The D’Souza Pardon

Dinesh D'souza speaks at CPAC 2016 conference, March 5, 2016 in National Harbor, Maryland to promote his new film called The Secret History Of The Democratic Party (Photo by Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto) (Photo by NurPhot... Dinesh D'souza speaks at CPAC 2016 conference, March 5, 2016 in National Harbor, Maryland to promote his new film called The Secret History Of The Democratic Party (Photo by Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto) (Photo by NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images) MORE LESS

By Josh Marshall

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May 31, 2018 11:29 a.m.

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The D’Souza pardon affirms a basic point: the heart of Trumpism is not any policy but performative cruelty, inflicting maximum harm on those outside the tribal fold, and extending the benefits of power and the powers of state for those inside the fold. D’Souza is a loyalist so he gets rewarded with the prerogative power at the President’s discretion. The rationale isn’t legal. It is not in spite of but because of D’Souza’s racism and aggression. It is as simple as that.

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Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TPM.

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