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bb88 | on: Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon
Genuine question: Of all the people to pardon, why him?
beeflet | parent | next
because it was a promise he made to the libertarian camp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8ofi6U0eWE

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macinjosh | parent | next
Trump promised to do this at the Libertarian Party convention. This case is very important to the libertarian crowd. He is a martyr for many of their ideals. After Trump was so well received at the convention the LP, recently taken over by the right faction of the party, put forth a candidate specifically chosen to not get votes so that members would vote for Trump. Trump seems to be a man of his word.
bb88 | root | parent | next
Voters wanted a better economy first, not pardons for drug traffickers and violent offenders.

This could have waited until after the midterms.

Klonoar | root | parent | next
> This could have waited until after the midterms.

On the contrary, he can just bury it in the first 48 hours. This will fade into the background soon enough but that group is kept happy.

macinjosh | root | parent | next
It was one signature? Doesn't seem like a big time sink. Many of these early actions were prepared prior to inauguration.
bb88 | root | parent
In war, you point your biggest gun at the enemy. You don't shoot yourself in the foot.
mattpope | root | parent | next
It seems like the voters that were being referred to value restoring rights. How can something immediately achievable be balanced with "the economy", a thing so broad and deeply systemic?
bb88 | root | parent
The people in Pennsylvania who elected him, didn't want this.
mattpope | root | parent | next
It isn't clear from your original statement that those voters aren't from Pennsylvania. I interpret your statement as discounting the weight of their vote on actions they care about. There are many perspectives, and the values of those who did vote in that direction are being addressed in some way.
bb88 | root | parent
A lot of republicans want a "shining city upon the hill". Drug free, sin free, tough penalties on crime.

A lot of republicans want a working economy. High paying jobs, low taxes.

A lot of republicans believe in a free market economy. Freedom to innovate, freedom to hire and fire.

And then we have this.

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toyg | root | parent | next
The people in Pennsylvania knew they were voting for an out-of-control, unpredictable, felonious septuagenarian with fascist tendencies. Complaining now that he is all of those things before he is someone who may or may not do other good things, is just silly. Either they knew, or they've been had.
duxup | root | parent | next
>This could have waited until after the midterms.

He promised to pardon the rioters during the election and it didn't hurt him. I think he decided it wouldn't hurt him (and Trump cares bout that first) and if he thought about the midterms ... maybe won't hurt then either.

Congress isn't directly involved in any of this anyway.

bb88 | root | parent
Congress is involved. They have to prove they can govern. It's hard to be the party of "law and order" if you need only to kiss the ring for your release.
duxup | root | parent | next
GOP house could hardly operate last round and … they won more seats.
bb88 | root | parent
I think this is funny.

People hate congress. Yet each person can vote to only change one congressman at a time.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx

October of 2001 they were up to 80% approval. Left to their own devices by Aug 2002 they were below 50%.

There's an argument to be made that congress doesn't really represent the people at large. Some people go on to make the argument that through gerrymandering politicians choose who's elected, and not the people.

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toyg | root | parent
The GOP doesn't exist anymore, it's simply Trump Party. They live or die on his performance, and kiss his ring to exist.
Bluescreenbuddy | root | parent | next
The leopards will be feasting the next 4 years.
foogazi | root | parent
Eh, lowering the price of eggs is not as easy so
orblivion | root | parent | next
The LP candidate was nominated due to some fluke/shenanigans/dealings between candidates. Based on the right-leaning demographics you would not expect him to win. It just happened to work out perfectly to get the people who would never vote for him anyway to vote for Trump. (Meanwhile the chairwoman encouraged Biden supporters to vote for the LP candidate).

Also, Trump actually got a mixed reception at the convention at best.

insane_dreamer | root | parent | next
> Trump seems to be a man of his word.

when there's political gain, sure

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Dalewyn | root | parent | next
>Trump seems to be a man of his word.

One of the big reasons I voted for him. He actually keeps the promises he made as far reality will allow.

What's really stupid is that keeping promises made isn't the norm for politicians, of all kinds.

jdjdjfhfkeksnc | root | parent
This is 100% true. I am posting from an anon account (obviously), but I was heavily involved in this. I worked with members of the party to push part of their strategy - mainly the coalition with trump and an effort to get vivek and elon involved. We spoke about this in 2023. I didn't care about Ross, had my own motivations, but I wrote some of their playback with AI and it worked. I didn't know about certain things (like the losing candidate for example). I wrote strategy that seems to have made its way all the way to Trump's team.
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SamPatt | parent | next
It's because of his mother Lyn.

She was a tireless advocate for his release from the start, and it became a part of the libertarian cause to see him released.

It worked. Trump courted the libertarian vote, and this was his most popular promise to them.

She's an inspiring woman. I'm so glad she lived to see this.

ttyprintk | root | parent | next
Someone with that dedication can now move on to remedying the damage done by a free-for-all gun marketplace.
y0ssar1an | root | parent
Yay the drug trafficker and hitman hirer is free! What a happy ending! /s
dools | root | parent
Don't forget all the zombie drones who attacked the capitol on his behalf
xwolfi | parent | next
Trump explains it eloquently:

"The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me," Trump said in his post online on Tuesday evening. "He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!"

hilux | parent | next
According to Trump, he is doing this to get libertarian support.
Spooky23 | parent | next
They seem to be pandering to the more libertarian tech community. This guy appeals to that and to the more radical maga types who want a revolution. I’m sure we’ll see more.

The Biden DOJs bungling of the insurrection, turning a jail into a martyrs club, slow rolling prosecutions, etc is ultimately worse than the insurrection for democracy.

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IncreasePosts | parent | next
Presumably musk pushed for it. Not sure who else in/near the administration would even have him on their radar
silisili | root | parent | next
Whether or not he was the sole or even primary reason, he knew about it beforehand as seen by his tweet last night saying it was coming soon. Love him or hate him, it's a bit concerning that he has that level of access IMO.

The tweet:

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1881524296386031892

tomhoward | root | parent | next
It’s been a campaign of Mike Cernovich’s for a long time.
arrowsmith | root | parent
And Trump cares what Mike Cernovich thinks because.... ?
Havoc | root | parent | next
Musk is definitely a fan recreationally chemistry
xigency | root | parent
The clips of him rolling his eyes and head around in boredom at the inauguration definitely looked like he was suffering from some kind of withdrawal symptoms.
freddi333 | root | parent
Trump promised it when he attended the libertarian convention
duxup | parent | next
[flagged]
bb88 | root | parent | next
Why now, and not 4 years from now when Trump is about to leave office?

How do republicans in Idaho (who don't even have medical marijuana on the books), defend Trump pardoning someone convicted of drug trafficking?

mmooss | root | parent | next
That argument isn't contrary to the GP comment: It's very possible Trump is offered a benefit now that he wasn't offered in 2020.

You could ask the same of any deal: Why not instead of years ago? Because the deal wasn't available years ago.

ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 | root | parent | next
> The Trump admin was already selling pardons at the end of their last term, why wouldn't they continue doing so?

Substantiating my obliterated sibling comment:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/giuliani-accu...

blindriver | root | parent | next
He promised the Libertarians he would and he's holding true to his word. Say what you will but at least he's fulfilling his campaign promises.
mmooss | root | parent | next
What about his campaign promise for law and order?
bb88 | root | parent
Trump's Law, not you know, the people's law.
talldayo | root | parent
He promised international canvassers that we'd have peace in Ukraine on his first day in office. Whatever he arranged with druggie libertarians is chopped liver from a policy perspective. On the international stage it's the dictionary definition of a nothingburger.
floydnoel | root | parent | next
as somebody with family members who are "republicans in idaho" they mostly won’t care. many if not most republican idahoans think you should be able to own machine guns and do whatever you want without hurting others.

the mormon ones would be the most likely that would object, but even plenty of the republican/libertarian mormons i know are happy to have the massive government overreach corrected.

duxup | root | parent | next
Why not now?

Trump isn't up for re-election. It's his act alone.

He promised in the election to pardon other criminals and it didn't hurt him.

kevin_thibedeau | root | parent
[flagged]
duxup | root | parent | next
Well even if he bet on going that route he wouldn't have to be "elected", and my last line applies none the less, it didn't hurt him during an actual election.
plagiarist | root | parent
Yes. Except, "neutralize?" I don't know why the federal government would bother with the pretense of a 22nd Amendment when they demonstrably do not care in the slightest about the 14th or most of the Bill of Rights.
timewizard | root | parent
You believe there are "selfless politicians" operating in America right now?
duxup | root | parent | next
I believe there's a wide range of choices and behaviors and any poor choice is not equivalent to all poor choices.
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jedberg | root | parent
Yes. I think many of them are. The harassment and constant criticism isn't worth it unless you really care about the people you serve in most cases.

It's pretty obvious which ones are doing it for themselves.

ty6853 | parent
What do you mean? Trump just pardoned or commuted pretty much all of the J6 crowd. One guy convicted of crimes that don't require proving violence beyond a reasonable doubt is pretty tame in comparison. He is one of thousands.
| root | parent | next
{"deleted":true,"id":42787646,"parent":42787536,"time":1737509572,"type":"comment"}
insane_dreamer | root | parent | next
Trump know the Jan 6 rioters and supported them. Pardoning is important to justify his claim that nobody did anything wrong as that the election was "stolen by the Dems".

I can't imagine he would have known Ross Ulbricht's case.

bb88 | root | parent
What? All crimes were proved beyond a reasonable doubt according to a jury of our peers. (Or they plead guilty).
ty6853 | root | parent
The violent element was not proven for Ross. The judge decided on preponderance of evidence he hired the hit man, and sentenced him as if he did.
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