Anyway, pardons were cheapened long before Trump. Marc Rich especially comes to mind, along with Nixon...
I think the preemptive pardon of Fauci may be the worst act of a President in ages though. After paying for gain of function research, lying about it, and promoting ineffective treatments for the disease that even Biden's CIA says was likely released form the lab he funded killing millions... Fauci was paid more than the President, and deserved to face charges. Would he be convicted? I do not know, but just the lying about it to Congress is enough for him to face charges.
Remember how Biden foreshadowed these preemptive pardons? Back in October 2020, during a CNN town hall moderated by Anderson Cooper, Biden was asked point-blank about the possibility of Trump issuing preemptive pardons to family members like Donald Trump Jr. or Rudy Giuliani amid the Russia investigation fallout. Biden didn't mince words: He called it "an admission of guilt" and a "travesty," arguing it would erode public trust in the justice system and set a dangerous precedent for shielding allies from accountability. He framed it as the kind of "abuse of power" that Trump had already flirted with, emphasizing that no one should get a blanket pass before charges are even filed.
Then we fast forward to December of 2024, and we got his admission of guilt, a travesty, his abuse of power that he informed us nobody should get... he drops preemptive sweeping pardons forgiving them for any crimes they had or may have committed over massive swathes of time. Fauci, Milley, The Jan 6. Committee Members (Irony is)... his OWN siblings, and less sweeping, his son. The hypocrisy is hot and steamy, wasn't wiped, but it was spread all over...