"For the good of the country," Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) is calling on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to pardon former President Donald Trump of his recent felony convictions.

To be clear, Phillips does not like Trump. On X, he called the former president "a serial liar, cheater, and philanderer," as well as "a six-time declarer of corporate bankruptcy, an instigator of insurrection, and a convicted felon who thrives on portraying himself as a victim." Despite all this, Phillips wants Trump to be pardoned in the interest of public civility.

For even making such a suggestion, and on social media no less, Phillips was raked over the coals by the lynch mob. He responded to all the backlash by doubling down on his call for Trump to be pardoned – because to not pardon Trump means increasing his chances of winning the White House in 2024.

"You think pardoning is stupid?" Phillips wrote. "Making him a martyr over a payment to a porn star is stupid. (Election charges are entirely different.) It's energizing his base, generating record sums of campaign cash, and will likely result in an electoral boost."

Will Trump become America's first president to be found guilty of felony crimes?

In case you somehow missed it, Trump was found guilty, albeit shadily, on all 34 counts of falsifying business records during his 2016 run for the presidency. Trump essentially kept secret a payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter he had with her.