President Donald Trump’s pardon of General Michael Flynn was long overdue, but that should be just the beginning. Three other dissidents languish in prison for no other reason than the enmity of the Deep State:
Congressman S teve Stockman, a conservative hero who was relentlessly prosecuted by the Obama Administration for revealing the Regime’s arbitrary attacks on conservative organizations; Edward Snowden and Julian Assange are what journalists are supposed to be, those who challenge the power structure rather than defend it.
If President Trump is to be driven out of power by the relentlessly pro-war Ruling Class, he should take it down with him. He is still President of the United States. It’s not time to tweet, it’s time to act.
Congressman Steve Stockman is in prison for alleged fundraising irregularities in a case than hinged upon technicalities and process crimes—very much like General Flynn. It was a classic case of inventing the crime to fit the man, rather than arresting a man for committing a crime. Richard Viguerie, L. Brent Bozell III and other conservative leaders said that the prosecution inappropriately applied the law and never proved any attempt to defraud. Indeed, the people Stockman supposedly defrauded never filed complaints, and it took the fourth grand jury to even get an indictment. That jury was also given misleading instructions [Conservative Nonprofit Leaders Urge SCOTUS to Hear Case of Wrongly Imprisoned Former Congressman, by Rachel Alexander, Townhall, August 17, 2020].
These conservative leaders recognize the significance of why the outgoing Obama Administration targeted Stockman. He had called for the arrest of Lois Lerner after it was exposed that the Obama Administration had used the IRS in a discriminatory manner against conservative nonprofits. It was that very month the investigation against Stockman began [Congressman Stockman’s Case Is A Dark Omen Of Political Repression To Come, by Patti Stockman, Daily Caller, August 19, 2019].
Why did they do it? The Obama Administration wanted to find a way to have the federal government shut down conservative foundations without openly repealing the First Amendment. The Harris/Biden Administration will doubtless take up the same jihad and a shaky Supreme Court will be the last line of defense.
Needless to say, when Richard Nixon allegedly attempted to do this, the same journalists who cheer repression against conservatives were scandalized.
President Trump did act in a similar case when he pardoned Dinesh D’Souza after what Senator Ted Cruz called a politically driven investigation by the Obama Administration [Dinesh D’Souza: Why did Trump pardon the provocateur, by Anthony Zurcher, BBC, May 31, 2018]. Does Stockman not deserve the same mercy?
The treatment of Stockman for process crimes is especially galling considering what has happened (or, rather, hasn’t) to prominent Left-wing figures accused of financial improprieties. These include:
Ilhan Omar [Ilhan Omar cuts financial ties with husband’s political firm after paying it nearly $2.8M, by Megan Henney, Fox News, November 17, 2020] Al Sharpton [Fact check: Stacey Abrams paid outstanding taxes, but the Rev. Al Sharpton still owes, by Chelsey Cox, USA Today, September 12, 2020] Maxine Waters [Rep: Maxine Waters’ family continues to profit directly from her position in Congress, by Becket Adams, Washington Examiner, November 13, 2018]
And of course, there was the murky tale of whether Hunter Biden exploited his father’s influence to secure positions overseas, something even the Obama State Department worried about [Hunter Biden: What was he doing in Ukraine and China, BBC, October 30, 2020]. Determined not to allow a repeat of the 2016 election, journalists en masse refused to cover that story, displaying that coordinated behavior Joe Sobran called typical of “The Hive.” [The Hive, Sobran’s, June 1999]
None of this should be surprising except to the most naïve. America is already a Third World country. We do not have “Equality Before The Law.” The law simply doesn’t apply to some people. President Donald Trump is right that we don’t have freedom of the press, but a media class that suppresses news and speaks power to truth [Trump: ‘We Don’t Have Freedom Of The Press In This Country–We Have Suppression By The Press’, by Jeff Poor, Breitbart, November 29, 2020]. What better way to strike a blow against them by freeing someone who is in jail today because he was trying to expose what the Main Stream Media didn’t want covered?
This is also a literally life or death issue. Because of COVID-19, many prisoners around the country are now being freed because they are at high risk of infection:
Michael Cohen, President Trump’s onetime fixer, was freed thanks to COVID-19 and a judge’s decision that Mr. Cohen should get to publish his book bragging about how he’d betrayed his master [Michael Cohen to be released from prison after judge sides with claims of retaliation, by Shayna Jacobs, The Washington Post, July 23, 2020]. This in and of itself would seem to refute the idea that Donald Trump is some all-powerful authoritarian. Violent felons, including murderers, have been released, and “activists” want more on the streets [Amid COVID-19, California releases some inmates doing time for murder. Advocates push to free more. by Richard Winton, Anita Chabria, and Kim Christenson, Los Angeles Times, August 9, 2020]. Former Democratic Congressman Chaka Fattah, who was convicted of racketeering, conspiracy, money laundering, and mail, wire, and bank fraud, was also released early [Former Philly U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah came home early from prison. Federal officials won’t say why. By Chris Brennan and Jeremy Roebuck, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 15, 2020].
Yet Steve Stockman must remain locked up? The fact that Stockman is not being released despite having several comorbidities and being held in a dangerous environment suggests that Richard Viguerie is not exaggerating when he claims that someone “at the top” wants Stockman dead [Who In Washington Wants Steve Stockman Dead? ‘Someone at the Top,’ ConservativeHQ, July 20, 2020].
If President Trump can give violent criminals a second chance, surely he can spare compassion for one of his most devoted and endangered supporters. The best way to respond to charges of “fascism” would be with an act of mercy.
This also applies to Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. President Trump has not fully broken with neoconservatives. The recent assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, almost certainly with American foreknowledge if not involvement, shows President Trump is still firmly committed to the anti-Iranian foreign policy line. It was also President Trump who ordered the strike on Qasem Soleimani. The Trump Administration has, if anything, taken a far more militant stance against Russia than the Obama Administration. It has already led to unnecessary confrontations with the Russians for unknown purposes. None of this did him any good with the military and foreign policy establishment.
President Trump has come under extraordinary criticism from within his own administration. The so-called “Mad Dog” General James Mattis, President Trump’s first Defense Secretary, has sided with Black Lives Matter while he agitates for America’s forever war in Afghanistan [Mattis gives views on Afghanistan, by Dan Lamothe, The Washington Post, December 14, 2019]. Trump’s own State Department openly defies him while it tries to push BLM in, of all places, South Korea [U.S. Embassy In South Korea Removes Its Black Lives Matter Banner, by Laurel Wamsley, NPR, June 15, 2020]. “Our” State Department pushes regime change on American allies like Hungary. Whatever side America’s diplomatic and military leaders are fighting for, it’s not America’s. And even though President Trump has mostly gone along with their agenda, they still hate him.
Why go along with this?
While American journalists fret about bigoted rocks, why calling Beethoven by his last name is racist, and the eternal crises surrounding black women’s hair, we should also remember two men who actually did what journalists claim to do. Edward Snowden revealed the extent of “our” government’s surveillance on its own people [Edward Snowden Says He’s Applying For Russian Citizenship, by Jaclyn Diaz, NPR, November 2, 2020]. Julian Assange revealed the breathtaking espionage programs the Regime on the Potomac has unleashed against the entire world, all in service to a foreign policy based on perpetual and nihilistic wars [Wikileaks ‘Cablegate’ 10 years on: An unvarnished look at US foreign policy, DW, November 28, 2020].
The best way President Trump can destroy the foreign policy establishment that hates him so much is to pardon both Snowden and Assange [Trump’s Ace: Win or lose He Can Still Devastate the Deep State With Three Perfectly-Timed Moves, Revolver, November 30, 2020].
President Trump’s presidency was successful in revealing the nature of the system that rules us. Unfortunately, he either can’t or won’t prevent the system from controlling him too. As he continues to contest the election results, Donald Trump should remember that for another few weeks, he is still the Commander-in-Chief.
True power lies not in showing cruelty but displaying mercy. Pardons for Steve Stockman, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange are the right things to do. They would also show that Donald Trump on the side of the people that the Regime on the Potomac hates most—the Historic American Nation. If Donald Trump (or one of his biological or political heirs) seeks to recapture the Oval Office, these pardons are a necessary step.
If populism is defined by opposition to a corrupt elite, President Trump should reclaim the mantle by using the power he has left by saving the lives of three men threatened by an evil system that wants us dead too.