Was pondering the three big pardons this past week -- pardons that either make no fucking sense, or that make all the fucking sense in the world. I think they make all the sense in the world. Because this dynamic is a known thing.
In the worst eras of southern American history, what message did law enforcement, the judiciary, and the government as a whole send when (1) horrific crimes were committed against African Americans (e.g., lynchings), and (2) those power structures openly and shamelessly let the white perpetrators walk about freely, with no consequences? That's no mystery. The message being sent was clear as a bell: we are in control and power, NOT you, and you need to know your place and shut up and take whatever we choose to do. "The things we do are okay, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it." That's a classical display of an abusive disparate power dynamic; it's not unique to the US, but that example is one most of us have familiarity with.
So . . . what message is the power structure sending when (1) people who have committed crimes like defrauding innocent people of hundreds of millions of dollars, or taking bribes to influence their votes as a member of Congress, or trafficking huge volumes of drugs using the apparatus of a nation state to do so, and (2) those people are set free with no consequences? Of course, it is the power structure sending that same message: "These things are okay, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it." And "we have all the power, we're going to use it however we want, NOT you, and you need to know your place." It's not a complicated play. And it's being run on all of us right now. It's ESPECIALLY being run -- as they laugh at you behind closed doors -- on the people who voted for this to "drain the swamp." In just the past few DAYS, DOTARD has released three of the swampiest creatures alive: corrupt drug trafficker, corrupt politician, and fraudster/con-man. That's the exact opposite of draining any swamp - that's stocking the swamp with the literal worst of swamp creatures who had previously been removed. What a bunch of fucking suckers his supporters are, and they are too weak, pathetic, and fragile to EVER admit they got fucking conned.