*Political analyst Joy Reid has issued a stark warning to the Black community, urging vigilance in the wake of President Donald Trump’s recent wave of 16 pardons and six commutations, which included rapper NBA YoungBoy, reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, and former Chicago gang leader Larry Hoover.
Speaking with theGrio, Reid described the moves as a calculated effort by the Trump administration to reshape the concept of criminality for political gain. “The Trump regime [or] current administration, whatever you want to call them, is trying to reset and reestablish what criminality means,” she cautioned.
Reid pointed to Trump’s legal history, noting his conviction as a felon on 88 counts in New York, yet he faced no jail time and has since embraced his mug shot as an “iconic image.” She argued that his pardons, including those for individuals involved in the January 6 insurrection, aim to frame such actions as “patriotism” rather than crime. Similarly, by pardoning those convicted of fraud, Trump suggests corruption is not criminal, she said.
On Hoover’s commutation, despite his remaining in prison, Reid called it a “message pardon,” explaining, “[Trump] is going to try to send a message, I do believe, to our community, to say, ‘Look at this. I’m going to pardon someone who’s been referenced in hip hop. Now you need to love me.’” She urged, “We shouldn’t be fooled by that.”
Reid contrasted these actions with the administration’s treatment of Rep. LaMonica McIver, a Black congresswoman recently charged with assault after defending Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a 70-year-old Black colleague, from ICE agents during an oversight visit at a New Jersey immigration center. The agents were there to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, also present for oversight.
Reid decried the criminalization of McIver’s duty, stating, “The idea that you criminalize oversight, which Representative McIver is obliged to do… to say that her attempt to do oversight over a private prison… is a crime.”
She concluded, “This attempt to shift the idea of criminality… onto the people who are trying to enforce the law and enforce the Constitution… That’s a dangerous message to send in a society that’s supposed to be bound by the rule of law.”
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