AlterNet: 'Go kick some coal': Joe Manchin pummeled for suggesting Biden should also pardon Trump

[Dennis Donovan]

AlterNet - 'Go kick some coal': Joe Manchin pummeled for suggesting Biden should also pardon Trump



President Joe Biden, who prides himself on being an institutionalist, repeatedly insisted that he would not grant his son, Hunter Biden, a pardon for any of the federal criminal charges he was charged with.

But that was before Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. And with Trump's second presidency only one month and half away, President Biden changed his position and granted his son a full pardon in early December.

The president's move has drawn criticism from both Republicans and fellow Democrats. Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, now an independent, argued that if the president was going to grant his son a pardon, he should pardon Trump as well for the federal indictments he has faced — an argument that has drawn some scathing reactions on X, formerly Twitter.

Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann angrily tweeted, "A difficult legacy, @Sen_JoeManchin? Yours is as a Vichy pseudo-Democrat. To hell with you."

Journalist Wajahat Ali posted, "Sail your house boat into the sun, Joe Manchin. Go kick some coal.

CNN's Manu Raju noted that three-term centrist Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana), who was voted out of office in November, had a "different approach than Manchin."

Raju wrote, "Asked Tester about Biden pardoning his son: 'I'm one month from getting the fuck out of here,' he told me with a smile. 'Ask somebody who counts.'"

/snip

[Emile]

1. Did he say which crimes Trump needs a pardon for?

[Vinca]

2. Gee, you'd almost think Manchen was hoping for a job in the Trump nightmare.

[Conjuay]

3. Manchin has black lung in his brain.

[Wiz Imp]

4. Of course this is insane & disgusting.

But the fact is, or course the right wing would welcome this (even though it would be a tacit admission that Trump actually committed crimes). But once they were done screaming how it was such a travesty of injustice that Trump was charged in the first place, they'd go right back to slamming the Hunter Biden pardon. Nothing will change their opinion on that (which effectively proves why it was the right thing to do).

[Passages]

5. Manchin proud he was instrumental at destroying policy that would have had Harris

winning the election....helping millions of Americans. BBBetter

Manchin never gave a damn about his constituents so it is no surprise he would want Trump pardoned.

[republianmushroom]

6. Trump should be setting in a federal pen with no chance of ever getting out.

46 months and counting