Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/21/susan-b-anthony-museum-reject.html
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A pardon is offensive.
An apology to Susan B. Anthony and all the other suffragettes that they had ever been denied in the first place- that would have been the ticket.
But to pardon her reaffirms her guilt and that the laws under which she was convicted were valid.
But it is a matter of honor, of which Trump knows nothing…
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I realize any question that starts “How does Trump think…” has only one possible answer (ok, several: poorly/narcissistically/he doesn’t), but still, how could anyone think this was a good idea?
Next up, “Trump pardons all the slaves who ran away from the plantations.” Or maybe “Trump pardons all the civil rights activists punished for their civil disobedience.”
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Pardon them? Hell, his justice department is STILL arresting them (although they go under the moniker BLM now).
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i didn’t realize rejecting a pardon was something one could do! that’s awesome. “thanks, but no.”
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I think it’s gone beyond that. The GOP is now dismantling the mechanisms of democracy.
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A purely symbolic pardon deserves a purely symbolic refusal… 
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Gerald Ford used to carry around a copy of Burdick v. United States in his wallet to hand over to people giving him a hard time about pardoning Nixon. Burdick discusses why people must be allowed to reject a pardon, because a pardon carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance carries a confession of guilt. There is a some disagreement about the bounds of that holding, but there it is.
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Il Douche will take the backing of an anti-choice organisation that cynically borrow’s Anthony’s name over that of the people who run a legitimate museum founded in memory of her accomplishments.
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i did not know this, but it makes sense.
Whether or not you have the power to refuse to have the legal status of “pardoned” you certainly have the right to tell them where they can stick their pardon. That seems to be the case here.
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I think it’s kinda funny that Trump pardoned someone who basically illegally voted, something he rants about pretty routinely. But then again, he’s full of hypocrisy and empty gestures, so it’s really not surprising.
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True, that may not have been the most tactful or appropriate example given that fact.
Because moral consistency is something that Trump knows anything about? I am sure he would be happy to pardon civil rights activists from the 50s and 60s for show: especially those who are deceased and can’t talk back while still persecuting those active today under the banner of BLM or otherwise.
And the problem isn’t that a pardon is intrinsically offensive. It is about the message and the motivation for the pardon. I think a pardon can convey “we were wrong, you were right” just as well as “I forgive you for what you did wrong”. Especially if it is granted in conjunction with legal changes that the pardoned person fought for. If Susan B Anthony had been pardoned in when the 19th amendment was ratified, or really by anyone in the context celebrating the accomplishments of the women’s movement while recognizing what we still needed to accomplish I would be fine with it (I of course can’t make that determination for other people). But Trump does this to try to co-opt other peoples success and make it about him.
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Trump wasn’t exactly overflowing with praise for Congressman John Lewis after the latter man’s passing last month. His main takeaway from Lewis’ life seemed to be “he didn’t come to my State of the Union address, so screw him.”
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Pardoning Susan B. Anthony is an utterly meaningless piece of political theater, like all the times the GOP proposed to repeal “Obamacare” knowing each time they didn’t have enough votes to do it.
Has anyone shown Donnie a photo of her yet? Waiting for him to comment on her looks.
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Yeah, that’s precisely why Roger Stone specifically asked that he not be pardoned, but for a commutation instead, which is what Trump gave him.
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ugh, i had forgotten about that.
Just occurred to me that Trump may queue up a whole bunch for pardons for the day before the election. I am surprised this one happened now and I wonder if it is sort of a calibration shot.
