Pablo Torre Finds Out
Mercy for Sale: Inside Trump's Pardon Machine, with TrueAnon's Brace Belden
13 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is.
I feel like after you die, you should be pardoned. You know?
Like, after you... Right after this ad. In general, like, what you do with your free time remains one of my favorite running subplots.
I like to go to places.
Well, okay. I think you were being here, by the way, Brace.
Are we recording?
Yeah, let's do it.
Yeah, yeah. Why not?
On Instagram over the holidays, what were you doing? I was in España. You were? I was, yeah. At an ancient church.
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Chapter 2: How does Donald Trump's pardon system operate?
buying freedom.
It's wild. It is. I will say this, and I'm not going to pretend that like there hasn't been at times more blatant than other times, but corruption throughout the presidential system since the beginning of it, right? Of course. The second Trump term has been crazy to see because I think unlike any other point in human history, first of all, the president has a crypto firm.
Yes. Which figures into this story too.
Yeah, yeah, it does. And they just don't care. And it's like also the president... has gone through years of sort of shockingly ineffective legal problems during the Biden years, and I guess the tail end of his own administration, or his own first administration, and he's out for revenge. And he has not made any bones about it. He's like, I am getting revenge.
And there's a through line with almost all of the pardons, which he's like, this person was targeted by government, which is interesting because that's generally what happens when the Department of Justice comes after you because it is a part of the government.
Yeah, when the thing that you're resentful of is the entire apparatus of justice. Yes. Plausibly, all of these things can speak to your personal plight.
Yeah, I will say, though, like something that was sort of shocking to me during the Biden interregnum between one and two is how bad the cases against Trump were. Like the 32, 34 counts he got here, like nobody cared. Too many counts. And it was like the Vince the Stormy Daniels stuff.
It's the bed of nails theory for counts. Yes, exactly. It's too many counts. We can't pay attention. And I think part of like the poetry of this is that this guy who seems to be possessing antibodies to legal consequence is now spreading them handpicked to people that get... The ultimate thing you can hope for in anything resembling a constitutional republic.
Yeah, yeah.
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Chapter 3: What role does Brace Belden play in the episode?
So what I did was I went on Instagram, the platform where I was watching you and also watching this. This is in November. And I DM'd Daryl Strawberry, inviting him onto the show.
And he said... Maybe at some point. And he hits you with a strawberry.
The strawberry emoji is his move. Wow.
Wow.
If only we could all have an equivalent move.
I mean, my God, it's crazy to have your last name be Strawberry. It's like being named Michael Pineapple or something.
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Chapter 4: How have presidential pardons been historically used?
It's crazy. Strawberry? But did you, there was no follow-up?
Yeah, as I contemplate what it's like to be Jim Eggplant. No, I was waiting and waiting, and then I called you. So that's why you're here. But there is a part of Daryl Strawberry's IG post that has been largely overlooked. This was big news in sports, of course. And this part actually comes after his signature strawberry emoji.
I'm free. I'm free. I'm so humble and thankful. Strawberry, hands clasped in prayer. Thanks, in quotes, Larry Glick, one. Love you, brother. And then I love, that's my favorite emoji, the pointing one. Yeah, of course.
The point.
And then, of course, we have Johnny Damon with the double-handed high five.
Just a resplendent Johnny Damon with both hands in the air.
Who's Larry Glick?
So this is the question. At Larry underscore Glick1. It's a guy I hadn't heard about, which is why I'm so excited to bring him up to you. Because we went and looked up who Larry Glick is, and the account belongs to the Executive Vice President of Strategic Development at the Trump Organization.
Wow.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of pardoning famous figures like Daryl Strawberry?
He would wake up every day, look at what trending topics were going on in, like, right-wing podcast Twitter, and then write an official-looking but poorly written letter in support of sort of the topic du jour of the day.
Right.
He was, unfortunately, unable to be rammed.
Well, one of the guys that came up in the vetting of Eagle Ed was this guy, Timothy Hale Cusinelli, who was a convicted January 6th rioter, who, according to court records, quote, held longstanding white supremacist and Nazi beliefs
And by that, they mean he wore a Hitler mustache, apparently, allegedly told his co-workers that, quote, Hitler should have finished the job, and then was hugged by Ed Martin at some sort of ceremony. And Ed Martin, Eagle Ed, told the audience that one of his goals was, quote, to make sure that the world, and especially America, hears more from Tim Hale, because he's extraordinary.
I hope you'll join me in welcoming Tim Hale. Tim, welcome to the program.
How are you, sir?
I'm doing very well, Ed. Thank you for having me on.
It's an honor. Yeah, thanks, Tim. But first, let me ask the question. I'm down here in the swamp. You're home in New Jersey. But there's a lot of talk of the D.C. gulag, the prison.
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