You get a pardon!

You get a pardon! You get a pardon! And you get a pardon!

Granting presidential pardons is the absolute right of all US presidents, to offer to anyone, without exception.

The pardon power was embedded in the Constitution by the “founding fathers” as an extension of the powers derived from the monarchy, to show mercy, but it was guided by anticipation of judicious application. It is the ultimate authority, offered with no holds barred, no questions, and with impunity. It has been used by US presidents since George Washington.

Lately, the presidential pardon has been tainted by political suasion like so much of modern American governance, but has become a running joke. It has been cheapened and feels like the entertaining giveaways featured on the Oprah and Ellen daytime television shows; under the bright lights of cameras, featuring shiny objects, glamour, and gleeful audience participation.

Such has the presidential pardon become: prizes that anyone can “win.”

The initial assumption of the originators of this democracy was that the system of checks and balances would be governed by men, not yet women, of reasonable judgement and high moral character.

Well, here we are in this moment when the country is headed up by a leader with demonstrable and enumerated character defects.

Glaring examples of morally bankrupt values and behavior have been laid out in plain sight since the 1980s, when Donald J. Trump dominated the New York headlines as a playboy developer.

Over the decades to follow, Trump has been publicly indicted for one set of distasteful and criminal behaviors after another. Personally, I have not been able to get past his 1989 stance against the Central Park Five, when in a full-page ad, he called for the return of the death penalty, never retracting his position after the five young Black teens were all exonerated; he doubled down on his statement about their conviction being legitimate.

We are a nation that, historically, believes in redemption. The criminal justice system is an example of reformism, granting criminals a chance to return to society after they have “paid their dues.”

But this nation has devolved into a fledgling autocracy, led by characters driven by greed, hubris, and disdain for the poor, immigrants, "colored," and uneducated folk, and who seem hell-bent on riding roughshod over the principles and practices laid out by the signers of the Constitution.

That righteous horse has left the barn; the Constitution is being dismantled, and with a green light offered by a majority on the Supreme Court, the scope of absolute power by the president is expanding.

The harbingers of the new order, or disorder, are unmistakable. DOGE is just a small measure of its intent, not just to shrink government, but to issue notice that a new sheriff has arrived with a weapon of mass destruction that is locked and loaded, so be sufficiently warned. The whole structure is being torn down.

That includes foreign policy, realignment of allies/enemies, drastic domestic immigration policy changes, civil rights roll backs, miseducation of the public, persecution of the free press, attacks on so-called liberal universities, threats against political enemies, flipping the script about persecution of white South Africans, to name a few tactics being deployed every day.

The constant barrage lobbied against the “norms’ have had an impact on every institution and interested party. “We the people” has morphed into, you the supreme commander.

Just watch to see what happens after the military parade on June 14, ostensibly to mark the 250th Army anniversary, and in celebration of Trump’s birthday. It is already estimated that the parade will cost $16 million in damages to the streets of Washington, DC. This “let them eat (birthday) cake” moment is, no doubt, another clear marker in the coronation of Trump as the singular leader of the nation.

And to what end?

Black folk have seen this movie before. We are beginning to close ranks: buying Black, forming coalitions within our own communities, organizations, church groups, boycotting the oppressors, and elevating our rhetoric to continue seeking justice and demands for fair treatment.

Is that enough?

Stop depending on what forms were once a safety net.

A retrospective of past demonstrations, protests, unrest, and riots over the past 200 years is informative, but we need new strategies.

Here are a few:

Organize and vote your interests in midterm elections. Continue targeted economic boycotts. Supplement your children’s education at home with books written by us. Develop more cooperatives, daycare for working parents. Increase self-help initiatives like community gardens. Expand mutual benefit organizations and increase your donations.

Sound familiar? Yes, we can do it again and survive the next three years, and beyond.