Pardons are supposed represent mercy to the contrite, not Christmas presents to political allies or to murderers, perjurers, and corrupt politicians who still claim innocence.

Some of the pardons were for non-violent drug offenders who had long prison terms. I'm all in favor of that. However, why not just (gasp!) pardon all who have served more than a year rather than just cherry pick the a few who have an advocate who caught Trump's attention?

Reasons: These were crimes that should have never been federalized in the first place; Many drug crimes should be decriminalized, period; federal sentencing requirements are draconian and racist to say the least.

The rejoinder is that many of these people are in prison after having pleaded down from more serious crimes. Putting the screws on a possibly innocent person in order to get them to plead guilty for a lesser crime without a trial is also a well-known prosecutorial abuse.