Trump's pardons the last couple of days are all about reminding Stone that

[RockRaven]

if he just keeps his mouth shut, Trump will take care of him (eventually) because nobody can stop Trump from pardoning people.

Trump also pardoned a bunch of people right around the time Manafort was being sentenced. Not a coincidence.

It seems like Trump's dumb mob brain thinks that the reality of getting sentenced is the straw which breaks the camel's back when it comes to squealing/snitching/cooperating. Very Hollywood-esque, in a melodramatic, B-movie, cheesy script kind of way.

[greenjar_01]

1. Reminder: Manafort is still in federal prison.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. If a person is pardoned he no longer has 5th Amendment protection

regarding the crime he was pardoned for; so he can be subpoenaed and forced to testify, and he can be prosecuted for perjury if he lies. As to Blagojevich that's not an issue because his sentence was just commuted and he doesn't have any incriminating dirt he could still testify about. But Stone and Manafort are the mother lodes of dirt - which might be why they haven't been pardoned yet.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

3. Lead up to pardoning himself...

He’ll turn it into a all inclusive preemptive pardon, cuz he can do that.

[Marcuse]

4. Reunited.