Today is Election Day for the most consequential midterms since… well, the last midterm election. And the midterms before that. And the midterms before that. The midterms matter, and midterm elections can make or break a presidency. This time around, Donald Trump has already broken everything and he’s going to go full-throttle bats–t if and when there’s a blue wave. Well, as much as I want to believe that Trump is all the way gone, he has these rare moments of sly lucidity which catch me off guard. On Monday, he announced that if Democrats take back the House, he’s going to issue mass pardons for his staffers. And Elon Musk.
President Donald Trump vowed to protect Elon Musk and said he would consider preemptively pardoning the world’s richest man and other White House aides as Democrats prepare for investigations if they take control of the House of Representatives.
“It’s talk, but if it is talk, we’ll have to protect them,” Trump said in a podcast interview with the New York Post when asked about the potential for House Democrats to arrest Musk and seize his assets if they gain power.
Trump said he would issue preemptive pardons to Musk, a close ally, and other potential targets of Democratic investigations if he believes it is necessary to protect them, even if they’ve not been formally charged with any crimes.
“That’s what Biden did. He gave everybody a pardon,” Trump said. “I would if I needed to, sure. I wouldn’t even think about it. I did it for J6.”
The podcast interview, which aired Nov. 2, comes as Democrats are strong favorites to take control of the House in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, which would put them in control of committees that pursue investigations.
I defended Biden’s pardons, especially for Hunter Biden and Dr. Fauci, simply because Trump had already made “campaign promises” to prosecute the Bidens, Dr. Fauci and everyone who worked for Biden. Like, Biden’s pardons were truly a preemptive measure against malicious and politicized prosecutions. Trump’s potential pardons are to help his cronies escape prosecution – or even simple oversight – for all of the f–king crimes they’ve been committing. Anyway, this is not really the threat Trump thinks it is. I don’t care if he pardons Musk or any of the MAGA high command. All of those people still need to be dragged before Congress and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There are pardon workarounds.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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- Elon Musk (middle) and his son, X (left) and US President Donald Trump (right) are seen in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC Featuring: X, Elon Musk, Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 11 Feb 2025 Credit: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/INSTARimages
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- Washington, DC – Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer, Tesla, SpaceX, and X (previously known as Twitter) and Administrator, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) speaks during a press conference with United States President Donald J Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Pictured: President Trump, Elon Musk BACKGRID USA 30 MAY 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York, NY United States President Donald J Trump addresses the opening of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 22 SEPTEMBER 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York, NY United States President Donald J Trump addresses the opening of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 22 SEPTEMBER 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, speaks in front of a group of Tesla vehicles with US President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. on March 11, 2025. President Trump has said he will buy a Tesla to support Tesla and Elon Musk after recent attacks on Tesla charging stations and calls for boycotts of Tesla products. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Sipa USA) Featuring: Donald J Trump, Elon Musk Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 11 Mar 2025 Credit: Samuel Corum/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- President Donald Trump, right, participates in a Press Conference with Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer, Tesla, SpaceX and X (previously known as Twitter) and Administrator, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), left, in the Oval Office of the White House Featuring: Elon Musk, President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 30 May 2025 Credit: Francis Chung/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- United States President Donald Trump speaks during an executive order signing that reevaluates childhood vaccines in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on August 10, 2026. While the executive order still recommends childhood vaccines for 11 diseases, including measles and polio, it calls for limiting vaccines for other diseases, like hepatitis A and B and meningococcal disease, to high-risk populations. Featuring: President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 10 Aug 2026 Credit: POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- United States President Donald Trump makes remarks at a Steel Across America Event on the Ellipse Featuring: President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 08 Sep 2026 Credit: Annabelle Gordon/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- United States President Donald Trump makes remarks at a Steel Across America Event on the Ellipse Featuring: President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 08 Sep 2026 Credit: Annabelle Gordon/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
Pardons don’t extend to state crimes. Also, do we think these people are going to stop doing criminal shit after Trump leaves? Pardon won’t cover that.
Personally, I also think Trump is going to hold off on these until the very end of his term, because “well maybe I won’t pardon you” is great leverage to have. AND, while he might make it another two years…he also might not. And hopefully Vance won’t be able to get away with the same kind of shit.
If Trump pardons Elon, nationalize SpaceX and Twitter as matters of national security. Take Elon’s toys away from him.
Are there ways to get around a pardon? (Canadian here) I hope there are because every one of those a-holes need to be put in front of a (metaphorical) firing squad.
I don’t think pardons work for future crimes and federal pardons don’t protect our from state prosecution.
The president can pardon federal crimes committed during a past time period – so he could pardon Elon today for any and all federal crimes that he might have committed before 11/3/2026. The President does not have to name the crimes, and the crimes do not have to be charged or indicted. Ford’s pardon of Nixon set the precedent for these blanket pardons (and I wish it had been challenged at the time, but now is generally accepted as part of the power of the president).
The president cannot pardon state crimes, and there may be state attorneys general with an appetite and a budget to bring charges where they can. As in, states are bringing charges against ICE officers because assault / murder are state crimes, as well as federal. An ICE officer convicted by a state cannot be pardoned by the president.
Everyday that goes by, I am baffled as to why this creature is still alive!
This isn’t a threat. He was going to do this anyway. He just wants to make it sound like a threat. And pardons don’t apply to state crimes
Two weeks ago Trump posted an AI-generated video of himself fighting a tiger (and winning, of course). This was prompted by the death by mauling of a mentally disabled man in the UK, who breached a zoo enclosure. Trump posted the actual footage of that man’s mauling, then followed it with his AI nonsense.
I missed all this at the time and just saw it yesterday. Is this not grounds for removal from office?? How do politicians stand by and let this go on?? How does anyone still vote for ANY republican after this!??! WHERE are the standards!?
They don’t have the votes to impeach take convict in Congress and his cabinet won’t 25th Amendment him because they’re all spineless sycophants.
The video was vile but it doesn’t even make touch top ten impeachable offenses that he’s committed. I don’t think the Dems will make another run at impeachment if they get the House and the Senate. I do think they’ll start to go after the rest of the people in his administration form Hegseth to Patel.
Our political system is completely broken and corrupt. Too many people are making too much money by Trump staying in office – Musk (government contracts), Bezos (dismantling of the National Labor Relations Board), Zuckerberg (no regulation on social media), oil companies (Iran war market manipulation), right-leaning media conglomerates (zero enforcement of anti trust law), various members of Congress, cabinet members, and White House staffers (insider trading and various grifts). We need BIG changes to make any real impact. I’ve posted this here before, but I think it’s always inspiring:
https://youtu.be/acT_PSAZ7BQ
He’s admitting that he and his staff are committing crimes out loud. Thanks, dementia.
This was my takeaway – you only need to pardon, if they’ve done something wrong (or there is the inevitable threat of unjust investigation, as with Biden’s examples above). What an own goal.
But what state crimes could we get Musk on? Maybe election interference?
The pardon power has always been an insane thing but Trump has literally turned it into pay-to-play where people are buying pardons from him. If Dems gain control there needs to be a discussion about limiting the scope of the pardon power because it really is bonkers.
Better yet, cancel Musk’s government contracts and nationalize StarLink. There is precedent for the government taking over a vital technology.
He would be just a lowly multi-millionaire again very quickly.
This has to be mandatory. He has way too much influence over our society with Tesla, Starlink, X, etc.
@Kitten: it might be time to not just limit the scope of the pardon power but abolish it entirely. This power was originally intended to rectify miscarriages of justice. And we’ve seen it work in that way when low level crimes result in long, disproportionate sentences, but recently (especially under Trump), it has become a get-out-of jail free card. It should be taken out of the discretion of just one person and perhaps given to an independent board. There will be a lot to fix when this is done. It’s absolutely obscene that Trump could just pardon all the convicted January 6 mob.
Completely agree that it needs to be abolished but I want to keep the pardon power in place at least until the end of the next Dem POTUS’s term. I want to make sure that anyone who is wrongly prosecuted by Trump (which is pretty much everyone, let’s face it) can be pardoned by a Dem president.
But after that, yes please end this insanity. As much as they did their best to prevent something like this, I don’t think the founding fathers envisioned what could happen with pardons in the hands of someone as corrupt as Trump.
I think pardons should stay but with very specific language about which crimes can be pardoned or allow them to be challenged by Congress (if we ever get a Congress that understands what their job is). DOGE broke several cybersecurity laws and those need to be prosecuted. If they aren’t, there’s no way to stop a foreign government from coming in and taking data. There are tons of laws that have been broken by this admin and they also need to be prosecuted for the same reason. A law isn’t any good if someone can say it doesn’t apply to them and walk away consequence free.
Pardons for what?
PARDONS FOR WHAT???
SURELY if everything him and his croonies have been doing is fair, righteous and just, what could they possibly need pardons from?????
Why can’t his followers see at this point that they are in a cult?!
Biden’s preemptive pardons created a precedent. Or maybe Ford’s Nixon pardon did. In any case, the pardon power is out of control. And I supported Biden’s pardons btw. Trump’s utter disdain for rules and norms has crushed the pardon power.
They know they are. As long as he keeps hurting non-white people and women, they don’t care that even their own lives are being destroyed. Hate is so destructive.
Well, much as I’d love to be proved wrong history tell us there won’t be a blue wave – the polls always underestimate the MAGA vote.
MAGAts would rather pay £20 for gas and starve than live in a progressive society.
So all these Trump statements are just for show – he knows how well his party have rigged things so they can pretend to be surprised when they win (or exceed expectations).
The pollsters have learned to adjust for the fact that MAGAts are hard to reach for polling data. For example, if a swing state like PA has a Dem candidate polling at 60% and a Rep candidate polling at 40%, they adjust to 50%-50% because PA went for Trump 60%-40%. That could actually end up being an overcorrection if the current polling data is accurate.
Republicans’ own internal polling has them losing key seats by double digits. That being said, everyone is right to be skeptical of the polls and worried about the GOP rigging the election.
Exactly. All this “Blue Wave” talk is all speculation and won’t happen. If anything I think the magats will double down and make it a “Red Wave” watch
I agree. They will cut off their noses to spite their faces each and every time.
No we’re not pardoning that piece of human excrement with a mouth that looks like a slot canyon. No
I can’t even think about this now. A permanent stain on our country. Sickening.
He’s going to pardon them all anyway. Only state laws have any power now.
I may be digressing a bit, but I think Donald Trump is going to prevent the UK from extraditing the Tate brothers completely after the midterms. Why do I believe this? After the midterms Trump will not care anymore because he will not be running for office in 2028. Also, whatever the Tates know about DJT Jr. and/or Barron will not be revealed if they do not get extradited to the UK.