President’s hypocrisy on governor’s pardons

Editor: Sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander. However, President Donald Trump disagrees, and he became rather saucy in comments about pardons California’s governor granted ex-convicts.

Trump’s hypocrisy defies explanation. He has abused his pardon power, and may do so again in a frantic attempt to escape prosecution for crimes committed before and after taking office. He particularly despises left-leaning Californians. The bumbler-in-chief aimed criticism at the state’s governor for issuing pardons, according to a March 31 article by Associated Press writers Amanda Lee Myers and Paul Elias:

“President Trump blasted California Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday for his pardon of five ex-convicts facing deportation, including two who fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia with their families four decades ago.

“In a tweet, Trump referred to Brown as ‘Moonbeam,’ referencing a nickname a newspaper columnist coined for him in the 1970s. Trump then listed the ex-convicts’ crimes before they were pardoned Friday. They include misdemeanor domestic violence, drug possession, and kidnapping and robbery.

“Trump wrote: ‘Is this really what the great people of California want?’

“In a news release about the pardons on Friday, the governor’s office said that ‘those granted pardons all completed their sentences years ago and the majority were convicted of drug-related or other nonviolent crimes.’

“‘Pardons are not granted unless they are earned,’ the governor’s office said.”

Quakers shaped the penal system of the United States hundreds of years ago, seeking to reform inmates’ attitudes and equip them to succeed when their terms were finished. It has been relatively effective, although at times brutality behind prison walls defeated the intent.

The ex-cons Gov. Brown pardoned apparently are examples of the way those good intentions have been successful. But the president, devoted to repression, sees not progress but its reverse.

Trump misplaces his attention. He should be devoting attention to Robert Mueller’s investigations. That probe may cook the president’s goose.

LANGE WINCKLER

Lodi