Ex-GOP strategist predicts what will happen if a Republican president pardons Trump
December 31, 2023
Lincoln Project co-founder and former Republican strategist Rick Wilson lambasted GOP presidential candidates on Sunday for being too scared to hold Donald Trump accountable if he's found guilty of felonies with which he's charged.
Among the questions Republican candidates are getting is whether or not they would pardon Trump were he to be convicted of federal crimes by a jury. Both former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that they would.
Wilson explained that their candidacies are operating in a kind of "moral vacuum, without the slightest understanding of what would actually happen" were Trump to be pardoned.
Read More: Trump's allies are already demanding Georgia laws be changed so he can be pardoned
"The idea that Trump is above the law, that Trump cannot be held accountable, that Trump — nothing that he does could ever be held up to judicial scrutiny in this country, that is not the American system of governance," explained Wilson. "They are saying we will carve out a special exception for a guy who we know has committed criminal acts. Who we know tried to overthrow the United States government. And they will pardon him."
Rather than slowly disappearing into the pages of history, Wilson thinks Trump will instead use a pardon to continue to proclaim his innocence.
Legally speaking, a federal pardon must force someone to admit to his or her guilt, but Trump will likely find a way to change the story.
"The response from Trump is not going to be, 'Oh, thank you for pardoning me. I'm an 80-year-old man,'" said Wilson. "The response will be: 'Now that I've been vindicated, I will seek power again.' This is a guy who has been told over and over again the rules don't apply to him; the law doesn't apply to him. They are repeating the stupidest and most pernicious assertion you can make about Trump. Which is that we are going to give the guy a free pass, that his illegality, his criminality, his unbelievably corrosive behavior in this democracy is going to be forgiven if a Republican somehow gets the nomination against him. It is astounding."
See the conversation in the video below or the link here.
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