It would be amusing if he pardoned neither.
The media would go bonkers but it would be amusing.
I think it is also the case that there are some born into this system who are now rebelling against it.
There is, also, a truth to the idea of a stand-alone-complex. The mega-wealthy don't need a centralized system, necessarily to facilitate their own consolidation of power and expansion of it over the lives of individuals. Simply by acting to enrich themselves and dismiss those beneath them, they create the system where only they have the power to rival each other - and they readily war with each other as much as if not more so than the common person. So where we see a unified plan for absolute authority… It is really just that each of them are willing to agree with each other to create the system of total control… So they can gank it from the others when they have their backs turned.
China hates the guy who founded and holds majority stake in gnews. Hence the instacensor.
I read quite a bit of manga, manhua, and manwha (Japanese, Chinese, and Korean graphic novels/panel drawings). It is interesting to see how the different cultures portray people. Korea certainly feels overworked. Girls of the Wilds is an excellent example of a Manwha. You could also go with Brawling Go if you don't mind the eroge aspect. The Gamer or Memorize are other ones that would work.
Japan enjoys exploring other nations from home and feels pinned in. Cultural epics like Psycho-Pass kind of sit at the top.
China… China, however….
Is absurdly competitive. Tales of Gods and Demons is a long-running Manhua which captures some of it in the beginning using some reasonable characters.
It took me a while to realize that while many Manhua are written kind of shoddy - the dickheaded absurdity to which the society goes to is a portrayal of… Society, to them.
Winner (the best) take all and everyone else is trash. You side with the winner (even if he was only one point higher) or else you are supporting trash.
The Chinese are hyper-aggressive types who don't really comprehend teamwork within their insititutions of power. Honesty and integrity are portrayed as rebellious, delinquent values - or at least as the culutual underdog.