Yeah, I had a similar thought. This thing is screwed up on both sides. If I belonged to a certain party and they tried to crucify me and my family, I’d be damned if I would stay with that party when someone from another party pardons me. On the other hand, Pres. Trump should not expect for everyone to change their political preferences, Some people are just hard wired that way, and you can’t fix stupid. Cuellar’s career is done. Dems won’t vote for him and neither will republicans, imho.
Trump most likely based it on what Blagojevich did after Trump pardoned him.