One week ago today, on December 1, lame-duck President Joe Biden announced he had issued a full and unconditional pardon for his son Hunter after pledging (lying) for months that he wouldn’t do so. The resulting firestorm and repercussions have continued, with those on the left with the courage to defend the controversial pardon concocting ridiculous reason after ridiculous reason why it was justified.
Welp, MSNBC weekend host and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart on Friday came up with the most comical reason yet to declare that Biden had good reason to do what he did.
Ready?
In Capehart’s delusional mind, the pardon was “justified” because Kamala Harris lost the election.
No, really.
During an appearance on Friday’s episode of “PBS News Hour,” host Geoff Bennett ran down a list of reasons that people have criticized Biden’s pardon (rather than, as any reasonable person would do, run down a list of reasons that Biden’s pardon was justified), from the lame duck president’s pledge that he wouldn’t pardon his son to his claims that he would protect Justice Department independence by not pardoning Hunter.
Bennett then asked Capehart: “Jonathan, in your view, was it justified, and what’s the lasting impact?”
The ever-“brilliant” Capehart responded that Biden was justified not only because Harris lost but also because Democrats need “to stop bringing a melon baller to a knife fight.”
Raise your hand if you have a “melon baller.”
ALSO READ: No Pardon for Joe Biden
Capehart continued (emphasis, mine):
[Y]es, it was justified. When the president said that he would not pardon his son, wouldn’t grant clemency, the facts on the ground were completely different. It’s the middle of a presidential campaign. He was the candidate for president, didn’t want to be viewed as interfering. He’s no longer the candidate. His vice president is the presidential nominee.
Hmmm.
Capehart didn’t have any idea what he was really saying, which was that Biden had to lie because if he had told the truth, his campaign would have blown up long before he was ousted in a palace coup. And once he became a bitter lame duck, Biden no longer cared what anyone thought about a pardon of Hunter, one way or the other.
Capehart’s illogical logic in defense of the pardon continued — including blaming President-elect Donald Trump, as well.
I am almost, 99 percent certain, that President Biden was hoping that Vice President Harris would win and that this would not be an issue. But when the person who won the race won the race by vowing a campaign — through a campaign of retribution, revenge, naming the Biden family in general and Hunter Biden, in particular, as someone or people, groups of people, he wanted to go after if he won election, of course, the president looks at the facts, says, that “I cannot allow that to happen to my son.”
Translation: “I prioritized a member of my family over equal justice under the law.”
Besides, with Hunter just days away from a potential prison sentence, what and how does Capehart think Trump would or could have further “punish(ed)” Biden’s wayward son?
Capehart continued to dig his irrational hole even deeper.
[F]or some Democrats to be complaining about how “you have ruined norms” and “you have given him an avenue,” have they not been paying attention to who Donald Trump is either during the campaign or during his four years as president the first go-round?
Memo to Capehart: Trump’s first term had zero to do with Hunter Biden’s convictions and guilty plea. ZERO. Neither will Trump’s second term.
Capehart’s final idiotic attempt to rationalize the pardon was perhaps his “best.”
Whether President Biden pardoned his son or not, Trump is going to do it [pardon Trump supporters who were convicted in connection to the January 6, 2021, protests at the U.S. Capitol]. No one’s going to be surprised.
And I take your point, David, about the erosion of norms. At a certain point, you have got to stop bringing a melon baller to a knife fight.
Huh? What, Mr. Capehart, a mutually exclusive preemptive tit-for-tat?
One of the most ridiculous characteristics of those on the left is their complete lack of self-awareness. On Friday’s episode of “PBS News Hour,” Jonathan Capehart took home the trophy.
