President-elect Donald Trump spent Christmas wishing ill to his enemies and wondering why President Joe Biden wouldn’t want to execute inmates.
On Christmas Eve, Trump responded to Biden’s commutation of death sentences for 37 of the 40 inmates on federal Death Row — an action urged by a large coalition of anti-capital punishment advocates including Catholics and evangelicals.
The commutation to life imprisonment instead of state execution was lauded by faith leaders as potentially the final nail in the coffin of U.S. capital punishment — a practice Americans increasingly oppose as immoral and unethical. However, Trump’s political base represents the main outlier group that still supports the death penalty.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that Biden’s commutation “makes no sense.”
“Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” Trump wrote, using irregular capitalization. “When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening.”
In fact, relatives and friends of victims of Death Row inmates often are among those calling for an end to capital punishment. They increasingly denounce the “eye for an eye” ideology of the death penalty.
Biden took the action, in part, knowing Trump is returning to office and during his last term set a modern record by executing 13 inmates.
“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” Biden said in the statement announcing his decision.
“I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty.”
And indeed, Trump indicated he wants to ramp up executions. He wrote on Christmas Eve: “As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters. We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!”
The next day, Christmas Day, Trump issued another message via Truth Social — one of 34 messages he posted within an hour.
“Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics, who are constantly trying to obstruct our Court System and our Elections, and are always going after the Great Citizens and Patriots of the United States but, in particular, their Political Opponent, ME. They know that their only chance of survival is getting pardons from a man who has absolutely no idea what he is doing,” he wrote.
“Also, to the 37 most violent criminals, who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, but were just given, incredibly, a pardon by Sleepy Joe Biden. I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas to those lucky ‘souls’ but, instead, will say, GO TO HELL! We had the Greatest Election in the History of our Country, a bright light is now shining over the U.S.A. and, in 26 days, we will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
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