My new piece on The Hill compares Donald Trump’s lame-duck use of the pardon power with Millard Fillmore’s. It is probably no surprise that Fillmore comes off better.
Here is the gist:
Why Can't Donald Trump Be More Like Millard Fillmore?
Facing his waning days in office, President Trump has released a virtual torrent of pardons, many of them going to perjurious pals, corrupt political allies, extended family and outright war criminals. A much earlier lame-duck president, also resentful over the denial of a second term, took a different approach to pardons. Rather than exploit his power to taunt his opponents, or retaliate against them, he chose to exercise it mercifully and humanely for the benefit of his political adversaries. Millard Fillmore was one of the worst presidents in U.S. history, having signed into law the odious Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. And yet one of his final acts in office was the pardon of two ardent abolitionists, imprisoned for participating in the greatest attempted slave escape of the antebellum era.
Millard Fillmore is remembered today, if at all, for the worst aspect of his presidency — signing (and then enforcing) the Fugitive Slave Act. It would be hard to identify the worst features of Donald Trump’s presidency, which include caging children, minimizing a pandemic and spreading lies and conspiracy theories about a free, democratic election. In defeat, Fillmore at least had the decency to exercise his pardon power with some generosity of spirit and without regard to political cronyism. Is it unsurprising that Trump has displayed no such grace?
You can read the entire essay here.