An Illinois Resident's View of Trump's Rod Blagojevich Pardon + A Fun Past Blago Post

Donald Trump made some big news in Illinois on Tuesday as he commuted the sentence of former governor Rod Blagojevich. Blago had served almost eight years of a 14-year sentence. His most egregious crime was trying to sell the US Senate seat that Barack Obama vacated when he became president. Blago was likely going to get out in 12 years on good behavior had Trump not intervened.

The more I thought about it today, I came to some initial thoughts:

• I still think that Blago is a sociopath and narcissist. There was no admission of wrongdoing despite there being a smoking gun with comments he made on the telephone that were recorded by the authorities. Despite all the evidence against him, he continued to plead that he was innocent. I believe that he actually believes that he was innocent.

• Blago was so full of himself and so stupid that he made those comments even though he knew that it was likely that has calls were being monitored.

• I do not see him being a threat to anyone and he did not commit a violent crime. He has already spent eight of the best years of his life in prison after being impeached as governor of Illinois.

• Commuting his sentence? I do not think that Blago has "earned" the commutation, but I can live with his getting out early. We have dirty politicians in Illinois who have been in office for many years but have yet to be caught. I would much rather see them in prison.

Blago looks a bit different today.

Frankly, I always thought he looked a little like this:

I'm sure that Blago will be dominating Illinois news the next several days. And, even after serving eight years in prison, he still doesn't get it.

Thanks for reading! And, for your special enjoyment, particularly if you know little or nothing about Blago, here is a fun post I wrote about Blago in June 2011:

Welcome to Our World: The People of the Great State of Illinois Share ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich with the World

Yes ... F*** us all!

The "F" bomb echoed through the courtroom Wednesday in Rod Blagojevich's corruption retrial, as recorded phone calls were played between the former Illinois governor and his then Deputy Governor Bob Greenlee.


Greenlee testified that Blagojevich told him he wanted to use the appointment of the Senate seat to help him remain relevant on the national stage. Blagojevich was hoping to be made Secretary of Health and Human Services in exchange for appointing Obama Senior Advisor Valerie Jarret to the senate seat, according to Greenlee. An ambassadorship was also of interest to Blagojevich, so Greenlee made a list of of which appointments could be most influential.


When Blagojevich learned the opportunities he was hoping for likely were not going to occur, a very frustrated Blagojevich was heard on a recorded phone call with Greenlee saying he thought his hopes for a national office position were dashed. "My upward trajectory is f***ing stalled if not f***ing ruined by Obama!" Blago is heard saying. "His election blocks me now from any upward movement...Now is the time to put my f***ing wife and children first...I f***ing busted my a**...I fought every f***ing special interest out there to prevent them from raising taxes and all I got is 13%! (approval rating in Illinois) F*** them!"

Courtesy of www.foxnews.com  May 11, 2011

And if that wasn't enough ...

He has compared himself to Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He has drawn parallels between himself and Winston Churchill as well as Abraham Lincoln.


But during his fifth day on the witness stand, even Rod Blagojevich managed to startle observers with a new one:

If he had appointed himself to the U.S. Senate seat in 2008, he would have traveled to Afghanistan to try to hunt down one Osama bin Laden.

His lawyer, Aaron Goldstein, asked if Blagojevich talked about appointing himself to the Senate “in exchange for going to Afghanistan and hunting down Osama bin Laden.”

“Yes,” A straight-faced Blagojevich replied, bringing yet another prosecution objection, hushed snickers and head-scratching in the courtroom.

Courtesy of Natasha Korecki www.suntimes.com  June 3, 2011


I hope you enjoyed our special brand of Illinois entertainment.

Have a great weekend!