GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie said he would not issue a pardon for former President Trump if he were elected president in 2024 and if Trump were convicted of a crime.
In an interview on “The View” on Wednesday, the former New Jersey governor did not hesitate to say “no” when co-host Joy Behar pointed out that GOP presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis said they would pardon Trump and asked whether Christie would do the same.
“No, no, no, no,” Christie said, before Behar finished asking the question.
He drew on his experience as governor in explaining his reasoning.
Tangential but this has been bugging me: hey journalists, why don’t you ask Haley and Desantis if they’d pardon Biden if he is charged and convicted of mishandling classified information? Haley and Desantis both rationalize pardoning Trump on the grounds that 1) he’s old and putting him in jail would do no good, and 2) it would divide the country and be bad. Seems to me that same rational would apply to Biden too. Maybe go a step farther and ask if Biden loses the election, engages in a misinformation campaign to claim the election was rigged, and then foments an insurrection and is charged related to all that conduct, would Haley/Desantis pardon Biden then?
Of course a Republican candidate for president isn’t going to say they would pardon Biden, but maybe it’s be good for a journalist to ask the question and call out the logical inconsistency, instead of just chasing “Candidate X would/wouldn’t pardon Trump” clickbait for the millionth time.
You’re not wrong, but who would this be trying to convince? Is there anyone out there still on the fence about Trump, and at the same time capable of observing and understanding this double standard scenario to the point they’d change their mind? MAGA folk keep telling us and showing us they don’t care about hypocrisy, double standards, or fairness. We should believe them and move on to a different strategy.