This Thanksgiving, Turkeys Must Grovel, Not Gobble, for a Trump Pardon”

President Donald Trump’s second-term clemency record makes one thing painfully clear: mercy is reserved for those with access, loyalty, or usefulness to him—not for the people who actually followed the rules laid out by the Department of Justice. While ordinary petitioners languish for years in a bureaucracy designed to ensure fairness, Trump has turned presidential clemency into a rewards program for allies, donors, and culture-war celebrities.

So far, Trump has granted pardons to 77 individuals, including Rudy Giuliani and other confidants tied to efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Layered on top of that are the roughly 1,500 January 6 rioters—among them members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys—whose violent attempt to overturn democracy has now been effectively excused by the very man they acted for. And just last month, Trump commuted the sentence of George Santos, the disgraced former congressman convicted of defrauding donors and lying to the House. Santos was supposed to serve seven years; Trump sprung him after less than three months.

This isn’t justice. It’s patronage masquerading as presidential mercy. And as Thanksgiving approaches, one thing is clear: in Trump’s White House, turkeys must grovel—not gobble—if they want a pardon.