Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley dodged any mention of slavery recently when she was asked about the cause of the American Civil War by a town hall participant she condemned as a “Democrat plant.” (Haley, after wide rebuke for the deliberate oversight, clarified that slavery was part of what the war was fought over.)
But what’s seen by progressives, if not by MAGA, as Haley’s slavery gaffe doesn’t mean Haley isn’t paying attention to history. Asked what she would do as President were former President Donald Trump convicted of any of the 87 felony counts he’s currently being prosecuted for, Haley tapped former President Gerald Ford and the scandalous history of Watergate for inspiration.
[Ford famously pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon, preempting Nixon’s potential convictions in the Watergate scandal. Ford cited his belief that the country’s best interest lay in moving past the scandal and ending the “long national nightmare.”]
Haley said she would pardon a convicted Trump, asserting that a Trump pardon would be — as Ford has asserted — “in the best interest of the country.”
“What’s in the best interest of the country would be to pardon him so that we can move on as a country and no longer talk about him,” Haley said.
Nikki Haley says she would pardon Trump:
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) December 30, 2023
“What's in the best interest of the country is not to have an 80-year-old man sitting in jail…what's in the best interest of the country would be to pardon him so we can move on as a country.”
Couldn't disagree more. pic.twitter.com/bchT6CzHjO
On pardoning Nixon, Ford told the House Judiciary Committee in 1974:
“I was absolutely convinced then as I am now that if we had had [an] indictment, a trial, a conviction, and anything else that transpired after this that the attention of the President, the Congress and the American people would have been diverted from the problems that we have to solve. And that was the principle reason for my granting of the pardon.”
Gerald Ford
Ford also leaned on the 1915 Supreme Court decision in Burdick v. United States, in which the Court ruled that a pardon carried an “imputation of guilt” and accepting a pardon was “an admission of guilt.”
Forgiving the powerful for crimes against the people has never been a popular position in America, as one commenter below makes clear. Note: Ford lost his attempt to hold the Oval Office after pardoning Nixon.
Giving Trump a pass would definitely not be in the best interests of the country. No special treatment for politicians, no matter how popular they are.
— John J Bentley IV (@JohnJBentleyIV1) December 29, 2023
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