For years, Donald Trump asserted the United States had a two-tiered judicial system governed by the Deep State. With his sweeping pardons of convicted and violent felons, including several from Utah, Trump has proven his point with two important caveats.
First, the pardons underscore the discrepancy between the people who were directed to attack our political institutions and police officers by those in power and everyone else. This two-tiered system is empowered by the powerful and is used against the vulnerable and the weak.
Second, Trump’s pardons of felons highlight the absence of a Deep State. Instead, our system takes the form of a Ponzi scheme with one individual who makes, interprets and enforces the rules of the country. Power emanates from this individual and is allocated to others below him based on fealty.
Utahns were not immune to the lies repeated by Trump. Nineteen were charged, convicted and sentenced for felonies. Many were placed on probation, but some were incarcerated for violent offenses. Sentences for the most violent offenders ranged from three years to six years. They were convicted of assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon, engaging in physical violence, using a stun gun on officers and unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon. With Trump’s encouragement and approval, these Utahns sought to overturn the results of the election. Even though several of these Utahns assaulted officers with dangerous weapons, they benefited from the two-tiered judicial system in which Trump favored them with a full pardon. Indeed, these Utahns participated in the Ponzi scheme as violent pawns in Trump’s campaign to forcibly keep him in office.
Trump early and often told the nation that he would at least pardon some of the convicted individuals. But people on both sides were surprised by the inclusion of the most violent and seditious convicts. Yet, given the Ponzi scheme created by Trump, this makes more sense. Jeffrey Toobin recently wrote in the New York Times that the J6 pardons should also be considered as a pardon for his own actions on that day. As we know, Trump consistently lied about the result of the 2020 election.
He told his supporters on January 6, “You don’t concede when there’s theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore.” He added that “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” He has not been held accountable.
The irony should not be lost on the public. A president who is a felon pardoned other felons, which provides a form of legal protection for him. America has become a two-tiered Ponzi scheme.
(Photo courtesy of Howard P. Lehman) Howard P. Lehman
Howard Lehman is an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Utah.
The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions that move our state forward. We rely on your insight to do this. Find out how to share your opinion here, and email us at voices@sltrib.com.
