My hope is that this is a way for Trump to test the waters on who to pardon. By pardoning a dead person he risks nothing, but by announcing in advance that he would be pardoning someone, he gets people talking. When people are talking, he can listen and hopefully act on that information later.
Also... this is the kind of shit a politician does. WTF is happening to our guy? WE DONT WANT A FUCKING POLITICIAN!
My hope is that this is a way for Trump to test the waters on who to pardon. By pardoning a dead person he risks nothing, but by announcing in advance that he would be pardoning someone, he gets people talking. When people are talking, he can listen and hopefully act on that information later.