It’s not about whether or not he honors them. The effectiveness of those preemptive pardons can be adjudicated by the SC. But there’s a couple of considerations on that front:

• will the SC concur that blanket pardons in advance of any charges are actually allowed?
• will Trump want to challenge that, since it would potentially kneecap any effort he makes later in that regard?

But also:

• will Trump or the SC give a shit about the blatant hypocrisy and double standard if they do strike down this sort of thing from Biden, but let Trump do it? (IMO probably not)
• if the SC gives a shit but Trump doesn’t, what’s to stop him using leverage and/or stochastic terrorism to help accelerate the conclusion of one or more justices’ tenure so he can slip someone more agreeable in?
• will the judicial branch even exist in an independent fashion in 4 years?

TL;DR: who fuckin knows at this point

Their validity has never been constitutionally challenged. It's not really been done much in the past, the notable example being Nixon and no one challenged that.

Also are they even valid if they haven't been charged with a crime.

Accepting the pardon actually requires admitting to the crime. So yes, the pardon is valid because the person has to go “yes I did this thing, and accept that I’m being pardoned for it.” You can’t selectively accept only the latter half of the pardon. And that admission and subsequent pardon means the state can’t charge them in the future, because they already admitted to it and were pardoned for it despite that admission of guilt.

But to your earlier point, there’s not much stopping Trump from trying to go after them anyways; The SCOTUS certainly won’t get in his way.

It's not that he WAS treated that way, it's that the Trump camp desperately WANTS to treat him that way. That's why they all need the protection.

"And this, son, is the sound of useful idiots"

With the Trump appointed supreme court it definitely won't hold up, but maybe it could delay whatever meaningless charges he can come up with long enough for another election. If we're lucky enough to have another real election that is at least.

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/71/333/

The power of pardon conferred by the Constitution upon the President is unlimited except in cases of impeachment. It extends to every offence known to the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment. The power is not subject to legislative control.

I don't think Trump would try it since he probably wants to use it on himself as well, but then again SCOTUS could be on some "rules for me, but not for thee" shit with it and it wouldn't matter anyhow.

So basically it just sets the statue of limitations of everything to 0?

So if we find out one of these people raped someone at some point before this pardon, there will be no justice?

Or more recently (and I suppose in the same wheelhouse as the topic at hand), Hunter Biden's pardon was a blanket pardon for any potential crimes that may have been committed on January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024. It wasn't just for what he had specifically been charged with at the time.

"It's different when we do it. We HAD to do it.".

Abuse of power is abuse of power. The Democrats can't say they are the party of the just and fair when they are doing the exact same shit they condemn the right for doing.

The Democrats will continue to lose if they try and play dodgeball with the Teflon Don. Nothing has stuck or ever will stick to that man and it's almost entirely thanks to the Democrats in the first place. They should have chosen to eat it on the nose and double down on them being the party that doesn't try and break rules for personal gain. At least then they would have a legitimate leg to stand on. But they didn't. They tried to play Trumps game. And they lost. And they will continue to lose.

I want to believe they will have learned anything from 2016-2024, but only time will tell. I suspect that when 2028 rolls around we will find out that the Democrats have still learned absolutely nothing. Based on my discussions with my left leaning friends and family its really not looking good for them in 2028.

I didn't get what I voted for. But I'm not delusional like the majority of the Democrats are apparently.

The first vote I could vote for was Obamas second term ( I was just a tad too young to vote for him the first time around) and I did so happily. Then is 2016 I voted for Hillary and was disappointed like many of you when Trump won.

For the 2020 election I went registered as an independent because I no longer identified as a Democrat. I still have left leaning bias on the majority of issues but I could not identify with the Democrats anymore. I still voted for them, but I wasn't happy about it. Like many that cycle I viewed Biden as the lesser of two evils.

Now we get to 2024. I live in California. California was going blue no matter what. But I voted third party because I could not bring myself to vote for Kamala and the current Democratic party again. Just like I cannot bring myself to vote for the King Cheeto himself. My vote was simply a vote of protest for the current leaders of the Democratic party. They need to see that if they don't change their approach going forward they are going to lose Democratic strong holds like California as well. This past election was one of the closest California has had in awhile. Clearly I am not the only person in my state disillusioned with how my old party has been doing things.

I really really want them to put forward someone genuinely good in 2028, but I fear they learned all the wrong lessons for the last 10 years. Only time will tell I guess.

Ditto