When Corruption Isn’t Disqualifying: Trump, Pardons, Cuomo & the Collapse of Accountability

Why ‘Loyalty Above All’ Is the New Political Currency

One of the more unsettling developments of the Trump era — and frankly, of this populist era across both parties — is how little outrage remains over what used to be political deal-breakers. We used to treat corruption and ethical lapses like a third rail. Now? It barely gets a shrug.

Let’s call it what it is: selling pardons, profiting from public office, hush money payments — these aren’t just allegations anymore. They’re operational strategies. And somehow, voters aren’t just tolerating this behavior — many are rationalizing it.

Imagine if Obama had tried any of this. Or Bush. Or Clinton. We’d have seen bipartisan outrage, likely successful impeachment votes. Today? We get shrugs, deflection, and the laziest kind of whataboutism. “The Bidens did it, so why shouldn’t the Trumps?” One of my favorite recent absurdities came from Speaker Mike Johnson, who suggested the difference was that Trump’s corruption is open, while the Bidens were “sneaky.” Translation: Trump is honest about being dishonest — and somehow that’s a virtue?

What Trump Has Normalized

We’re now in an era where corruption, questionable ethics, and even criminal charges no longer disqualify someone from public office. At least, not in the way they used to. Trump has reframed corruption not as a failing, but as authenticity. It’s not hypocrisy — it’s branding. “At least he tells you what he’s doing” has become a badge of loyalty.

And if you look at Trump’s use of the presidential pardon power, it reads less like acts of clemency and more like a public projection of how he thinks the system should work — if he were the boss of a criminal empire. He’s either pardoning people for things he’s done or signaling to the public that these aren’t crimes at all. Just politics.

Here’s a sample of Trump’s 2025 pardons and commutations so far:

• Rod Blagojevich (former Dem Gov. of Illinois): Pardoned February 2025. Tried to sell Obama’s Senate seat. Caught on tape. Trump’s message? If it helps you politically, it’s not a crime.

• Paul Walczak (nursing home exec convicted of tax fraud): Pardoned after his mother bought a $1 million ticket to a MAGA Super PAC fundraiser. A pay-to-play pardon if there ever was one.

• Scott Jenkins (Virginia sheriff who took bribes): Took money in exchange for political favors. Trump apparently saw no ethical line crossed.

• Todd and Julie Chrisley (reality TV stars convicted of loan fraud): Apparently reality TV stars get an automatic loyalty discount.

• Michael Grimm (former GOP Congressman): Tax fraud conviction. Now a MAGA media figure. Loyalty secured.

• John Rowland (former GOP Gov. of Connecticut): Took kickbacks, misused campaign funds, and lived beyond his means with donor money. Trump? No problem.

And that’s just the appetizer. This list doesn’t include the gang leaders he’s pardoned, or the more than 1,500 January 6 rioters he’s granted clemency to. Or the commutations he’s issued for Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. In Trump’s moral universe, loyalty to him is virtue enough. Everything else — from election fraud to financial crimes — is noise.

What’s most disturbing is the emerging logic: Trump isn’t just pardoning these people — he’s using them to build a public defense of himself. He’s trying to normalize the very behaviors he’s been credibly accused of. And by applying forgiveness to others, he makes it easier to demand it for himself.

When Everyone’s Corrupt, No One Is

Why has this become so acceptable?

Part of it is selective outrage. We’ve stopped caring about corruption in the abstract and started only caring when it’s the other side. Republicans once built a moral crusade over Bill Clinton’s character. Now they wave off Trump’s indictments as “fake news.” Meanwhile, Democrats who argued Clinton’s personal life was off-limits now wish they’d drawn a firmer ethical line.

But the bigger shift is public cynicism. When voters believe everyone is corrupt, they stop treating elections as moral decisions and start treating them like survival games. Who will help me more? Whose corruption will hurt me less? That’s the mindset we’re dealing with now. And if that hardens, democracy becomes purely transactional. That’s not a republic. That’s a kleptocracy.

There was a time when white-collar crime, ethical lapses, and personal profiteering were considered bipartisan red flags. Remember when Newt Gingrich rose to power by going after Speaker Jim Wright for what some thought was a shady book deal? That was enough to end Wright’s speakership. Gingrich used to argue that personal character was central to public service.

But once those flaws were attached to a Republican president, they magically became “weaponized.” Gingrich, who had his affair during the Clinton impeachment era, is now one of Trump’s loudest defenders. Maybe he decided character doesn’t matter anymore — or maybe it just doesn’t matter to voters when it’s their guy.

Cuomo, Resignation, and the Accountability Loophole

This isn’t just about Trump or Republicans. Let’s talk about Andrew Cuomo.

In a few weeks, New York City Democrats might nominate Cuomo, the disgraced former governor, for mayor. I get the argument: the field is chaotic, the options are polarizing, and Cuomo seems competent, especially compared to the rest of the field. But how is it that someone who resigned under the cloud of a sexual harassment scandal and looming impeachment is even eligible to run again?

He didn’t step down after facing the music. He stepped aside to avoid it. There was no trial, no public testimony, no legislative reckoning. Just a resignation and a quick exit — and now a possible comeback.

This tactic isn’t new. It’s common on Capitol Hill. When a member of Congress is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, they often get a quiet chance to resign — and poof, the case disappears. Because the committee only investigates sitting members, resignation is treated as a free pass.

That’s not accountability. That’s disappearing the evidence.

In Cuomo’s case, maybe a full investigation would’ve cleared him. Maybe not. But voters never got a clear picture — and that’s the point. He left before we could find out. Now voters are being asked to decide his future without ever getting the full truth about his past.

What Can Be Done

When corruption is no longer disqualifying, democracy weakens. Voters lose trust. Institutions decay. The bar drops further — until mug shots become rallying cries and disgrace becomes résumé padding.

Here’s what I’d propose:

1. Ban resign-to-evade tactics.

If you resign while under investigation, you should be barred from running for public office for 5–10 years. This isn’t punishment. It’s restoring the broken contract between public service and public trust. Quitting to dodge scrutiny shouldn’t be a shortcut to a comeback.

2. Reform the pardon power.

Yes, it would require a constitutional amendment. But giving one person monarch-like clemency powers — especially in the age of cultish political loyalty — was a clear oversight by the Founders. Trump has exposed how dangerous that power can be in corrupt hands.

3. Start tracking character and corruption.

Pollsters regularly ask about inflation and immigration — why not ethics? Why not trustworthiness? Let’s build real-time feedback on whether voters still care about these issues. Some do. And those voters deserve representation, too. We all have theories as to how voters became this cynical, but we don’t track enough. I’d love to know each month whether voters think members of Congress are inherently corrupt. Simply tracking that, a la the direction of the country, would be helpful to know if character and ethics still matter, and perhaps help honest politicians come up with a better way to convince the voters it SHOULD still matter.

The Stakes

If we keep looking the other way when politicians sell access or dodge accountability, we’ll get more of it. If we act like we don’t care, we’ll never fix it. And if we decide that corruption is “just politics,” we’ve already handed the keys to the highest bidder.

Corruption still matters. Integrity still matters. Or at least it should.

Because if we don’t hold leaders accountable when they break the rules, we shouldn’t be surprised when citizens stop believing the rules matter at all.

And when that happens, we’re not voters anymore. We’re marks.

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