Weather Report #40: Former Puerto Rico Governor Pardoned by Trump

Hello, dear reader! Welcome to your Weather Report, a weekly column where I recommend some articles, a book, a movie, and some music for readers to consume.

Here's what you're getting this week:

1. Trump pardons former Puerto Rico Governor.
2. Essays, articles, and columns about: political science in the Trump era, how federal immigration agencies became the American Gestapo, and Minneapolis against ICE.
3. A novel that mixes X-Files with the video game Control for a perfect horror, sci-fi read.
4. A 13-episode anime that's like if Civil War (2024) was good and made interesting directorial/artistic choices.
5. Three songs I've listened too while contemplating the hells that come very day.

If you're interested in seeing the recommendations – and supporting Heavy Weather's quest to keep tabs on collapse – you can become a paid subscriber by clicking the button below. Paid subscribers get access to the MEDIA LIST, a comprehensive list of every book, movie, and video game I've ever recommended. If you're already a paid subscriber, thank you very much! This newsletter would literally not be possible without your support.

Trump Pardons Former Puerto Rico Governor:

As Puerto Ricans were enjoying the second day of the Calles de San Sebastián festival, a wave of disappointment washed over upwards of 85% of the population when we started getting news notifications that Trump had pardoned former Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced, along with two other co-defendants.

To make a long story short, Vázquez Garced, alongside Venezuelan billionaire Julio Herrera Velutini and former FBI agent Mark Rossini, were first indicted on bribery charges related to her 2020 campaign. However, at the urging of the Trump administration, the federal Justice Department lowered the charges to a slap on the wrist misdemeanor, for which they all plead guilty in August 2025. The federal judge in charge of the case really wanted to send Vázquez Garced to jail for one year, but any hope of consequences for her, however small, are now dashed because of the pardon. The situation gets even dumber because Trump's original pardon only mentioned the case involving the original charges, not the case with the misdemeanor. So, the White House is in the process of signing a second pardon.

It's no secret that Trump has been on a rampage of pardoning everyone he can, even when he has no idea who they are. Although Vázquez Garced is an avowed pro-Trump Republican, her pardon seemingly only came about because Herrera Velutini's daughter has donated $3.5 million to MAGA Inc., Trump's super PAC. Part of the justification for the pardon was that the investigation was politically motivated because it started only a couple of days after Vázquez Garced endorsed Trump, which is a hilarious lie because it started under the first Trump presidency and a U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico who was appointed by Trump.

There's not much else to say, other than you do not hate these people enough.

I haven't really done this before, but here's a meme that I've been thinking a lot about since I first saw it a couple of days ago. It's a perfect tie-in to the very good book I'm recommending this week.

That's it for this week's free stuff. If you want to see the media recommendations and the link roundup, you can become a paid subscriber today.