“If you vote for me,” Donald Trump told Libertarians at their national convention last May, “on day one, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.”

Some of us believed him. Some didn’t. Some of us were willing to vote for him over that one issue. Some weren’t.

While it’s POSSIBLE that a few stray Libertarian votes put Trump over the top in what was actually a pretty close election, it seems unlikely. So that’s a promise Trump could plausibly kick out of just by saying he doesn’t think Libertarians held up their end of the deal.

More to the point, nobody expects politicians to keep promises, especially when those politicians will never have to seek election again.

That’s especially true of Trump, who doesn’t carefully curate his promises so as to keep them from conflicting with each other. At the same time he was promising to commute Ulbricht’s sentence, he was also promising to ask Congress to enact a federal death penalty law for drug dealers. Ulbricht was convicted of, among other things, distributing and conspiring to distribute narcotics, i.e. being a drug dealer.

So, don’t put a second mortgage on your home to make a big prediction market bet on the commutation actually happening.

But it COULD happen, and it SHOULD happen, and it happening would be a good thing for Ross Ulbricht, for his family, for his friends, and for America.

While Ulbricht was convicted “of” and “on” several charges, what he was actually convicted “for” was:

Running a web site that saved lives.

That web site, Silk Road, was the first major “darknet” market. It allowed its users to buy and sell things, including but not limited to drugs, anonymously and without government approval or permission. Its review system made it possible for drug buyers to identify differentiate reliable, honest drug sellers from unreliable, dishonest drug sellers.

In other words, due to Ross Ulbricht’s entreprenurial bent, fewer people got sick or died from overly strong heroin cut with fentanyl, fake MDMA (“Ecstasy”) compounded from N-Ethylpentylone and/or other far more dangerous chemicals, etc.

For the crimes of serving customers and saving lives, Ross Ulbricht was sentenced — after a farce of a kangaroo court “trial” — to life in federal prison without the possibility of parole.

Yes, he deserves a commutation.

He also deserves a pardon, an apology, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and lavish financial compensation for his years in stir.

Whether he gets any of those things will, as of Monday, be up to a guy who’s indicated he plans to do at least one of them.

Hopefully Trump will deliver. If he does, he will, like Ulbricht himself, be owed the thanks of a grateful nation.

Thomas L. Knapp (X: @thomaslknapp | Bluesky: @knappster.bsky.social | Mastodon: @knappster) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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