Well, he does. In a recent post, “Trump’s Record on Clemency”, written before the president’s most recent (to date) rogue’s gallery of releases, Mr. Ponnuru acknowledges that, well, the president can do anything he goddamn pleases when it comes to pardons, including pardoning a bunch of murders and corrupt political pals whenever the mood strikes him (my gloss), but, “Ideally, though, a president would regard this power as something more than a perk of the office,” a pretty wan hope on Mr. Ponnuru’s part, one would say, since President Trump regards every power of his office as a “perk”. Mr. Ponnuru reminds me of a woman who wishes her boyfriend wouldn’t hit her when he’s wearing his rings.
Afterwords
When it comes to the president’s pardon for the “Blackwater Four,” four Americans employed as private security during the Iraq war who killed 17 civilians in what you can consider a “tragic accident” or a mass murder, Mr. Ponnuru prudently hides behind the skirts of David French, who I’ve often praised, and who served as a lawyer in the U.S. Army in Iraq, but who seriously lowers my opinion of him in his piece urging clemency for the four, “Pardon the Men of Raven 23”. In his account, French relies almost entirely on the testimony of the defendants. With regard to three of the four men, convicted of manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and use of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, French complains that “Essentially the jury found the men guilty of a crime for using the precise weapons they were required to carry as part of their diplomatic protective mission.” In other words, if the government gives you a gun, you can shoot anyone you goddamn please. Well, good to know.
Reason’s Scott Shackford has a more dispassionate take on the pardons that brought such a maidenly blush to Mr. Ponnuru’s cheek, linking to articles in the New York Times on both the original killings and the convictions.
This is, of course, not the first time that President Trump has freed Americans accused or convicted of war crimes, something that both Mr. Ponnuru and Mr. French pass over in silence. For, after all, if we didn’t want our soldiers and merecenaries to kill people, why would we give them a gun?
