re: #53 Ming5000

All of Trump’s pardons, including Arpaio and D’Souza are about how those pardons help Trump personally. How does he benefit?

Arpario and D’Souza: value signaling to his racist/misogynistic/xenophobic base that he’s got their backs.

Kardashian backed pardons: hoping Kardashian/Kanye can shift voters to back Trump.

Sports-related pardons: hoping those backing those pardons back Trump.

Blago: help Trump as a surrogate

Milken, etc. convicted of fraud/corruption: Signal that corruption and fraud are no longer serious crimes as long as Trump’s doing the corruption. Value signaling to GOP that it’s okay to be corrupt as fuck.