Normally the function of pardoning was self-regulating in that the media would exscoriate any President who did it in such an abusive way and the electorate would punish them and their party accordingly at the ballot box.

But corruption has become normalized and media has been completely hijacked by billionaires that reality isn't so clear cut as it once was.

Well, I dunno. Pardons are good when the justice system fails and locks up innocent people for decades. The burden of proof on appeals is set so high that the appeals system is broken in and of itself. Think about all the racially motivated prosecutions throughout the years, the unjustly prosecuted anarchists, the bribed juries, the kangaroo court shenanigans, etc. How many stories have we heard of cops badgering the wrong person for dozens of hours in interrogation until they got false confessions? All because cops’ egos are so absurd that they refuse to admit they might have come to the wrong conclusions with incomplete information. I’m all for pardons in crimes against individuals. The problems isn’t in the case structure, it’s in the person doling out the pardons.

To "eh state"? Is that what Trump calls Canada now?

Sorry, I'll get my coat.

unfortunately presidential pardons have almost no restrictions, except a few. of course the republican congress wont stop trump.