You might have heard that President-elect Trump has said he doesn’t want to waste time and attention on Hillary’s email server. You also might have heard that some people are upset about that. I’m not one of them.
Months ago I was telling people Trump should announce that, if elected, he will pardon Hillary Clinton for all crimes related to her email scandal. I had two reasons for promoting this strategy.
First, by announcing your intention to pardon her, you make her look guilty. Like when Ford pardoned Nixon. Even Clinton’s supporters would have to argue with themselves whether she deserved to be pardoned or whether Trump was overstepping his authority as President. Plus, a pre-emptive pardon would have made people think past the sale. To have the self-debate, people would first have to see Trump as President.
Second, like Ford’s pardon of Nixon, it would signal a focus on fixing real problems for the future instead of settling scores from the past. In 1974, inflation was going crazy. Gerald Ford needed to put Watergate behind him so he could order a couple million Whip Inflation Now buttons to pass out to people in lieu of actual solutions. President Trump will take office with a stagnant economy and a big debt to members of the former middle class in America–the blue-collar workers who put incredible faith in a bombastic billionaire from Queens. The last thing Trump needs is the distraction of the Clintons' various scandals. If the next four years are all about Hillary’s crimes and cover-ups, she might as well have won.
There’s another reason I like Trump’s decision to let others in the his administration worry about the Clintons. I want to forget about the Clintons. They’re old, they’re sickly, and they won’t be around very long. I want to focus, instead, on making America great again, getting middle-class wages growing again, and reducing the amount of war and terrorism in the world.
That said, I have no problem with the FBI and DOJ continuing their investigations of Hillary and the Clinton Foundation. If either investigation uncovers crimes, I’d like to see an independent prosecutor decide what to do. Same goes for the people who broke immunity deals during the server investigation. And if the DOJ determines Hillary broke the law, a special prosecutor should look into that, too.
In short, I want to see justice done, but I want Trump left free to do what he does best: working 19 hours a day and making huge decisions quickly to make America great again. Embroiling himself in the Clintons' sordid affairs can’t help his agenda.
With all the troubles in the world, the crimes of two small people from Arkansas don’t amount to a hill of beans. Trump and the American people already served the Clintons with the most painful punishment they could receive. Hillary will never be the first female President, and Bill will have to pay his “interns” out of his own pocket.
That’s enough justice for me. Plus, donations to the Clinton Foundation are down 37 percent since the election. So Chelsea’s hurting, too.
Let’s keep our eyes on the prize. Make America great again. We can do that without settling old scores. And magnanimity is a fine quality in a leader.
In case you’re wondering how to think about Trump, I wrote a book about it.