You’ve heard it countless times from the president before. Supposedly, this nation is entering a “Golden Age” of prosperity and wealth, so says Donald Trump. Indeed, we are within an unprecedented time, but it is not a newfound era of economic opportunity. In what would be the envy of the robber barons of the late 19th-century Gilded Age, it is a new golden age of political corruption that is upon us.
As widely reported Thursday evening, the latest example is the pardoning of former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his ex-chief of staff Cade Cothren. After creating a mail-vendor kickback scheme, one that siphoned tens of thousands of dollars from Tennessee taxpayers, Casada and Cothren — who were sentenced to 36 months and 30 months in prison, respectively — have been absolved of all accountability.
The exclusion of a pardon for former state Rep. Robin Smith, who was sentenced to eight months in prison for her role in the scheme even after cooperating with the prosecution, is of note here. Despite requesting her own pardon from Trump, the president has not yet granted one, seemingly instituting what could be called a snitches-get-stitches clemency policy.
(Smith could still get pardoned. She might well have by the time you’re reading this.)
The message this sends to would-be criminals could not be more apparent: If you are servile to power, if you are proximal enough to the wealthy and well-connected, you will be rewarded.