Biden’s pardons were disappointing. Trump’s are worse.

President Joe Biden’s pardon of his family on his way out the White House door was a disappointing abuse of his presidential prerogative. His decision to issue preemptive pardons to members of the Jan. 6 committee, as well as Anthony Fauci and retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, was unfortunate but defensible.

But all of this — all the sordid history of presidential pardons, including President Bill Clinton’s corrupt pardon of financier Marc Rich — pales in comparison to President Donald Trump’s move to pardon some 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants and commute the sentences of 14 others.

“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation,” Trump’s proclamation reads.