ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- What a strange time.

Americans are embroiled in a heated national conversation about whether the phrase "rule of law" actually means anything as long as there are presidential pardons. And the major political parties -- both of which have corrupted the pardon process for their benefit -- are pretending their hands are clean and accusing each other of hypocrisy.

And what bizarre timing.

It's surreal that all this is happening at the exact moment that the incoming administration is promising the mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.

About this, I have mixed feelings.

On the one hand, it's good to see that at least one group of people is finally being held accountable for breaking the law. I was beginning to think that the U.S. criminal justice system was a farce.

On the other hand, the fact that the rich, powerful and connected have the keys to the jailhouse door and the only people who must answer for their actions are the poor, foreign and powerless proves that the U.S. criminal justice system is a farce.

A few days ago, President Joe Biden issued a full and unconditional pardon to his son, Hunter, who was awaiting sentencing after been convicted of multiple federal crimes. The president issued the pardon despite repeatedly insisting that he would do no such thing.

Biden had claimed for more than a year that he would not intervene in his son's case out of respect for the criminal justice system. Ironically, the pardoning of Hunter Biden undoubtedly further weakened the faith that Americans have in that system.

The liberal media is playing along with the laughable claim by the White House that Biden -- in the twilight of his presidency -- suddenly changed his mind about a pardon. That's baloney, of course. The father was always going to pardon his boy. Biden just couldn't say so during an election year because he was afraid of blowback.

Biden's big mistake was going too far in the opposite direction and proclaiming over and over again -- both directly and through White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre -- that he would not pardon his son. Now, as far as many Americans are concerned, it looks like Biden was lying the whole time. And every time a politician gets caught in a lie, the American people become more jaded about politics.

This was a high-stakes game. Had the president not intervened, Hunter would have faced the possibility of doing at least 10 years in federal prison. That is what normally happens when an average person named "Smith" or "Jones" is convicted of a gun-related charge in Delaware and pleads guilty to tax evasion charges in California.

The 54-year-old has made enough bad decisions to last two lifetimes. And through it all, this prince of privilege has always told the same story: None of this is my fault. My addiction made me do it.

After the pardon, Hunter stayed on script. "In the throes of addiction," he said in a statement, "I squandered many opportunities and advantages."

That's for sure. This guy was born on third base and then proceeded to do an about-face and run the bases backward.

The people who risk their lives to come to this country -- not for handouts but to work hard and earn a shot at a better life for themselves and their families -- don't have that luxury. While Hunter got multiple at-bats, immigrants and refugees understand that, for them, it's one strike and they're out.

When I heard about Biden's pardon, I immediately gave into "whataboutism" and recalled the controversial pardons that President-elect Donald Trump -- who has been convicted of 34 counts and might have needed a pardon himself had he lost the election -- doled out during his first term. Many went to shadowy figures such as Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn and Charles Kushner.

In yet another poke at the establishment, Trump recently announced that he will nominate Kushner -- father of Jared, who is married to Trump's daughter, Ivanka -- to be U.S. Ambassador to France.

Interesting. Is it too late for Biden to nominate Hunter to be U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain?

After prying my attention away from this political circus, I thought once again about the undocumented, who are -- in this case and just about every other case -- also the unfortunate.

As the deportation machine ramps up again, it seems that, in America, the only people who are forced to adhere to the "rule of law" are undocumented immigrants who face removal.

Americans need to take our system of criminal justice seriously. Because, I bet, no one else does.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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