Trump might pardon Edward Snowden

[brucejoel99]

Yeah, this is either purely political (i.e. somebody probably told him "This could help you with younger voters!") or pardoning him would just be his unsophisticated middle finger at the IC, since they don't like Snowden & he's pissed off with them for not backing down on the fact that Russia is interfering with elections to help him win (presumably, his child-like, zero-sum brain thinks that this would hurt them, & they're his enemy, so this means winning).

Either way, I personally wanna see it happen, not least because it's so contrary to everything about Trump's position on whistleblowers (though it'd remain consistent with Trump's position on doing the opposite of everything Obama did).

[WD]

Snowden is a traitor to the United States. What happened to aMeRiCA fIrSt?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Yeah, this is either purely political (i.e. somebody probably told him "This could help you with younger voters!") or pardoning him would just be his unsophisticated middle finger at the IC, since they don't like Snowden & he's pissed off with them for not backing down on the fact that Russia is interfering with elections to help him win (presumably, his child-like, zero-sum brain thinks that this would hurt them, & they're his enemy, so this means winning).

in context, I think its more he has completely forgotten who Snowden is and gave his standard response when he doesn't know something (BS a confident yet vague response). He gave exactly the same reply when somebody asked him if he was going to pardon Joe Exotic.

[GoTfan]

Snowden is a traitor to the United States. What happened to aMeRiCA fIrSt?

So transparency is . . . Bad?

[WD]

Snowden is a traitor to the United States. What happened to aMeRiCA fIrSt?

So transparency is . . . Bad?

Stealing and leaking classified information is bad. There are other ways to get transparency without committing crimes.

[Santander]

Not surprising Trump has sympathy for traitors.

[GP270watch]

Not surprising Trump has sympathy for traitors.

That flee to Russia.

[President Johnson]

Not surprising Trump has sympathy for traitors.

It's just the art of self-reflection.

[Santander]

Snowden is a traitor to the United States. What happened to aMeRiCA fIrSt?

So transparency is . . . Bad?

If an IRS employee leaked your tax returns, would that be transparency?

[Storr]

Snowden is a traitor to the United States. What happened to aMeRiCA fIrSt?

So transparency is . . . Bad?

If an IRS employee leaked your tax returns, would that be transparency?

There is a big difference between your tax returns and a secret program of spying on/monitoring all international telephone calls to and from the US, including ones made by US Citizens.

Edit: there is no way I see Trump doing this. He blasted Snowden when he leaked everything and fled the US (that's my biggest gripe with Snowden, leaving the country). Plus, for his entire administration he's been whining about 'leakers' and calling them rats, among other things.

[John Dule]

This is a bad idea and it makes me dislike Trump even more

You are the type of person who calls the police because a 12-year-old in your neighborhood is posting babysitting flyers without a permit.

[Hammy]

There is always a Tweet:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/395683702757662721

This tweet is an admission of intent to commit treason if he can benefit

[Former Crackhead Mike Lindell]

I hope he does

Trump pardoning Snowden would be the first instance of his unpredictability paying off

Obama wouldn't do it, Biden won't do it

I doubt Trump will either, given past statements and his general feeling toward whistleblowers

[Person Man]

I hope he does

Trump pardoning Snowden would be the first instance of his unpredictability paying off

Obama wouldn't do it, Biden won't do it

I doubt Trump will either, given past statements and his general feeling toward whistleblowers

He’s just saying sh**t to get attention it’s not making as many waves as it used to though.

[Saint Milei]

Snowden is a traitor to the United States. What happened to aMeRiCA fIrSt?

You shouldnt be allowed to maintain citizenship after this post

[Progressive Pessimist]

Trump isn't doing this out of support of whistle-blowers and government transparency. Does that even need to be pointed out? That's largely why so many have soured on Snowden over the past few years. His whistle-blowing was completely justified but for him to look the other way on a President who is worse to whistle-blowers and the concept of accountability than anyone is really disappointing and hypocritical. I guess it was the best thing to do for his interests though. Trump might be pardoning him entirely because he hasn't criticized him. As usual, that's the standard, and it's a fairly dangerous one, even in this more warranted situation for a pardon.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I don't care why Trump's doing it or what he said about it in the past.  People like Snowden and Manning, if anything, deserve medals for exposing the crimes the government is guilty of - not prosecution.

[PSOL]

If this actually happens, I would not stay silent on the fact that Trump has done one good thing during his tenure. That is if it actually happens, and it isn’t just lies in order to provide a red herring for a small increase in his support.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Yeah, this is either purely political (i.e. somebody probably told him "This could help you with younger voters!") or pardoning him would just be his unsophisticated middle finger at the IC, since they don't like Snowden & he's pissed off with them for not backing down on the fact that Russia is interfering with elections to help him win (presumably, his child-like, zero-sum brain thinks that this would hurt them, & they're his enemy, so this means winning).

in context, I think its more he has completely forgotten who Snowden is and gave his standard response when he doesn't know something (BS a confident yet vague response). He gave exactly the same reply when somebody asked him if he was going to pardon Joe Exotic.

I think you've hit the proverbial nail on the head here.

If we had a real press corps, they would have followed this up with "Could you please explain who Edward Snowden is and what he did?" And then when he tries to give one of his patented 'didn't do his homework' answers, keep pushing him until he flees.  If they'd done this in 2015, he wouldn't be in the White House, and a 100,000 more Americans would be alive. If they'd done it for the last four years, we wouldn't have to worry about him remaining in office.

[WD]

Snowden is a traitor to the United States. What happened to aMeRiCA fIrSt?

You shouldnt be allowed to maintain citizenship after this post

Imagine wanting people to lose citizenship because you disagree with them

Go f**k yourself

But you just said Snowden was a traitor because you disagree with him...

He’s a traitor because he stole and released classified information. He violated the Espionage act. I don’t think he’s a bad person because of what he discovered. That was obviously horrible and wrong. But most normal people would submit a whistleblower report if they wittinessed wrongdoing, not steal from government computers. If he had gone through the proper channels I and many other users here would have no problem with him. The issue isn’t his goals, its his methods.

[WD]

Snowden is a traitor to the United States. What happened to aMeRiCA fIrSt?

You shouldnt be allowed to maintain citizenship after this post

Imagine wanting people to lose citizenship because you disagree with them

Go f**k yourself

But you just said Snowden was a traitor because you disagree with him...

He’s a traitor because he stole and released classified information. He violated the Espionage act. I don’t think he’s a bad person because if what he discovered. That was obviously horrible and wrong. But most normal people would submit a whistleblower report if they wittinessed wrongdoing, not steal from government computers. If he had gone through the proper channels I and many other users here would have no problem with him. The issue isn’t his goals, its his methods.

You're not upset with anything but the fact he made Obama look bad.

I don’t care if Obama looked “bad” lmao. Imagine if someone while at work wittinessed abusive and potentially illegal activity. Then they proceed to break into said co-workers office steal files and information from them and give it out to people, instead of simply reporting it to HR or the proper authorities. Someone who did that would be fired, fined, and potentially jailed. That’s basically what Snowden did.

[Santander]

Snowden is a traitor to the United States. What happened to aMeRiCA fIrSt?

You shouldnt be allowed to maintain citizenship after this post

Imagine wanting people to lose citizenship because you disagree with them

Go f**k yourself

But you just said Snowden was a traitor because you disagree with him...

He called Snowden a traitor because it was a factual statement.

[GoTfan]

Snowden is a traitor to the United States. What happened to aMeRiCA fIrSt?

You shouldnt be allowed to maintain citizenship after this post

Imagine wanting people to lose citizenship because you disagree with them

Go f**k yourself

But you just said Snowden was a traitor because you disagree with him...

He’s a traitor because he stole and released classified information. He violated the Espionage act. I don’t think he’s a bad person because if what he discovered. That was obviously horrible and wrong. But most normal people would submit a whistleblower report if they wittinessed wrongdoing, not steal from government computers. If he had gone through the proper channels I and many other users here would have no problem with him. The issue isn’t his goals, its his methods.

You're not upset with anything but the fact he made Obama look bad.

I don’t care if Obama looked “bad” lmao. Imagine if someone while at work wittinessed abusive and potentially illegal activity. Then they proceed to break into said co-workers office steal files and information from them and give it out to people, instead of simply reporting it to HR or the proper authorities. Someone who did that would be fired, fined, and potentially jailed. That’s basically what Snowden did.

And if he did that under Trump, you'd be calling him a hero.

[T'Chenka]

Snowden is a traitor to the United States. What happened to aMeRiCA fIrSt?

You shouldnt be allowed to maintain citizenship after this post

Imagine wanting people to lose citizenship because you disagree with them

Go f**k yourself

But you just said Snowden was a traitor because you disagree with him...

He’s a traitor because he stole and released classified information. He violated the Espionage act. I don’t think he’s a bad person because of what he discovered. That was obviously horrible and wrong. But most normal people would submit a whistleblower report if they wittinessed wrongdoing, not steal from government computers. If he had gone through the proper channels I and many other users here would have no problem with him. The issue isn’t his goals, its his methods.

If he's gone through the proper channels, he likely would've had a mysterious and untimely heart attack / suicide.

[John Dule]

The idea that Snowden should have availed himself of the very same legal system that decided that warrantless data-gathering was constitutional, and that this would have somehow resulted in a decent outcome, is just... lol. He ran for the same reason that African-Americans run away from the police-- he didn't expect to be treated fairly, which was a safe assumption under the circumstances.