J.D. Vance’s Simple Message Is Dead Wrong

The vice president must believe Americans have short memories

By: Austin Abbring

July 6, 2026

I found this tweet from Vice President J.D. Vance quite embarrassing and shameless a couple of weeks ago. The uncharismatic 2028 presidential hopeful really laid the facts down here: the Trump administration is tough on crime. They rule with an iron fist. They are fair and unrelenting, delivering consistent justice. *record scratching sound* Except for all of the times they have not and for the fact that none of that is true.

We all know about the blanket pardons for the January 6th insurrectionists who attempted to thwart the peaceful transfer of power and overthrow our democracy in 2021. We also know about the pardons for Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and other higher-profile lawyers and individuals who were complicit with Trump in the 2020 election fraud scheme. I will not beat a dead horse over those at this moment. I instead want to shift focus to the most nefarious clemency grants given to some of the most egregious white-collar crime offenders. T

he fraudsters and con artists that Vance claims this administration and Kash Patel’s FBI will crack down on to protect the American taxpayer.

Here are just a few examples:

Changpeng Zhao: The founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange was pardoned for violating the Bank Secrecy Act and money laundering and was facing a $50 million fine and a prison sentence.

Ross Ulbricht: The founder of the dark web marketplace “Silk Road”, which sold illegal drugs and other goods, was serving a life sentence.

Joe Lewis: A billionaire and former soccer club owner was granted clemency following his guilty plea to insider trading and securities fraud.

Paul Walczak: $4.3 million in unpaid trust fund taxes. Fun fact on this one: he received a pardon shortly after his mother attended a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. An event with a $1 million-per-plate price tag.

Juan Orlando Hernandez: The former president of Honduras who was charged under the Biden administration for smuggling 400 tons of cocaine into the United States and was serving a 45-year prison sentence, was granted a full presidential pardon. Don’t forget that “drug-smuggling” was essentially our pretext for the near-war with Venezuela and the illegally authorized killings by Pete Hegseth of boats off the coast of Venezuela.

Joe Lewis: Billionaire soccer club owner convicted of insider trading.

Trevor Milton: Nikola founder who defrauded investors of millions of dollars and was ordered to pay hundreds of millions in restitution. Trump pardoned him simply because he was a Trump supporter (an almost homogeneous trend among these clemency grant beneficiaries).

Lawrence Duran: Was convicted of one of the largest Medicare fraud schemes in our country’s history. He was serving a 50-year prison sentence in addition to paying millions of dollars in restitution. This pardon waived that obligation.

Joseph Schwartz: Former owner of Skyline Health Care, a nursing home chain, who manipulated Medicaid payments and failed to pay at least $38 million in employee payroll taxes.

Carlos Watson: Ozy Media founder who was set to begin a nearly 1-year prison sentence, was granted his pardon following identity theft and conspiracy charges. He was set to pay out tens of millions of dollars in restitution and damages, but that slate has been wiped clean.

This is just a small sample size of the white-collar crimes that have been negated during this 2nd administration. It is estimated that at least $1 billion in repayments to taxpayer-funded institutions and other individuals who were defrauded has been completely lost. He clearly cares about taxpayers and regular, hard-working Americans, as these pardons suggest the White House is for sale. Another unfortunate not-so-fun fact: Trump pardoned at least 20 individuals who violated the FACE Act. Just thought I would throw that out there. I figured J.D. Vance would attempt to distance himself from this administration at this point, but he is clearly doubling down on the Kool-Aid consumption. It must taste fantastic, because he can kiss those presidential aspirations goodbye. I hope it was worth it.