President Trump’s most delusional critics who suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome and believe the false narrative that he is a racist continue to deny reality to keep their worldview alive. Chelsea Handler, an alleged comedian, recently tweeted that everyone Trump pardons is white.
While our president exonerates criminals and releases them from jail, notice what color they all are.
— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) February 18, 2020
It isn’t even remotely true. Since becoming president, Donald Trump has granted pardons or clemency to at least seven non-white people and has signed criminal justice legislation that has shortened the sentences of thousands of non-white people serving time. Next time someone tries to tell you that the president never pardons anyone who isn’t white, send them this list.
7. Jack Johnson
On May 24, 2017, Donald Trump posthumously pardoned legendary boxer Jack Johnson, who was convicted of violations of the Mann Act for transporting a white woman across state lines for “illicit purposes.” Johnson was married to the woman involved in the incident. Convicted solely as the result of racial prejudice, Johnson served one year in Leavenworth as an innocent man. It took 104 years for a president to pardon him. Why didn’t Obama do it? We may never know the answer to that question, but Donald Trump did, saying, “It’s about time.”
👍 Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight world champion, finally gets his posthumous pardon. pic.twitter.com/fkKG8vOfYZ
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) May 24, 2018
6. Dinesh D’Souza
Dinesh D’Souza is a brilliant conservative writer and filmmaker of Indian heritage. After he made a critical documentary about Barack Obama and Eric Holder, he was investigated by the same IRS that had been outed as targeting Republican Tea Party groups under Lois Lerner, an Obama appointee. Conservatives being targeted by the Obama administration wasn’t new, but D’Souza’s ordeal was the most severe. The campaign finance debacle he found himself in was no different than what many prominent Democrats have done (and never served one day in jail), including Barack Obama. The Atlantic reported illegal campaign contributions from Hamas to Obama’s campaign.
But as is perhaps appropriate for D’Souza’s predilection for conspiracy theories, some activists are putting the charges against D’Souza in contrast to a long-running theory first raised by Geller that three Palestinian brothers who apparently bought and resold $29,000 worth of Obama t-shirts in the Gaza strip (such a purchase counts as a campaign donation, and showed up in the FEC’s database), represent some sot of relationship between the president and Hamas, the Islamist group that governs the Gaza strip. The Obama campaign said that despite some sort of bureaucratic error keeping their refunds off of the FEC’s records, they returned the 2008 donations once the error was discovered. Geller et al. say the administration is lying, presumably because of Obama’s secret Hamas love. A current FEC record search for the surname of the brothers in question indicates that all but $891 of those donations were refunded. Essentially, the question from some conservative activists here is why hasn’t the FEC arrested the Obama campaign over those donations, instead of investigating D’Souza’s alleged straw donor scheme?
That wasn’t the only campaign finance scandal Obama was caught up in either. No one from his campaign was ever convicted for any of it but they were instead issued fines. Unequal application of the law makes the law irrelevant. D’Souza deserved the pardon on principle.
5. Rodney Masaru Takumi
The White House released this statement about Takumi’s pardon.
In 1987, Mr. Takumi was working at an illegal gambling parlor when he was arrested during a law enforcement raid. Mr. Takumi pled no contest and was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $250. After his release, Mr. Takumi worked for several years as a tax preparer, and he now owns a tax preparation franchise within the Navajo Nation. He is known in his community as an honest, fair, and generous family man.
4. Angela Stanton
Stanton was granted a pardon by Donald Trump for a non-violent auto theft conviction. She also happens to be the goddaughter of Dr. Alveda King. When Stanton was convicted of a nonviolent crime, she was pregnant and gave birth in prison—chained to a bed in the presence of a sheriff. Her new baby was taken from her after twenty-four hours. After her pardon, Stanton moved President Trump to change U.S. policy in prisons so that pregnant women will no longer give birth in chains as she did. Her story is horrifying. Most Americans didn’t even know this kind of cruel and unusual punishment was happening in prisons. “Because of my personal story, Donald J. Trump made it illegal to chain women to the bed during childbirth,” she said.
I gave birth in chains while serving time in an American prison. @realDonaldTrump made it illegal to chain women during childbirth. Thank God President Donald J. Trump was moved by compassion for my story. #NoMoreChains #FirstStepAct #www.Theakf.org #FoxNews #AngelaStanton #CJR pic.twitter.com/ZFbyskmNZL
— Angela Stanton-King (@theangiestanton) February 21, 2020
3. Alice Marie Johnson
Johnson served over twenty years in prison for a nonviolent drug-related conviction. Her story became national news thanks to Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who lobbied the president to grant her clemency.
This is what freedom looks like. Mic was on the scene for the moment that #AliceMarieJohnson was released from prison and reunited with her family.
Johnson describes what it felt like, in her own words. https://t.co/tzxQxnQY0m pic.twitter.com/yKf2cJdvcG
— Mic (@mic) June 8, 2018
Even with evidence to the contrary, the Trump Derangement Syndrome victims refuse to drop their false narrative. It’s maddening.
Didn’t Trump say he wants death to all drug traffickers?? This pardoning of Alice Johnson is a gimmick for attention and votes. Don’t fall for it. He is still an egomaniacal white supremacist. #AliceMarieJohnson
— Mommy715 (@akachi98) June 6, 2018
2. Crystal Munoz
Crystal Munoz, who grew up on the Navajo Nation, was granted clemency for her conviction on conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Considering that almost every state is trying to legalize marijuana, while several states already have, should anyone still be serving time for marijuana charges? It seems ridiculous. Munoz spent 12 years in prison with Alice Marie Johnson until Johnson lobbied the president to grant her clemency.
Crystal Munoz served 12 years in prison for a non-violent drug offense.
When @RealDonaldTrump called her husband to tell him she would finally be set free, it was an emotional moment. pic.twitter.com/FOP81BY47r
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) February 19, 2020
NBC News reported on the friendship between Johnson and Munoz: “Johnson said that after she was released she could not stop thinking about how to help Munoz, and other women in prison. The chance came in October when, Johnson said, Trump asked her for a list of others deserving clemency during a criminal justice conference at historically black Benedict College in South Carolina.”
Munoz was also shackled to a bed while she gave birth to her daughter in prison. Her story was one that convinced the president to sign the First Act legislation, which made it illegal to shackle pregnant inmates.
1. Tynice Nicole Hall
Hall spent more than 12 years in prison for allowing her apartment to be used by drug dealers. President Trump set her free. Hall is also a friend of Alice Johnson’s. Hall had no idea that her commutation was coming. She was told an hour before she was set free.
Lubbock, Texas, media reported,
Hall said she was called out from work at the prison and told to report to the unit manager’s office.
“When I get there, she made me basically think I’m in trouble,” Hall said. “So I kind of had an attitude with her — and then she finally told me that it was the best day of my life.”
It was 3:00 p.m. — and she was due to leave the compound at 4:00 p.m.
With just an hour to gather her things and thoughts, she knew just who to call.
“I ran and I called my mom, she was screaming because The White House was talking to her on the phone,” she said. “At the same time, and I told her about it so we were trying to find someone to come pick me up because I had to be out by 4,” said Hall.
Hall said she was called out from work at the prison and told to report to the unit manager’s office.
“When I get there, she made me basically think I’m in trouble,” Hall said. “So I kind of had an attitude with her — and then she finally told me that it was the best day of my life.”
It was 3:00 p.m. — and she was due to leave the compound at 4:00 p.m.
With just an hour to gather her things and thoughts, she knew just who to call.
“I ran and I called my mom, she was screaming because The White House was talking to her on the phone,” she said. “At the same time, and I told her about it so we were trying to find someone to come pick me up because I had to be out by 4,” said Hall.
#AliceMarieJohnson #TyniceHall #AngelaStanton #CrystalMunoz pic.twitter.com/J1dM1TJztO
— Figment2211 (@FigementT) February 19, 2020
President Trump is either the worst racist ever, or not a racist at all. I’m going with the latter.
Megan Fox is the author of “Believe Evidence; The Death of Due Process from Salome to #MeToo,” and host of The Fringe podcast. Follow on Twitter @MeganFoxWriter
