UPDATE:
There is at least one Republican lawmaker who answers “YES” to the question posed above.
In a tweet, shared by Trump, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) urges Trump to pardon himself:
President Trump should pardon Flynn, the Thanksgiving turkey, and everyone from himself, to his admin, to Joe Exotic if he has to. . .
That is an awful lot of turkeys to be pardoned. It may change the entire character and message of future Thanksgivings.
Original Post:
During a corny Rose Garden ceremony Tuesday afternoon, Trump pardoned the turkey Corn and Cob. The New York Times felt the need to clarify the event with the headline “No, President Trump Did Not Pardon Himself” A journalist felt the need to shout the question to Trump, “Will you be issuing a pardon for yourself?”
Today, Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn.
Both events bring up an interesting, timely question: Can a turkey pardon himself?
To get an answer to that question, we conducted an exhaustive historical, scientific research on foul fowl pardon powers and concluded that a turkey — even a supreme turkey leader — cannot (constitutionally) pardon himself.
Here’s why.
Turkeys, native to America, quickly learned from the colonists who came to the New World to escape absolute power that pardoning oneself would be exactly that: an exercise in absolute power, an absolute abuse of power.
Four centuries later, while some humans have conveniently forgotten, turkeys have not.
Perhaps most important, and fortunate for millions of Americans, what would Thanksgiving be like if turkeys could pardon themselves?
But even if a supreme turkey leader could pardon himself and setting aside the Pilgrims, Thanksgiving and satire, Americans are not turkeys.
In “Why a Self-Pardon Is Not Constitutional,” Professor Frank O. Bowman, referring specifically to Trump, convincingly concludes a president may not constitutionally pardon himself.
Please read it here.
Wishing all TMV readers a blessed, safe and unpardoned-turkey Thanksgiving.
