This is the audio version of my latest piece, Criminality As Credential.
I started with Trump’s pardon of former Republican congressman Stephen Buyer, but the more I looked, the clearer the larger pattern became. These pardons are not random. They are not mercy. They are not justice. They are a map of Donald Trump’s values.
Trump has used the pardon power to reward loyalists, political allies, financial criminals, January 6 defendants, culture-war figures, and people whose crimes fit neatly inside his own moral universe: money, loyalty, silence, propaganda, violence, and usefulness.
In Trump’s America, criminality is not disqualifying if it serves him. It becomes a credential.
We can’t let ourselves say, it’s just another day in Trump Land. We can’t let ourselves feel or believe this is in any way normal.
P.S. I made changes to the text piece after I recorded it. You’ll find the full text piece here.
Thank you, as always, for reading From the Inside Out. I’m grateful for everyone who spends time with these pieces, thinks about them, responds to them, and helps keep this conversation going.
If these missives are meaningful to you, I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber. Free subscriptions matter, too, and every reader helps this work reach farther.
Please also consider sharing this piece with someone who might care about it. Word of mouth matters more than ever.
And if you’re already a paid subscriber, thank you. Your support makes it possible for me to keep showing up here, week after week.
