Almost self-executing impeachment
Former US attorney Preet Bharara said Sunday that it “would be outrageous” for a sitting president to pardon himself, which President Donald Trump’s lawyers appear to argue in a letter sent to special counsel Robert Mueller.
“I think (if) the President decided he was going to pardon himself, I think that’s almost self-executing impeachment,” Bharara, a CNN legal analyst, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Whether or not there is a minor legal argument that some law professor somewhere in a legal journal can make that the President can pardon, that’s not what the framers could have intended. That’s not what the American people, I think, would be able to stand for.”
It’s not as definite as one would like, is it. It’s like all this stuff about the possible limits on Trump’s power: it depends on what the Murkan people will stand for. That doesn’t give me confidence. 42% of us apparently think Trump is awesome.
Giuliani says he’s not going to but that too is less than reassuring.
Giuliani also said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Trump pardoning himself is “unthinkable” and “would lead to probably an immediate impeachment.”
“I would think the presidential power, there’s nothing that limits the presidential power of pardon from a federal crime, not a state crime,” he said. “President Trump is not going to do that. He’s obviously not going to give up any of his pardon powers, or any future president’s pardon powers, but under these circumstances he’s not going to do that.”
Bharara said on “State of the Union” that he doesn’t believe Giuliani’s assertion that the President isn’t considering granting himself a pardon.
“Rudy, just like Jay Sekulow, keeps coming up with things that end up being false. When he says the President is not contemplating something, I have no faith in that whatsoever,” he said.
Quite. I have zero faith that whatever horrible thing they can come up with won’t happen. I wish I could.
“42% of us apparently think Trump is awesome.”
And that’s about 20% more than he needs.
Consciously or not, Trump has gamed this out. A rabid 20-25% of the population can keep him in power through the rest of this term. Because that 20-25% of the general public comprises 40-50% of Republicans. And because they’re rabid, they probably constitute more like 50-60% of the Republican primary electorate. So the average Republican congressperson knows that any moves against Trump will cost them their seat, either through a primary loss or the threat of it (Flake, Corker). True, supporting Trump might mean a loss in the general election, but (1) a lot of seats simply aren’t likely to go Dem even in a wave election; and (2) it’s always better for your political future to go down in the general in a “bad year” for the party, than to get turfed in the primary for being insufficiently conservative/Trumpist.
As for re-election, that rabid 20-25% will scare off any serious primary challenge to Trump, and he’s got a shot in the general as long as he can count on another 20-30% of the population to go along because tax cuts because Gorsuch because the Democrats nominated (insert name here) who is obviously a terrible candidate because reasons because someone called me a racist and I’m mad because lol owning the libs is fun….