Raskin needs to cool his jets

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin on Thursday urged Americans to demand President-elect Donald Trump justify each Jan. 6 defendant pardon if he issues them on his “first day” in office, as promised.

I suspect Mr. Raskin missed the vote on November 5^th – The American people spoke then. Their message was loud and clear … The policies and decisions that are about to come forth from the Trump Administration are those that the American public voted for – full stop!

I find it incredibly disingenuous of Raskin to make such an announcement in light of the pardons and commutations that have been granted by President Biden over the past several weeks starting with the sweeping pardon that he gave to his son Hunter – an action that he told the American public he would not do. Biden issued 1634 commutations and 65 pardons without consulting the American public. He had more pardons and commutations than any of his predecessors. He commuted the death sentences of brutal murderers without even consulting the families that were waiting for final justice to be administered. The death sentence that was imposed by a jury of their peers was negated by the stroke of a pen depriving the families and the American public of justice for the commission of heinous crimes. And why did Biden do it? Because he is the President of the United States, and he can. It is the Constitution that grants the President such authority.

The Constitution states in Article II, Section 2, Clause 1: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

The Constitution establishes the President’s authority to grant clemency, encompassing not only pardons of individuals but several other forms of relief from criminal punishment as well. It does not say the authority is reserved to the Democrat  President exclusively – The constitutional lawyer Jamie Raskin should understand that. Since no calls were made to the American public before Biden took action within his constitutional authority there is no reason to assume that after noon on January 20^th Trump will exercise the same authority to pardon and commute sentences as authorized by the Constitution. As for the American people – they have already spoken.

It would also behoove Mr. Raskin to stop using the term “Insurrection” when referring to those who have been found guilty of crimes related to January 6^th. The record is clear – not a single person who has been found guilty of a crime on January 6^th has been found guilty of insurrection. What is true is that Mr. Raskin stood in the well of the United States Senate during the Second Trump Impeachment and lied to the American people. The record will show that Mr. Raskin looked into the camera and stated that 6 people died on Capitol Hill on January 6^th which we know 4 years later just did not happen. Mr. Raskin has never felt he owed the American public an apology for passing along inaccurate and what we might say was “fake news.”

In fact, the only American citizen and military veteran to die on January 6^th was a woman, Ashli Babbitt. Executed by her government without due process. A clear violation of her constitutional rights but Mr. Raskin never mentioned her death – and President Biden never expressed any remorse for her death while he kneeled before the coffin of Officer Sicknick while it lay in State in the Capitol Rotunda. And 4 years later we know that Officer Sicknick of the Capitol Police died on January 7^th and the medical examiner determined his death due to two strokes ruling his death due to natural causes. No clarifications from Mr. Raskin, just a continuation of the big lie.

Now Mr. Raskin says he is going to work vociferously to block the Trump Agenda. He has sought out the minority leaders set on the House Judiciary Committee announcing his intent is to hinder the Trump America First Agenda from that lofty position. We can expect that he will start his campaign on January 6^th 2025 when it is time to certify the Electoral vote in the House. He has stated publicly that he will cite Article 3 of the 14 Amendment to the Constitution insinuating that Trump led an insurrection 4 years ago and is therefore not eligible to be President.

Raskin knows perfectly well that Trump has never been charged or convicted of the act of insurrection. So all this is going to accomplish is more political theater designed to raise Raskin’s political profile. America has had enough – they made their support for the Trump Agenda on November 5, 2024 clear. Americans have had enough of the political division. They want to get on with fixing the border, the economy, the military, and the countries standing in the world.

In the military, we had a saying” Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way,” Raskin would do well to heed these words and cool his jets.