[imagesource: Fox 4]

If I was getting a presidential pardon, I too would hire a stretch limo and exit from prison in style.

Just the one problem – despite hiring the limo, in anticipation of getting a pardon on the final day of Donald Trump’s time as president, Joe Exotic (real name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage) remains behind bars.

Don’t you just hate it when the president won’t overturn your 22-year sentence for participating in a murder-for-hire plot and violating federal wildlife laws?

Joe and his team have lobbied for a pardon for months, and now that it’s all fallen flat, he ain’t happy:

I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump. I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first. pic.twitter.com/ysGfwnqlHi

— Joe Exotic (@joe_exotic) January 20, 2021

It’s like he just realised that the Trump family will only ever do something if it benefits them.

He was singing from a different hymn sheet last year, reports The LA Times:

He lapped praise on Trump for months to curry favor with the twice-impeached leader and Don Jr., the latter of whom believed Exotic’s 22-year sentence was “aggressive.”

…“If I have ever looked up to anyone it would be you,” the convicted felon wrote to Trump last September in his 257-page pardon application. “Not because I need you to save my life but because you stand for what you beleive [sic] no matter what anyone thinks.”

Many of the pardons granted went to people who had somebody in Trump’s orbit operating on their behalf, with some people going as far as to charge huge sums of money to bring up the idea of a pardon with the then-President.

In the case of Joe Exotic, some of those trying to score pardons for their connections saw him as a “dipshit”:

Acosta quotes a Trump loyalist on possible Joe Exotic pardon: I’ll be pissed if that dipshit does make the President’s list of pardons and my client doesn’t pic.twitter.com/oCUmQxIyg0

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) January 20, 2021

The star of Tiger King may have missed out, but 74 pardons were granted on Trump’s final day, along with 70 sentences being commuted.

Rudy Giuliani was overlooked, and Trump also chose not to pardon himself, or members of his family.

Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, did get lucky, as CBS News reports:

Bannon was indicted in August for allegedly defrauding donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars with a fundraising campaign to build a wall along the southern border, known as the “We build the wall” campaign.

Image: Andrew Kelly / Reuters

The scheme raised $25 million, and Bannon was accused of taking $1 million to cover personal expenses and pay another person accused in the scheme.

Americans tried to pay for the wall, because Mexico wouldn’t, and then one of Trump’s pals stole the money.

Priceless.

[sources:latimes&cbsnews]