible curators of the the institution.

    It seems to me that working with  the fascist Trump regime is not the fabled "bipartisanship", but rather, collaboration.  The electorate appears to have acknowledged this reality, but some Democratic officials continue to be slow to do so.

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    To offer an answer to J's question (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by Peter G on Tue Nov 11, 2025 at 02:24:43 PM EST
    in the post itself:  Tr*mp cannot and did not pardon anyone for state offenses relating to the fake electors (or anything else), such as the charges that Giuliani faces in Arizona, or John Eastman in Georgia (or to which atty Sidney Powell pleaded guilty in Georgia). However, yesterday's proclamation does appear to pardon anyone who is, was, or may be federally charged with illegal voting for President in 2020 (other than a non-citizen), or any other election fraud in 2020 affecting the race for President, regardless of the circumstances or facts.

    I've been spending the day watching (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by desertswine on Tue Nov 11, 2025 at 04:02:09 PM EST
    The Twilight Zone.  I can't believe there are a few that I hadn't seen before.  Or maybe I just forgot them.  I can't tell which anymore.

    A fork on the road (none / 0) (#8)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 05:27:42 PM EST
    The Court has been punting.  I think punting time us over.  They have repeatedly said we will decide later but you can slide for now.
    This is it.  They either enforce the law or they don't but the WSJ has it right, it's time to decide.

    the Wall Street Journal reports.

    "Over Trump's first year back in office, the court has given the president wide latitude to implement his policies, through some two dozen emergency orders that paused the effect of lower-court rulings against the administration. But it hadn't fully reviewed any of Trump's actions until last Wednesday's hearing on Trump's global tariffs, where the dynamics shifted: Most justices suggested the president acted beyond his legal authority."

    "If those sentiments find their way into a ruling, it would be the court's first real blow to Trump in more than five years. Now it is up to Roberts to cobble together a decision on a policy that Trump has portrayed as essential to the nation."
    Pundits (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 07:55:46 PM EST
    Seem to think that there are definite nos but not sure if there will be a 5th.

    With this possible blow and that of Epstein maybe he will be starting to collapse.

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    Boooooooooo (none / 0) (#9)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 10, 2025 at 05:53:09 PM EST
    I (state your name) do solemnly swear .....

    Is he supposed to be taking a pledge?

    He was administering the oath (none / 0) (#13)
    by Peter G on Tue Nov 11, 2025 at 11:36:05 AM EST
    to an assembled group of new military recruits.

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    I'm sure it was (none / 0) (#15)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 11, 2025 at 11:49:46 AM EST
    memorable for them

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    I hope it was informative and made a (5.00 / 2) (#16)
    by Peter G on Tue Nov 11, 2025 at 01:54:21 PM EST
    lasting impression on them that a broad cross-section of ordinary Americans (football fans) do not respect (to put it mildly) their new "Commander in Chief." If and when the time comes when they have to make a decision about defying a plainly unconstitutional or otherwise unlawful order, that is.

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    Unseen things (none / 0) (#17)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 11, 2025 at 02:23:53 PM EST

    The Seattle Times reported on this curious segment of the documentary.

    The attack happened "in my bed at night and I got attacked while I was asleep with my wife and four dogs in the bed and mauled, physically mauled ... by a demon or by something unseen that left claw marks on my sides," Carlson says.

    The newspaper reports a 5-minute segment of the documentary "includes creepy music, reenactments of Carlson firing a gun and dogs running through the woods in slow motion."

    According to Carlson, his wife and dogs slept through the attack but he woke up out of breath, walked to his bathroom and saw bloody claw marks on his rib cage, under his arms and on his left shoulder.

    He thought he had a bad dream until he saw bloody sheets on his bed, he says.

    His response to these nocturnal events? A "very intense" need to read the Bible.

    "That happened to me," he says. "No one has to believe me. I don't care."

    Tucker Carlson seeing demons in his bedroom is not a good sign

    Commentary (5.00 / 3) (#19)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 11, 2025 at 02:25:09 PM EST
    If your dogs slept through a demon attack you need new dogs.

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    It's Chuck Todd but it's true (none / 0) (#20)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 11, 2025 at 02:35:51 PM EST

     "For now, it looks like Democrats are the divided party. Their debates are loud, public, and occasionally messy -- but they're mostly tactical. The fights are about how to win, or how to confront Trump -- not what they believe, and certainly not whether to confront him. Tactical splits heal quickly when a party is united in opposition. And being in the minority tends to concentrate the mind."

    "So while the `Democrats in disarray' storyline is getting more attention this week, it isn't fractious enough to derail the party's midterm strategy. The big ideological debate about the future of the party won't happen until the 2027-28 Democratic presidential primaries."

    "Republicans, by contrast, are living inside a cult of personality. Their unity isn't ideological or tactical. It's gravitational -- held together by one man. And the problem with cults of personality is that when the personality loses touch with reality, the whole structure begins to wobble

    The Fracture Is Coming
    (Why Trump's economic reality check could finally break his hold on the GOP)

    I have (none / 0) (#21)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Nov 11, 2025 at 03:24:50 PM EST
    watched his podcast and since leaving the NBC news operation he actually has decent insights into what is going on. I was frankly kinda shocked to see him do this since he was eternally stuck in the DC narrative mindset while running Meet the Press.

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