[Leaning Right]

> I thought he said death penalty for drug dealers. I must have misheard him. He must have said amnesty. <

You and I are evidently in the minority here. But I agree with your sentiments. This woman was not imprisoned for possession. She was imprisoned for trafficking.

Most news articles about her case are ignoring that. Instead, they focus on the “nonviolent” nature of the offense. Well, most drug trafficking is nonviolent. It’s all about moving packages. Any violence is secondary.

I suppose her life sentence was a bit extreme, given that it was her first offense. But lives were destroyed because of her ring’s actions. Commute her sentence...maybe. But a pardon? No.

[jyo19]

Fake news from Axios as usual. Her sentence was commuted, she was NOT pardoned. She will still have the case on her record she just won’t have to serve more than 21 years for passing phone messages about coc deals on. Doesn’t seem like a bad deal to me. 21 Years is pretty long for a first offense.

[NobleFree]

Well, most drug trafficking is nonviolent. It’s all about moving packages. [...] But lives were destroyed because of her ring’s actions.

Lives are destroyed when packages of alcohol and tobacco are moved.

[Zhang Fei]

[You and I are evidently in the minority here. But I agree with your sentiments. This woman was not imprisoned for possession. She was imprisoned for trafficking.]

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Assuming there won’t be more than a handful of these commutations, I think it makes political sense. It will soothe independents and blacks who have been told that Trump is a closet Klansman. It might depress their turnout for the Democrats. It might even convince some to vote for the GOP, although that’s probably a bridge too far. It’s enough that it will defuse some of the stuff about Trump being a racist. I don’t think any significant number of right wingers will abandon Trump, if he doesn’t issue more than a few of these pardons/commutations.