President Donald Trump this week granted a full presidential pardon to Ross Ulbricht, creator of the Silk Road online marketplace shut down in 2013 for facilitating transactions of illicit substances. Ulbricht was serving a double life sentence without parole for his role in the platform’s operation.
“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross. The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!” Trump wrote in a January 21 post on Truth Social.
Independent Political Report previously reported that Trump failed to grant Ulbricht a pardon on his first day in office, despite pledging to do so repeatedly during his campaign. While Trump signed numerous executive orders immediately following his inauguration on Monday, including those related to immigration policy, withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization, recognizing only two sexes, and restoring the death penalty, he did not immediately pardon Ulbricht. However, individuals directly involved with or close to the administration, including Elon Musk and Libertarian National Committee Chair Angela McArdle, stressed patience, assuring that action would come soon.
Ulbricht himself has not yet commented publicly on his pardon; however, his family and supporters expressed immense gratitude following the news. The Free Ross nonprofit posted on X, “Ross was just granted a FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL PARDON by [Donald Trump]. Words cannot express how grateful we are. President Trump is a man of his word and he just saved Ross’s life. ROSS IS A FREE MAN!!!!!”
The Libertarian Party also released a statement praising Trump for fulfilling his promise to pardon Ulbricht, with Libertarian National Committee Chair Angela McArdle stating, “Ross Ulbricht has been a libertarian political prisoner for more than a decade. I’m proud to say that saving his life has been one of our top priorities and that has finally paid off.” The party also indicated that it would continue to advocate for other “politically persecuted individuals,” including Roger Ver, through its previously announced Anti-Lawfare Initiative.
Releasing Ross Ulbricht was one of several key campaign promises Trump made to Libertarians during a speech at their 2024 National Convention. The Libertarian Party had previously compiled a list of member-voted priorities to present to Trump, including freeing Ulbricht and Julian Assange, defending the Second Amendment, pursuing an anti-war foreign policy, abolishing the “deep state,” stopping runaway inflation, ending the Federal Reserve, cutting foreign aid, opposing central bank digital currencies, and eliminating the federal income tax.
Independent Political Report could not confirm whether these were the final priorities ultimately shared with Trump, or how they were presented, beyond the focus on Ulbricht’s release.
How would Ulbrichr pardon have any effect on the performance of Trump meme coins?
“This is Trump. He did this PURELY for transactional reasons”
Probably. But impure motives don´t mean it wasn’t something inherently worth doing.
Meanwhile Biden pardoned terrorists and totalitarians like Peltier, Fauci, Milley, McCord and her fraudulent J6 “committee” and, of course, his own crime family: i.e., pardons so foul, no motive – no matter how pure – could ever justify them in the slightest.
“to goose the memecoins The Donald and Melanin had issued”
Wait, what?! You think that’s the transaction? Even Trump himself doesn’t care about his vanity crypto currency. He’s far too rich to care, even if he’d lost the election. But he didn’t, so now that coin will be the very last thing on his mind.
And if even Trump himself doesn’t care, how much less than will the LP, or other third parties? Do you think anyone in the LP is going to pump money into inflating Trump’s ego still further? They overwhelmingly hate his guts – many for good reasons, even more for bad ones – and those few that don’t, aren’t exactly in love with the guy either.
Even the most ardent crypto advocates among them are going to think twice before investing in a coin whose value depends entirely on what stupid thing Trump cares to share on social media at any given moment, for no better reason than out of gratitude for Ulbricht’s pardon, when there are plenty more useful crypto currencies to gush over.
Or perhaps you think Ulbricht himself is going to step in and save Trump’s coin? How could he? But even if he could, he won’t. Pardon or no pardon, Ulbricht isn’t exactly a fan of Trump either. He made that quite clear over the past year.
“So, if per Winger (wrongly), Trump’s pardon shows minor party power, do the coins’ tanking show minor party powerlessness?”
The pardon shows that Trump is smart enough to keep his promise, especially when urged to do so by key allies like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, and by popular high-profile figures whom he cannot afford to turn against him, such as Thomas Massie and especially Rand Paul. It has less to do with the power of minor parties, than with the consequences breaking this promise would have on the 2026 midterms, the 2028 elections and the future of his “movement”. Effects which would reverberate far beyond the LP and other minor parties.
Trump’s vanity coin and its market value, on the other hand, have nothing to do with anything. OK, that’s a slight exaggeration – they might stand in as some sort of proxy popularity rating among affluent tech bros, or something. But nothing of any political relevance. Certainly not a measure of third party power/influence.
Uhh, WRONG! And, I’ve already called out Winger at BAN, and McAwful and Reason both on Sh*–er for their stupidity.
A. McAwful did a sleight of hand boatload w/Reason in talking about the >>2020<>2024<< Libertarian vote. Last I checked, we're past the 2024 election. You know, the one where Chase Oliver (the guy who McAwful has passive-aggressively backstabbed) and the LP finished BEHIND not only Green Jill Stein but also Brainworm Bobby.
B. This is Trump. He did this PURELY for transactional reasons, to goose the memecoins The Donald and Melanin had issued.
C. Those coins have tanked 50 percent since last Friday. So, if per Winger (wrongly), Trump's pardon shows minor party power, do the coins' tanking show minor party powerlessness? https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/01/21/trump-and-melania-meme-coins-down-50-since-weekend-peak/
https://x.com/MarinaMedvin/status/1881555709839691999
https://x.com/fabian_1776/status/1881797649978048559
https://x.com/laralogan/status/1881567930145542448
https://x.com/shipwreckedcrew/status/1881825400701288733
But will they try and play the same games with Ulbricht as they are playing with the J6 martyrs and confessors?
https://thepostmillennial.com/dc-jail-holding-out-on-releasing-j6ers-after-trump-issues-pardons-julie-kelly
https://x.com/voteharrisout/status/1881570087599235459
https://x.com/voteharrisout/status/1881527060256198798
https://x.com/jakelangj6/status/1881686799678140590
https://x.com/jakelangj6/status/1881537275722440713
https://x.com/JustTheTweets17/status/1881551021316657181
Quite the accomplishment for Libertarian Party chair Angela McArdle for created the deal that made this pardon a reality.