Makes Sense: It's a Criminal Who is Pardoning Criminals

How do you dismantle a system that is based on the rule of law? By making the rule of law a mockery, such as by pardoning every criminal ever caught for corruption, money laundering, extortion, etc. By depleting the judicial system from its authority to punish criminals, Donald Trump has sent the message that his own life of crime and corruption, of cheating and lying, is normal. The message to current and future criminals is it is OK to commit crimes because you can get away with it. It also tells the American people that the justice system is pointless and that next time you have a legal problem, don't count on the legal system for redress.

By pardoning criminals, Donald Dumb, himself a criminal convicted felon, is putting back in the streets people who now owe him and who will commit more crimes that will favor Trump and his own corrupt Mafia family. It may be that, in his demented mind, Trump does not consider "cheating the system" as a crime because he did it throughout his life. He firmly believes that cheating by "smart" people like him is normal and should be encouraged. In a way, he has deep solidarity for these criminals he has pardoned because he feels he's one of them.

Yet, some Trump supporters seem to have a very basic element of conscience, although marred by conflicts of interest. For example, billionaire Trump supporter Joe lansdale, co-founder of Palantir Technologies and contributor of funds to Trump's demolition of the White House East Wing, is against the Trump pardon of Changpeng Zhao because it ‘Makes it look like massive fraud’.  In a post on X, Lonsdale said that he loves Trump, calling his administration “possibly the greatest” of his lifetime — except for this newest move. “POTUS has been terribly advised on this; it makes it look like massive fraud is happening around him in this area.”

George Santos - Last week, Donald Trump commuted the sentence of former U.S. Rep. George Santos, saving the gay Republican from more than seven years in prison and over half a million dollars in fines. While conservatives deny that Trump's order showed favoritism to his party, the president has explicitly stated it does.  After becoming the first non-incumbent openly gay Republican elected to Congress in 2022, Santos served less than a year after it was revealed that he had fabricated much of his life story. On the campaign trail, Santos claimed he was a successful business consultant with Wall Street with a sizable real estate portfolio. But when his resume came under scrutiny, Santos eventually admitted he had never graduated from Baruch College — or been a standout player on the Manhattan college’s volleyball team, as he had claimed. He had never worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Santos was charged in 2023 with stealing from donors and his campaign, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits and lying to Congress about his wealth. Within months, he was expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives -- with 105 Republicans joining with Democrats to make Santos just the sixth member in the chamber’s history to be ousted by colleagues..

Changpeng Zhao, a.k.a. CZ, is the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance which has expressed interest in working with the Trump family’s crypto business. Zhao, a Chinese-born Canadian who is one of the world’s richest people, served four months in prison after pleading guilty in 2023 to violating anti–money laundering requirements by failing to prevent criminals from using Binance to move money connected to drug trafficking and child abuse. When asked about why he decided to pardon Zhao, Trump explained at the White House: “I don’t know. He was recommended by a lot of people.”

Michael Grimm and John Rowland -  In late May, Trump pardoned former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who in 2014 pleaded guilty to underreporting wages and revenue at a restaurant he ran in Manhattan. He also pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose promising political career was upended by a corruption scandal and two federal prison stints.

January 6 Capitol Seditious Rioters - On his inauguration day, January 20, 2025, Trump granted full pardons to the nearly 1,500 white supremacists who stormed the Capitol aiming to kill Vice-President Mike Pence. Among them are Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader, who was previously sentenced to 22 years for seditious conspiracy, and Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers,  - whose 18-year sentence was commuted to time served.

Ross Ulbricht - Pardoned on January 21, 2025. Ulbricht is the founder of the Silk Road dark web marketplace, an anonymous platform that facilitated the sale of illegal drugs and other illicit goods using cryptocurrency. Ulbricht had been given a life sentence in 2015 for multiple charges, including conspiracy to distribute narcotics and money laundering.

Andrew Zabavsky and Terence Sutton - Trump issued a "full and unconditional pardon" to these two DC Metropolitan Police Department officers for their roles in the death of 20-year-old Karon Hylton-Brown. The pair were sentenced after they pursued the victim in a high-speed chase for driving a moped without a helmet, and tried to cover up the incident.

Rod Blagojevich - In February 2025, Trump granted a full pardon to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who had been convicted in 2011 on multiple corruption charges, including attempting to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Brian Kelsey - In March 2025, Trump pardoned the former Republican Tennessee state Senator Brian Kelsey, who had pleaded guilty over attempting to illegally funnel money to his failed campaign for Congress in 2016. 

Trevor Milton - The founder of electric vehicle start-up Nikola had been sentenced to four years in prison for fraud but remained free pending an appeal. Prosecutors said that Milton had engaged in a scheme to defraud investors, and he was convicted of two counts of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud. Milton and his wife were major Trump donors, having donated more than $1.8 million to his re-election campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Michele Fiore - In March 2025, the president issued a pardon for Michele Fiore, who had been convicted of seven counts relating to wire fraud for stealing $70,000 she had collected for a memorial to fallen police officers, and instead used for personal expenses.She was pardoned before being sentenced.

Paul Walczak - In April 2025, Trump pardoned Paul Walczak, a former nursing home executive convicted of misappropriating over $10 million in employment taxes for personal luxury spending. The pardon came after lobbying efforts by his mother, Elizabeth Fago, a significant Trump donor. Trump's decision was announced less than three weeks after Fago attended a $1 million-per-person fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.

Scott Jenkins - On May 26, 2025, Trump announced a pardon of Scott Jenkins, the former sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia, who was convicted of accepting more than $75,000 in bribes in exchange for appointing individuals as auxiliary deputies. Jenkins had been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in 2024. Trump criticized the prosecution as politically motivated and said Jenkins was the "victim of an overzealous" justice department under Biden.

Todd and Julie Chrisley - On May 27, Trump said he planned to pardon reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted in 2022 of several counts of fraud and tax evasion involving over $30 million. Todd was serving a 12-year sentence, and Julie was serving seven years. Their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, a vocal Trump supporter, had lobbied for their release and received the news of their pardon in a phone call from the president.