No. Literally no one, besides perhaps Maxwell, could be remotely seen as forcing him to withhold special favors for Maxwell

What all morally sound people are collectively sure of, is that absent a gross, demonstrable, clear miscarriage of justice, the question "will you pardon this child sex trafficker" has a right answer. Trump appears not to want Maxwell to hear him say "No". The implications are mind blowing. /x

We're in a bizarre, surreal condition of collective knowledge re this part of the Epstein story. "Everyone knows that everyone knows"...is it causing collective inaction? Or is the collective knowledge instead driving what appears to be an overwhelming GOP vote against Trump on Tues? I'm not sure /8

Trump HAS the authority to order Ghislaine Maxwell back to max security in Florida with no special treatment. WHY hasn't he? Trump HAS the power to say he'd never pardon a convicted sex offender. WHY hasn't he? The simplicity and clarity of these questions, is stark. /7

Then, this weekend, Trump, famous for pardoning friends and allies, refuses to say he won't extend clemency to this convicted sex trafficker. He appears to not want Maxwell to hear that her freedom is off the table. It would solve some problems for him if he ruled it out...but he won't. /6

Shortly after, Maxwell was moved from a FL prison to a much more comfortable minimum security facility in TX. No one has acknowledged ordering the transfer, which broke federal rules for sex offenders. A whistleblower reported Maxwell is receiving special comforts like gym time, better food, etc /5

This past summer the Epstein story flared again with reports of a "birthday book"--including Trump--that Maxwell prepared for Epstein. Trump's former personal lawyer, now Deputy AG Todd Blanche, was dispatched to personally sit with this convict and interview her. /4

In July 2020 Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested and charged with 6 counts including child sex trafficking. Weeks later Trump was asked about the arrest of his one-time, long-time friend. Instead of condemning her or her (at the time alleged) crimes, he repeatedly, shockingly, said "I wish her well." /3

In any morally centered context, and to every ethically normal person, the question "Have you ruled out a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell" has a right answer: "Absolutely. No person convicted of her crimes will every get a pardon." Instead the President refuses to be heard saying just that. to review/2

It’s clear you don’t listen to the show, and don’t listen to me, very often. But thanks for the input.

I am, not really. It kind of just asks the big, obvious one.

Great! Has anyone actually asked?

It's easy to see why Fox has no interest asking that question while helping Trump avoid it. But it’s not easy to see why everyone else fell for it.

So why WAS Trump off the air for a week? There is a reason, & it'd be better if people were asking for it instead of tilting at internet culture.

Note that the NYT health conspiracy think piece explores every aspect of discourse around Trump's absence (bruises, ankles, dishonest history, aspirin, Internet conspiracies, partisanship) EXCEPT the bottom line: WHY was he actually invisible?

...it also served to crowd out the obvious and important question: Why was the president off the air for a week, and did he have health problems during that time?