Some of Donald Trump’s loudest cheerleaders are concerned that his latest pardon spree could blow up in his face.
In a series of posts on X, right wing influencer Mike Cernovich, a longtime Trump booster, warned that the president’s approach to clemency is spinning out of control and could end up wrecking his own political future.
“If there’s anyone close to Trump who actually gives a s—, they need to do an intervention on the pardons,” Cernovich wrote. “Totally corrupt scammers are getting cases dismissed, sentences commuted, it’s totally out of control.”
His rant came just hours after Trump granted a full pardon to Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, wiping away a federal bribery and conspiracy case accusing them of taking nearly 600,000 dollars in payments tied to an Azerbaijan controlled energy company and a Mexican bank.
Cuellar has denied any wrongdoing and insisted he and his wife are innocent. Their trial had been set for April 2026.
Trump, for his part, framed the pardon as an act of justice, claiming Cuellar was targeted because he had broken with President Joe Biden over immigration. In his social media announcement, Trump called the case an example of a “weaponized” Justice Department and praised Cuellar for having “bravely spoke out against Open Borders,” adding, “Henry, I don’t know you, but you can sleep well tonight. Your nightmare is finally over!”
But even some of Trump’s own supporters say the pattern around his clemency decisions is starting to look like something very different from justice.
“I voted for Trump, drove support for him, and am glad each day I did,” Cernovich wrote in a follow up post. “The pardons will be his downfall if this isn’t handled immediately.”
Scott Morefield, a columnist for the conservative outlet Townhall, voiced a similar unease. “I voted for Trump and support most of what he’s doing, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that all it takes to get a pardon from Trump is some combination of knowing the right people or being a celebrity or some high profile white collar case,” he posted on X.
The pardons Trump is handing out are a huge, growing scandal that not enough people are talking about. This is a money making operation – for for Trump, his family, his crypto pals, and the Trump-affiliated lobbyists and grifters who the pardon seekers pay. pic.twitter.com/FwLRyHDMqN
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 4, 2025
Their criticism lands at a moment when Trump’s use of the pardon power is coming under intense scrutiny from legal scholars and watchdogs. Since returning to the White House, Trump has granted clemency to more than 1,800 people, many of them political allies, wealthy donors, and culture war figures, according to recent analyses.
Those lists now include January 6 rioters, former lawmakers facing corruption charges, crypto billionaire Changpeng Zhao, and foreign leaders like ex Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández. Critics argue that Trump has turned the pardon process into a kind of loyalty program, bypassing the usual Justice Department review system and routing requests through a loyalist pardon attorney, Ed Martin.
A PBS NewsHour segment this week described the Cuellar decision as “the latest in a series of controversial pardons Trump has signed,” while a Guardian analysis called his clemency blitz a “pay to play system” that rewards insiders and sends a message that connections matter more than the underlying crimes.
Trump and his allies argued that he is correcting what they see as a politicized justice system and giving second chances to people who were treated unfairly.
The difference now is that the complaints are coming from inside Trump world. When voices like Cernovich and Morefield start warning that “totally corrupt scammers” are benefitting and that the pardons “will be his downfall,” it shows a real fear among some on the right that the president is not just stretching his powers, he is daring voters, and prosecutors, to see how far he will go.
