Only on the left would we see the presidential pardon of a nonviolent drug offender, a cause that up until now has been a Sorosian shibboleth, greeted with grumbles.

Why?  Because President Trump took the initiative to get it done, hearing of the 63-year-old grandmother's plight from big-name celebrity Kim Kardashian.  The left loathes Trump more than it values that woman and the cause she represents, so a good deed suddenly becomes a bad deed.

Here's how the left and its media minions took it, starting with the Guardian:

On Wednesday, Trump commuted the sentence of Alice Johnson, a 63-year-old great-grandmother who has spent over 20 years in prison for non-violent drug crimes.  It's the sort of pardon decision previous presidents might well have made, but his likely reason for doing so was uniquely Trumpian.  He was lobbied last week by the reality star Kim Kardashian to release Johnson.

Trump has pardoned slightly fewer people than most recent presidents at this stage of a presidency, but there is a theme to those he has deemed worthy of clemency.  Most were considered by Trump as being unfairly persecuted by the "deep state".  They have been found, by FBI and DoJ investigations, to have obstructed justice, given false statements to investigators, or broken campaign finance rules.

Many have suggested that Trump is using his pardons as a tool in the Mueller investigation.

Ah, so it's not about mercy to correct an injustice; it's just all about the Russia Russia Russia thang.

Oh, and tilt your head for this one.  The Guardian helpfully adds:

Many in the White House are reportedly dismayed that a pardon was made in this manner, particularly one that flies in the face of the general government policy on drug offenders, which has been to maintain punitive sentences.

As if they are fans of the crew currently in the White House.

Vox, citing the Washington Post, was also thoroughly upset about the pardon:

But it adds to the unusual string of pardons and commutations that Trump has carried out since he took office last year – typically to friends or allies or, as seems to be true in Kardashian's case, causes embraced by friends and allies.  That kind of nepotism has reportedly horrified even some of Trump's top advisers, according to Ashley Parker, Robert Costa, and Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post[.]

Nepotism, horrors!  What's more, Vox really, really, really doesn't like inconsistency.  The people there probably had to have their peas served a certain way when they were toddlers.  More to the point, they seem unfamiliar with the concept of "mercy."

Trump's move is all the stranger because it goes against the broader policy that Trump has been pushing for drug dealers and traffickers.  In response to the opioid epidemic, Trump has said that the government should execute drug dealers and traffickers.  More broadly, his administration, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has adopted a "tough on crime" view toward drugs.

Late-night hosts got into the act, too, seeing nothing funny at all, deep down, about that pardon:

By contrast, here's what really happened:

As if vast numbers of people, black and white, can't relate to that and feel the joy as she shouts, "I love you, President Trump!"

That reveals to us what's really bothering the left.  Trump is not only stealing their thunder on the cause of unjust sentences (and this one was unjust), but bringing a whole lot of black people into the Republican Party as a result of his correcting this wrong.  President Obama pardoned many nonviolent drug offenders, but it was done antiseptically, at the request of the hipsters and activists in his Justice Department, whose agenda is to let all crooks out of prison for Sorosian political purposes.  Kim Kardashian's plea to Trump just came out of the blue and wasn't part of a set political agenda; it was a simple human call to mercy for an obvious injustice.  The pardon worked because it restored the idea of mercy.  It wasn't a political project.  And guess what: that goes over well with black as well as young voters.

Kanye West was the one who opened the gate to that reality.  Black male approval of Trump doubled after Kanye came out and called Trump his "brother" and posed for a Twitter photo in a Make America Great Again hat.  The left dismissed him as "insane."

Then there was the Reuters poll that followed...

How did it happen?  Well, Kanye West (the rap superstar whose current album is right now number one on the charts) has 27 million followers on Twitter.  Twenty-seven million.  Those 27 million saw what he was comfortable with, and quite a few of them got comfortable with Trump, too.  They came out.

Scroll to Kim Kardashian.  She has 60 million followers, with a worldwide rank of #12.

Understand what Trump was doing when he pardoned Alice Johnson?

The left understands, but it doesn't want to admit it.  Every move by Trump to please Kim and win her over to his side has to do with those 60 million.  Kim Kardashian is thrilled with the pardon and winning well deserved accolades.

She tweeted this:

So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance.

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018

Guess what is going to happen to President Trump's approval numbers in the wake of this pardon of Alice Johnson.  President Trump has outsmarted the hell out of the left.  No wonder its people are stewing.