What fresh horror is this?

Donald Trump has asked for files to be prepared on pardoning several US military members accused of or convicted of war crimes, including one slated to stand trial on charges of shooting unarmed civilians while in Iraq, the New York Times reported.

War crimes. My god. What next? Is he going to try to overturn the Nuremberg convictions? Declare sainthood for Hitler and Goebbels and Himmler? Hang portraits of Milošević and Mladić in the East Room? Erect statues of Stalin and Pol Pot in the Rose Garden?

According to the Times, which cited two unnamed US officials, Trump requested the immediate preparation of paperwork needed, indicating he is considering pardons for the men around Memorial Day on 27 May.

Assembling pardon files normally takes months but the justice department has pressed for the work to be completed before the holiday weekend, one of the officials said.

One request is for Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher of the Navy Seals, who is scheduled to stand trial in coming weeks on charges of shooting unarmed civilians and killing an enemy captive with a knife while deployed in Iraq.

Also believed to be included is Major Mathew Golsteyn, an Army Green Beret accused of killing an unarmed Afghan in 2010, the Times said.

Reuters could not immediately identify a way to contact Gallagher and Golsteyn.

This is monstrous. It’s evil. It announces to the world that we consider ourselves entitled to murder anyone anywhere in the world who gets in our way. It turns the whole country into the reeking den of cruelty and crime that is the Trump syndicate.